Late last summer we decided to build a new deck, refurbish the old and create a step down system in our sloped yard. Now we have no grass or exposed earth, so everything that I want to grow is done in containers except for the small back corners where a wild fern has sprung up and I planted some given-to-me Hostas. Now, I am able to start to learn about Container Gardening, what works and what doesn't.
My yard now is not only 'earthless' but in past years has been very overshadowed by surrounding cedars that were long ago planted, they are in the 50+ years, I'm sure. Recently though the owner of the cedars has had them trimmed up on his side so we also took the opportunity to trim back some branches on our side. Now our yard is opened up and it can be considered partly sunny. A few spots in the yard may even support sun loving plants.
So this is the beginning of my little garden. I went so far as to create a name and a sign for my space. I happened to have a piece of wood so painted it and then -- I don't know where this idea came from -- placed 4 left over blocks from a previous quilt onto the wood, wrote the garden name (THE PATCHWORK DOG GARDEN AND SANCTUARY) and with a sponge brush and a small can of Varathane paint, covered the whole piece with about 5 layers of Clear Gloss Varathane.
I certainly adds that quilt lovers element to my space!
A week early of the established and recommended planting date here in Canada (May 24, or Victoria Day Weekend) I have set out the seedlings that I started in doors -- BASIL and THYME, and planted some purchased starters. Mostly Herbs will fill my container garden, SAGE, ROSEMARY, LAVENDER, and even CATNIP. Now with the opened sky, I decided to try tomato and being sometimes a bit odd, I saw a do it yourself project to grow tomatoes upside down.
Here is the beginning of the upside down tomato plant. This is a small grape type tomato. The do-it-yourself project that I read about used a two litre pop bottle but said that it did not produce very many tomatos possibly due to being root bound, so I decided to try it in a 4 litre milk jug. Lots of time to go, to see what happens with this tomato plant... I will try to keep you posted as to this WIP!
