It's springtime and that means...

it's time to plant! Well, mostly. Almost. It's time to start seeds indoors? I have. In a pot on the kitchen bar I have three sweet little tomato plantlings valiantly reaching to the sky. Ceiling. Whatever. The peppers I planted in an accompanying pit have yet to do much of anything, which just proves their contrary nature. Outside, covered, are pots of lettuce and basil, and the window box's chives wintered over beautifully, and are doing their thing. I let my little bitty plant some sage and pansies in the window box as well, but I'll probably just buy some herbs to add to it. I have all kinds of photos of the work-in-progress, and blogger won't load any of them, so just use your imaginations while I try to figure out why blogger is being as contrary as my peppers. (I can't even copy and paste my own photos. How annoying is that??)
   Anyway, I've already grabbed my pickle buckets from the restaurant downstairs--the 5 gallon buckets make perfect pots for a back-step garden-- and have my 'garden plan' all drawn up. Two pots with tomato and pepper; one with zucchini; one with a mix of cucumbers and peas; one with tomato and eggplant; and one for the little guy: purple beans, pansies, Wee-Be-Little pumpkins, Thumbelina carrots, and if I can find them, Easter Egg radishes. (Not that he'll eat them, but my husband and I love radishes, and the little one will love pulling pink and purple radishes from his garden and feeding them to us.) This may sound like an awful lot to plant in one five gallon bucket, but provided I do it right (i.e., follow directions as laid out in The Bountiful Container) all should go according to plan.  http://www.amazon.com/McGee-Stuckeys-Bountiful-Container-Vegetables/dp/0761116230/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398092087&sr=1-1&keywords=the+bountiful+container 

   Another one that I love, but do not own is Grow Great Grub:

  
Both are incredibly helpful for the new (in other words, completely clueless) gardener (me) who only has a small space to try and have a garden. I'd love to try to do more, but my back stairs do need to be accessible in case of any kind of emergency. So six big pots, four smaller pots, and two window boxes will have to do for now. We actually have three community gardens here in town as well, and I'm thinking about putting my name in for one. Sadly, I have heard from neighbors that participate that the vegetables have a habit of disappearing before the gardeners have a chance to pick their produce, so I'm a little leery about spending my time on a garden that others will benefit from because they'd just rather take my stuff. It bears thinking about, though.

    I just found this one on Amazon as well, and it looks worth reading simply for the sake of reading  it!
 http://www.amazon.com/You-Grow-Girl-Gayla-Trail/dp/0743270142/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398092302&sr=1-1&keywords=you+grow+girl+the+groundbreaking+guide+to+gardening



Here are some links to books (on Amazon) that I can't seem to paste. Happy planting! And playing! And getting dirty!

Kids Container Gardening:

http://www.amazon.com/Kids-Container-Gardening-Year-Round-Projects/dp/1883052750/ref=pd_sim_b_9?ie=UTF8&refRID=1R15T2HDRASY838DFDCV

Gardening Projects for Kids:

http://www.amazon.com/Gardening-Projects-Kids-attracting-photographs/dp/1780190190/ref=pd_sim_b_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1R15T2HDRASY838DFDCV

Kids Garden:


Compost Stew:
http://www.amazon.com/Compost-Stew-Mary-McKenna-Siddals/dp/1582463166/ref=pd_sim_b_14?ie=UTF8&refRID=1R15T2HDRASY838DFDCV (We use yet another pickle bucket for composting, but we don't actually use the contents. Every time we fill a bucket we drop it off with the restaurant's collection, and they cart it away to whatever garden supplies the restaurant with veggies.)

The Edible Balcony:


Small Space Container Gardens:


 


 




                                        


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