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[Nabubrush]

Wrist rocket?

[jay-ell]

Okay, I caved. I bought chives and thyme today. I had a small blank space I needed to fill. But herbs don't count, because they require so little care. Right?

Here's what the deck looks like right now:


From the top down, the three-tiered thingamajig is a strawberry pot, but I don't like the design of it. My mom ordered it and then decided she wanted me to take care of it for her, and there's no way for the lower tiers to really get full sun. I'm going to have to rotate them left-to-right and bottom-to-top, which is just too much hassle. On the table next to the strawberries, the yellow contains the chives I bought today and the red pot is the thyme. They're hard to see, but they're good starts (not from seed).

The oblong red tub on the shorter table is where the radishes, carrots, and green onions are sown. The radishes have sprouted and I'm just starting to see spindly little carrot tops come through. Planting them in this container was a mistake, though; the soil settled much more than I expected it would when I watered it the first time, and now I'm worried there's not enough depth for the carrots to mature. This is the container I'm thinking of using for a Purple Queen bush bean after the carrots come out.

The tallish, dark red container in the middle is my blueberry bush, which is just starting to wake up after hibernation. The huge yellow tub ($7 at Target; I drilled some drain holes and lined the bottom with rocks) is just dirt right now; in another 3 weeks I'll sow a second round of carrots and green onions (and possibly radishes, if the ones I just planted come out nicely.) The three white urns are the extra strawberry transplants that didn't fit in the three-tiered thing; they're going back to Mom's after she moves into her new place in about a month.

And the lettuce, of course, is still going strong -- on the west side of the arrangement, it gets partial shade.  When the lettuce is done, I'm going to spray-paint the container bright yellow (to match the rest of the color scheme) and use it for a fall crop of either more lettuce or some spinach.

[side_show]

There is still snow on the ground here.  It still drops below freezing at night.  Sigh.

That looks really good JL.  Apart from the fact it made me fall into a bit of a depressions related to our local weather, it looks like a nice little planter garden you can be proud of. 

One thing I have always been told is that drainage is overrated in containers, but then I'm pretty sure the level of moisture you get in NC is quite different than what we get in Southern MB.  I curse any containers with drainage around my parts.  Damn things turn to dry cracked clumps way too fast. 

[jay-ell]

I am obsessive about drainage because I am a compulsive over-waterer. Even though I know this about myself and try to keep it in check, I don't trust myself not to drown my plants, so I make sure everything I plant in has plenty of drainage.

We have very long, very hot summers with very little rain, but the air is still extraordinarily humid and steamy. With a garden the size of mine, though, it's not a big deal to hand-water (I have a hose bib within easy reach). I am considering, though, setting up some kind of raincatcher barrel system this spring so that I don't have to use tap water on my plants -- water is scarce here in the summer and I don't like to contribute to that.

[jaydub]

I'm toying with the idea of digging up my hops roots and putting them in planters.  My 2.5 year old is tromping the weeds into oblivion and there's no doubt the hops will suffer a similar fate once they get going.
Also - we're converging on a decision to hire a gardener. 9 years of having houses with yards hasn't converted me into a lawnscaping genius somehow.  It might be time to let a pro do the work.

[Nabubrush]

I'm toying with the idea of digging up my hops roots and putting them in planters.  My 2.5 year old is tromping the weeds into oblivion and there's no doubt the hops will suffer a similar fate once they get going.
Also - we're converging on a decision to hire a gardener. 9 years of having houses with yards hasn't converted me into a lawnscaping genius somehow.  It might be time to let a pro do the work.

We're going to have to hire a new guy. Our last gardener dropped off the face of the earth. Of course, he dealt dope on the side, so it was bound to happen eventually.

[wombat]

I had a hops vine once. I had to get rid of it before it took over the entire city. I think it could stand up to toddlers.

We are on our second gardening company. Really, is it too much to ask such a business to hire people who can tell the difference between something that a person would plant on purpose and a weed?

[miles]

We're going to have to hire a new guy. Our last gardener dropped off the face of the earth. Of course, he dealt dope on the side, so it was bound to happen eventually.

I'm assuming he grew weed? Some (OK, so like three) of the best gardeners I know learned the craft growing in unusual conditions.

[jay-ell]

I think we're going to hire someone to take care of the front. We don't even own a lawnmower. Of course, we get so little sun in the front that we've only mowed the lawn three or four times in the year we've lived here, but it probably should be done more often than that, plus we have tons of leaves that they can take care of when the mowing is light.

The backyard has no grass anyway, just bare dirt, and until the kids are old enough to take down the swing set, sandbox, and playhouse, that's fine with us. (The trampoline, for its part, will likely stay until they kids move out -- Pedro had one growing up and he said he and his siblings used it well into their teens.)

[Carlos del Vaca]

Here is an article on what sounds like a near-idiot-proof planting box.
http://www.slate.com/id/2291834/

I've printed out the plans, may try putting one together some weekend coming up.

[jay-ell]

HOW THE FUCK DO I KEEP THESE DAMN SQUIRRELS FROM DIGGING UP MY SHIT?!?

Seriously. Squirrels keep digging up my carrots before they're ready. One got a whole CUNT plant, roots and all, just as it was beginning to flower. They've started digging anywhere there's dirt on my deck, even into the chives, just on the off chance that there's something there.

I've put screening up over the carrots and radishes, where they were doing the most damage, but I really don't want to have to do that if there's another way to discourage them.

I'm pretty sure it's squirrels and not birds, because of the way the holes are dug, not pecked.

[Nabubrush]

It's hard to keep them off the CUNT plants.

[greenkoolayd]

It's hard to keep them off the CUNT plants.

squirrels that like nuts and strawberries?

[wombat]

Squirrels are evil. There is not nearly enough about squirrels on my blog.

[Nabubrush]

A squirrel attacked me once.