OUTDOOR WEDNESDAY - CONTAINER GARDENING

Have you ever planted a garden in containers?

We visited my sister and brother-in-law who live in town here in Franklin.  They have experimented in Earth Boxes for the 2nd year in a row.  We were impressed last year when they shared some eggplants with us because their little garden produced so many.  They were fresh and delicious.

I bet you can guess what is coming next.  Yep, we ordered some Earth boxes from the net and this post is all about out attempt at gardening.

Our cabin has a nice big deck that gets good sun and we never use the deck for anything.  We decided it would be the perfect place for our gardening project.

Besides the Earth Boxes we found another interesting way to garden by using cement blocks.  We already had the cement blocks so we gave that a try too.

FIRST THE CEMENT GARDEN

This is a start.  The empty holes still need to be filled and beans planted in them.  We planted some strawberries, parsely, basil, oregano and something I can't recall.  HA!.  It is looking good.

The white is some plastic to keep the dirt from running through when watered.  We cut slits in the plastic for good drainage.

Our first strawberries.  Mmmmmm.

NOW FOR THE EARTH BOXES PROJECT

Me, pretending to lift 2 cubic feet of potting soil. It is 100 pounds.  Bill and I lifted it together.  We needed two bags, one for each box.

CC watched the project progress. 

She is 10.5 pounds and seven months old.  Her pretty eyes do not show in this photo.

I adore her tiny little feet.  Smile.

The boxes are on wheels.

The inside has a tray so the water stays in the bottom.  We fill it when needed in the pipe in the front right corner.  We never water the plants directly.

We are filling the boxes as directed.  CC ran over to the dirt and took a great big bite.  Why would she want a bite of that awful stuff???  LOL. It was chilly that day and sprinkling.

Claudie my beautiful green gardening gloves are black.  I even color coordinated my jacket to match my lovely gloves you gave me. sigh. Well, they were lovely.  They did clean up pretty good thank goodness.

Finally finished.  Cleaning up our mess was a job but look how nice they look.  It is hard to tell but we planted two eggplants and two tomato plants.  Big Boy and Better Boy.  We also filled two containers and planted green peppers and yellow peppers.  They are in back of the cement blocks.

My hubby looking pretty proud of himself.

Be sure and visit Susan at, A Southern Daydreamer.  She is our host for this event and if you love the great outdoors you will love what our blogging friends share with us.

Happy Outdoor Wednesday

Love, Jeanne

Note:  We have invested over $100. so far.   The containers are $49. each and we bought dirt and the plants.  I though you might like to know.

Comments

[claudie]

Leave it to you to colour coordinate your gloves to your jacket Jeanne. It all looks fab. BIll and CC helping and playing in the dirt... good stuff. Never heard of this either, but I might have some cement blocks that could do the job, as long as the dogs don't pee all over them. Pepper is so big now, I don't think he would have a problem at all. That's not the watering your talking about is it? lol
Strawberries already Gee... strawberry daiquiris sound good to me. What time should we be there?
Happy OW Jeanne.
Love you to the moon and back again
Love Claudie
oxooxoxoxo

[Lynn@HappierThanAPigInMud]

Looks great, I wish you lots of veggies! Hard to tell from the photo, but could your "mystery" plant be sage?

[Beverly]

Well, gosh! Am I going to have to begin calling you Farmer Bill and Farmer Jeanne? You can bet that I am going to be showing my hubby these pictures.

You both look cute. Love you.

[Sheila]

You are both so cute! Love seeing this project. And I loved seeing your little helper helping you! She's a doll! And I like your snappy garden hat!

Miss you much and love you more...

XO,

Sheila :-)

[Shelia]

Morning, Dear Jeanne! Oh, you and hubby have been busy little bees! I love those containers on wheels! Can't wait to see the progress of your plants! Now I love the idea of using the blocks to start your plants! In the 70s we bought some of these blocks and had wood cut and made some shelves! Oh, was it stylish! :)
Look at little CC! She is so sweet, Jeanne! I still think she looks like a stuffed animal - just precious!
Thank you so much for snapping for me. This was so good and that you gals would indulge me this way!
Be a sweetie,
Shelia ;)

[Penny @ The Comforts of Home and Lavender Hill Studio]

You two look adorable! And I love the idea of planting in cement blocks...Especially for things that run...like strawberries or mint. I hope you have bushels of veggies from all of your hard work!
Hugs,
Penny

[Darlene]

Morning Jeanne,

That is so neat! I want to hear how the gardening containers do for your garden. I might need to do that. I want to plant a small garden but hubby doesn't so that would work for me. I think the cement blocks are a neat way to plant too. Those strawberries look delicious. Thanks for giving me some inspiration.

CC is so cute out there watching y'all!

[LaVoice]

You have a very pretty garden area. It is a lot of work, but you and hubby seem to be making it fun.

[Katherinellen]

Jeanne,
WOW! ya'll did great! You are going to have Yummy spices,fruits and vegetables... You and Bill look great! I have always dream to have a Log Cabin...That's mine and my husband dream house...Great ideas on the birck plabtes,,,bever thought of that...Thanks for sharing...Happy Outdoor...

Glad you had a great Mothers's Day with famly in GA....Yes...I had a great visit with my daughter...my son-in-aw was in Tuscalousa at work. Happy Outdoor to you..Love ya my friend....Katherinelllen

[Christina]

Cool garden Mom. I can't wait to see it in person this summer. I hope you will have lots of tasty things growing by then. CC looks excited about helping you too. Did Dad help too????

Love ya,
Christina

[dana]

So,does the black plastic stay on the top of the dirt all summer, or is that just to get the plants established? Interesting concept....that looks like MY kind of gardening!! You looked like a real City Slicker Gardening Queen....you even have on your lipstick!! So cute!! Bill looks like he was enjoying your time spent creating your garden....and so did that darling Cheri'!! I love her little tootsies, too!

Had Cake Dec. Class #2 tonight. Hmmmm....it's hard....and I'm not a natural. I did come home and finish my project. Practice is the key on this new direction....I just HATE to mix up the frosting and clean everything up. I LOVE playing with the different tips and mixing up the colors!!

Hope you're having a great week! L, Dana

PS....Rotten,stormy weather tonight... Will we EVER have Spring?

[Becky]

You go girl!! I am getting around to this kind of stuff in the next couple of days!! Can't wait! Just want to see birds and flowers everywhere!

Thanks for your love and prayers, Jeanne!! I am having one more test to determine if the weird sensations are going from my muscles to my brains or vice-versa. I believe it all comes from my messed up neck. Hopefully this will prove it!

Looking forward to seeing how the earthboxes do! I've always wanted a couple myself!

Love you sweet Jeanne!
I'm back blogging full on and so excited to be visiting everyone!
Have a lovely Thurs. Fri. and weekend!
Big Hugs,
BEcky

[Tracy]

Cute post Jeanne! What an interesting idea to utilize cement blocks! I think I may try that. I had to chuckle at myself because at first I was trying to figure out why you had a stuffed animal sitting there! CC is a cutie!

~ Tracy

[racheld]

Jeanne,

I quoted you today!

rachel

[dana]

Hi! You travel more than ANYONE I know! Sure wish I was there with you and your sis....you know how much I love "the hunt", too. What is the name of the show?

I agree with your SIL...we have very unpredictable weather. Last night was bad, but we were lucky. Several folks weren't .... no tornado, but lots of straight line wind damage not far from here.

It rained this morning, but is supposed to be dry tomorrow..then RAIN again on Sat. and Sun. :( I do hope I can get some planting and weeding done tomorrow.

Have fun....I'm looking forward to your photos!! L, Dana

[Ruvell]

Good point. I hadn't tghouht about it quite that way. :)