Thanks for staying with this series. To recap, I wanted to see if I could grow radish and lettuce in cheap dollar store oil pans.
Continue reading “Trial Garden-Day 50- final thoughts”Trial Garden-Day 50- final thoughts
Harvest Time – day 40 trial garden
This small trial garden has been a pretty good success. I planted both radish and bibb lettuce on the same day and was able to harvest at the same time.
Continue reading “Harvest Time – day 40 trial garden”Trial Container Garden Update #4
Week four of the oil pan container garden trial. The lettuce is showing considerable growth although I was expecting more growth from both the radish and lettuce. We’ve had a large amount of rain with intermittent sunshine that I’m attributing the slower growth too.
Continue reading “Trial Container Garden Update #4”Garden Update 3: Container garden day 23
Day 23, the trial dollar store container garden is doing well. We’ve had varied weather with the last week being extremely windy with temps around upper 50’s to mid 70’s.
Continue reading “Garden Update 3: Container garden day 23”Seed Collecting – don’t limit yourself to just food plants
After tending to the trial containers and tomato plants, I noticed the zinnia patch starting to look weathered and worn.
Continue reading “Seed Collecting – don’t limit yourself to just food plants”Garden Update 2: Container Garden Trial and Tomatoes – prune and inspect.
Update: Volunteer Tomato’s and Dollar Store Container Garden Trial
Here’s a quick update on the volunteer tomatoes post and the dollar store container testing lettuce and radish grown in shallow pans.
The planted volunteer tomatoes are thriving. In fact the compost that I dug in is now sprouting more volunteers. I recognize more tomato starts. And a few unique sprouts I’m not certain of.
Continue reading “Update: Volunteer Tomato’s and Dollar Store Container Garden Trial”Practice Gardening – Dollar store container gardening
I have a fascination with container gardening. I always preach that you must practice at gardening and learn the behaviors of different plant and vegetables. Today I’m growing container lettuce and radishes. Both of these are easy to grow, this help builds confidence, beacause gardening is challenging at best. Practice now and you’ll have a head start if the SHTF. I’m using dollar store oil catch pans. They are definitely deep enough for lettuce but I wanted to see if a radish could develop in this shallow environment. I’ve grown radish in tall cups, but if they grow in a 4 inch deep container then I can do away with the cup method. Below is the set up. Cost for supplies $5.00 not including tools. Buy your seeds on sale at the end of the season for next year, usually half price. Better yet save your seeds. Another story. Enjoy!
Seeds are all around us – look for these hidden gems
I tried my hand growing corn this season. Knowing good and well it may be a failure. I wanted to see the characteristics of corn growing in my urban garden. I did get a couple of small ears to the table and rest looked like corn you get with your Chinese meal. But I did learn and will try again. I left a few ears on the dried up stalks and low and behold found what appeared to be the seeds that I originally started with. Pull the ear off and remove the kernels, place them on a plate and store in a cool dry place for a week or more. Then put them in an envelope and label the date and if you know the species. These will be used in my next corn growing trial.
Practice Gardening – planting volunteer tomatoes
Gardening is not easy. Whenever you have the opportunity to grow something take it! Learning how different plants grow and behave and what type of insects and disease gravitate towards a type of plant. Practicing now in times of peace will be invaluable during a long term event. Growing also gives you a chance of teaching your spouse or children to be more self sufficient and it’s a great way to exercise. This collection is the result of the volunteer tomatoes I harvested from our compost bin. Practice, practice, practice!
