Vegetable Garden -- Take Two!!!

Some of you may remember that I planted a veggie garden last year. Most of it was an experiment of what I could and could not grow and in what types of containers. I will confess, it left me feeling like a failure, very crabby, and not wanting to do it again this year. All winter long, when I could have done the work WITHOUT the sweat, I stared disgustingly at the containers, happily growing weeds that grow so well in the Florida winter. Why is it that weeds have NO problems????? (As a side note, there is a series of about 100 or so videos on Utube by a guy who has made it his life long hobby of learning about weeds and what you can eat and how to prepare them. Search for “Eat the Weeds”. All I can think of, is ME, rooting along the ground like a possum, looking for something edible, and end up eating poison ivy or something!!!)

But as fate would have it, my brother, who lives in Maine, is really “into” the gardening thing. He is blessed to have a father in law who has shown him so much, and now it is my brother’s goal to grow enough of whatever grows there to sustain him through the year. And you know how it is, we always “preach” about what works for us. So. . . . . My brother had a pep rally with my sister, and talked her into growing what grows here in Florida and learning to like it. Somehow, I got in on this, and started cleaning out my pots.

As for our experiments of last year????? The $1.00 bags that you get at the grocery store, etc., worked fine as plant containers, but by the end of the season, they were done. Dry rotted. When you tried to move them, they fell apart. But they drained well, held enough dirt, were easy to keep weeds out of, and they did not collapse or cave in. The most sturdy and nicest looking were the dark green ones from JoAnns. The worst were the red and black ones from the Family Dollar Store. Worth the $1.00, but now I have to get something else.

The Styrofoam ice chests were fantastic, but don’t try to move them once filled with wet dirt and plants. They will break. Duct tape (You know, the stuff we all bought tons of after 9/11) worked well to hold the broken pots together, and are still there, waiting for my new plants. The tops served well as “saucers”. Talk about eye sores, though. But my green beans loved growing in them. I put a circle of wire fencing around the ice chests, and the beans grew and produced throughout the summer and fall. One success story.

I also purchased huge blue storage bins at Big Lots last year. MUCH cheaper than plant pots of the same size. Now I know why. The plastic became brittle and I can’t move them without them cracking. So they will just stay where they are for this year.

My favorite pots of all look like the old whiskey barrels. They are actually Styrofoam, light weight, but have been painted and look like stained wood with metal staves around them. I’ve had them now for about 8 years, and they are still in good shape.

So. . . . The gal who was NOT going to garden this year now has green onions, radishes, carrots, beets, peppers, green beans, yard long beans, pigeon peas, etc., planted in you-name-it buckets.

It’s a lot of hard work for Buster, though. But he loves it. Since he still has all his “childhood anxieties”, he will NOT go out the door without me with him. So this gives him long outings, chances to pee on every living thing, stick his nose in the holes I dig for planting, runs with dead root balls, etc. And yes, an occasional drink from the hose. He does know what “No peepee in the in the pots” means, but did NOT know that this also meant the little seedling trays. Yuk!!! They got a good watering!

I’ve learned I should stay away from Nurseries. Why is it that I never learn???? Just because there is a tiny, live plant in a tray at the Nursery does NOT mean it will grow into something edible in MY yard down the street!!!!!! But I still do it! And the only one who profits is the Nursery. Every one that I bought means another pot, more dirt, more fertilizer, more sweat, with the ending of , “See???? I told ya!” But here I am, dirty hands and feet, sweat and snot pouring off my face, nails forever ruined, but I did it. And that’s the whole heart of it --- that I could do it!