As we do not own the house that we live in and do not know how long we are going to stay here, I have been very limited in my ability start a garden even though I yearn to. Planting in pots has been a decent alternative, so I have been starting a few little plants lately. One project I did was to start a mini-herb garden in the backyard and it has truly been a lot of fun watching the little plants sprout and grow everyday!
I purchased the seeds from Amazon, organic and only for about 5 dollars.
Not my first choice of course, but I have been having trouble finding
independent nurseries that sell seeds; most of them are outdoors and
have no temperature control. I have heard of really good heirloom seed
stores online, but I figured I would just start with something
inexpensive and easy and move up from there.
I also found the pots in the shed, so really the 5 dollars and the soil that I had purchased previously was the only start-up cost I had. I really have not done much gardening so I need all the (small scale) practice I can get. I did not soak the seeds as the package suggested, partly out of laziness and partly because it is pretty humid here and I did have some good organic planting soil on hand so I figured they would be okay. Most of the seed packets say they should be about 1/4 inch into the soil so most of them I placed right on top and just lightly dusted some soil on top with my fingers. I have them tucked to the side of a fish pond that is in our backyard so they are somewhat protected by the elements. I have been watering almost everyday and waiting a day or so if we have heavy rain, which has been happening a lot here. I also protect them with an old shower curtain if the rain gets to be too much during a storm. I also have a good organic fertilizer tea that is made locally that I splash into the watering can every few days. Right on schedule, the little seeds started budding and then growing into beautiful little plants. The mustard greens started first and have continued to be the most anxious. The sweet basil also looks very lively and the cilantro and dill are catching up.
My poor sage toppled over the second day or so and some of the seeds got knocked out. They sprouted on the ground at the same time they lone survivors did in the pot. I was going to replant them but I think I will just wait and see how they little guys on the ground do.
It has actually been a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I am going to bring them into our side porch once it gets cold outside and hopefully be able to keep some going throughout
the winter. I have harvested the bigger ones a little bit; my
culinary uses may be limited on this scale.I should have used much bigger pots to be able to cook with them every day. But it is therapeutic, if not a little bit of a pain, to trim to little baby leaves and they are fragrant enough to add a little something to stocks and dishes.
In addition to my little herbacious ones, I also am trying to keep alive two blueberry bushes that are heading into hibernation. We plan on growing some more pot-plants soon and maybe even some cold weather veggies during the winter. What are your experiences with small scale gardening? Any advice for very limited space?
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