Spring Garden 2010

I have decided to set out a container garden this year.  The back shared porch isn't really used by anyone and it could use some beautification. It gets great sunlight.  There is a 3' x 3' abandoned plot that probably had some trees in it that is just growing weeds, and I convinced Karl to help me turn it to set some flowers and summer veggies in.  This plot is going to get the lasagna layering gardening technique.

I started some seedlings last week and have already gotten a few sprouts which I'm extremely proud of.  Instead of buying seed flats, I'm reusing a bunch of plastic vegetable containers, egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, and water bottles. Since all of them have been featured on other's posts on the web, I figured I would try all of them and see which works best (hopefully all of them).

I picked up some seeds from around town, and Karl and I just got back from a visit to Amsterdam where I was able to pick up some container varieties of some summer veggies from the famous flower market.  They had hundreds of seeds, and they'll probably work with the climate around here.  Amsterdam is a great biking city, they have tremendous infrastructure to support biking as a sole mode of transport.  I came back quite inspired by the Dutch biking culture. Which essentially for me is you can transport just about anything on a bike (including pots, compost bags, potting soil, and trellises).

Last week I started:
Patio cherry red
A lettuce mix (red and green lettuces, arugula, chervil, endive and radicchio)
Provencals herbs (basil, dill and thyme)

Sunday I started (from the new seeds):
Patio Tumbling Tom yellows
Patio Baby Rosanna eggplants
Sweet Patio red peppers

Today I'm setting out (all are seeds)
Oregon Sugar Pod sugar snaps (to be planted in 1-2-3 week intervals)
Bright Lights swiss chard
National radishes
Flamboyant radishes (like red icicles)
Spring onions
Strawberries
more fancy lettuce mix



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Stay tuned, pictures coming.