Finally! I got all the seedling pots, and spilled soil, and gardening tools cleaned up and put away. And I’ve transplanted (most of) the seedlings into their new homes.
Do you want to see my garden? Here it is… on my little apartment porch.
The raised cedar bed contains various lettuces, cilantro, spinach, scallions, Italian parsley, pak choi, beets, red chard, thyme, lemon thyme, and oregano.
You can use almost anything for a plant container. Here, I lined an old wooden CD holder with burlap and planted some herbs in it. There’s a pot of basil in front of it and a ceramic pot in which I’m sprouting some ginger root.
Here is my double-barreled composter. I had to buy commercial potting soil for this first round of planting. After this, I hope I can have enough composted humus to use, so I don’t have to buy potting soil again. I am fertilizing with worm castings (worm poop) and some commercial fertilizer. Once the commercial fertilizer is gone, I’ll use compost and worm castings exclusively.
Many of my plant pots are made of fabric and have handles, so I can move them around to chase the sun or move them into the shade when the sun is too intense. The blue fabric pot is for my strawberries. They’re finally getting established.
My steps get the most sun, so I’ve staged pots on the treads. I’m growing zucchini, yellow summer squash, and tomatoes in these fabric pots. They require a lot of water, so I have to babysit them all day. It will be worth it.
Although there are no blossoms yet on my tomato plants, my squashes are going gangbusters. They sent up male flowers first. Now, the female flowers are catching up. In the photo above, you can see several yellow summer squash developing under the female blossoms. The females produce the fruit.
Here’s one of the male zucchini blossoms. They’re edible, nice to put in salads, and you can stuff them and bake them.
I used bamboo stakes to support the squash and tomato plants. Three are tied together in a tee-pee arrangement.
A kid’s raised garden planter adds some color until my nasturtiums blossom. In front, A galvanized trough holds more herbs. Individual pots contain clary sage, echinacea (just germinating), and micro-greens. The small white container has lemongrass, fennel, and cumin, which I’m afraid is not going to make it. I’ll have to replant that.
These planters with trellises contain pole beans, cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, and a mini-cantaloupe called Lilliput. There are bush beans and another type of melon in the fabric pots. The afternoon sun gets really intense in this spot, so the pole beans are taking a beating. I shade them with some burlap cloth. I also put cheesecloth over the plants in the raised cedar bed, as that spot gets pretty hot, too.
This porch is not the most ideal place to grow a garden. It’s on the west side of the building, so it’s shaded most of the day and gets direct sun during the hottest part of the afternoon. I’m making it work, but I have to pay attention to be sure nothing is burning up or drying up. My sugar peas didn’t make it. I will replant them in the fall when it’s cooler, along with the spinach, which bolted early. A fall crop is always nice. We’re lucky here in southern California, since we have a long growing season.
This has turned out to be a soothing place for me to spend quarantine during these very trying days of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a private place where I can safely connect with the natural world through gardening, meditation, mindful breathwork, and yoga in my own little paradise. I plan to add a small water feature, another pleasurable meditation spot.
At night, the beautiful leafy pattern of light from a solar lantern is like salve on a weary soul. I love sitting at the table and breathing in the cool air, one breath at a time.
