Our Container Gardens

When I was growing up we always had a large garden full of fresh vegetables. We had cucumbers, asparagus, peas, beans, radishes, carrots - you name it. All the usual Iowa suspects. As I've grown up though, I've come to learn that I cannot keep a plant alive to save my life. You know those plants you buy because their easy to keep alive? They won't last a week with me. It really is an impressive ability. However, I have all these fond memories of gardening as a child, and my kids love helping their grandparents, so I decided container gardening was the way to go.

After a North Iowa Blogger trip to Natural Plus Nursery near Clear Lake, which I was unfortunately unable to attend, I learned a lot from posts by fellow bloggers Katy of Learning as I Go, Sara of All in an Iowa Mom's Day, and Loni of Lifestyles of the Pantsless. And beyond that, I even got to enter a $100 giveaway!

Val, of Corn, Beans, Pigs, & Kids, said they start their gardens on Mother's Day weekend. You'd think I'd take farmer advice, but the kids (okay, me) were too excited to wait, so since it was supposed to be beautiful weather, and also because I can pick the containers up and move them if I need to, we started planting last Sunday.


First, we picked up these great colored tubs for $5 each at Walmart, bought 25lb of potting soil, researched types of plants that grow well in Iowa, and dug in (pun intended). Next, we did some reading and measuring - how deep to plant the seeds, how far apart we needed to plant, when we should plant, etc. I drilled holes in the bottoms of the tubs for draining purposes, and my little gymnast hauled the dirt out of the garage to the front yard. That's what conditioning is for, right? Hauling large bags of dirt?

Then we basically ignored everything that we read and planted onions, radishes, carrots, peas, and sunflowers (A's choice). We have green beans too, but we decided that after our peas come up we will have time to plant a second crop for the beans, which recommended a little later planting anyway. So after a second trip to buy more soil and a watering can so we didn't have to use cups from my kitchen, we are planted and waiting! Even E got in on the planting, meaning we have about 37 sunflower seeds in a pot big enough for maybe 1 actual plant - maybe if some grow we can transplant them after a bit. He also enjoys watering (aka drowning) the plants, and after one week the kids are doing a great job of keeping up on the watering chore.

I'm terrified, because I have visions of living a similar experience to what Jeni of Jeni Eats calls "the great container garden disaster of 2012." Except I have kids who will be crazy disappointed. Maybe I can invent a garden fairy - you know, buy some plants from a nursery and stick them in the pots in the middle of the night. Maybe the tooth fairy isn't the only fairy in our neighborhood. If all else fails, I'll pull a page from the book of Beth Ann at It's Just Life and maybe we'll make some amazing garden themed treats!


For those interested in getting their garden on, Alicia of Fit and Farm has info about the Natural Plus Nursery open house! Be sure to click through all the North Iowa Blogger links above to check out all the different perspectives on planting, gardening, and Natural Plus Nursery, as well as to enter the giveaway!