Life Goal #1 - Raise a Garden

My Container Garden

Tomato Plants- Planted on June 17th

Watermelon Plant - Planted on May 29th      

We moved into our home in May 2005 and for the last five years I have been trying to raise a garden in vein.  I've planted the garden in the ground. I've planted the garden in "pretty pottery". I've purchased every Topsy Turvey product on the market.  You know what I've gotten... TWO tomatoes and a whole bunch of dead plants.

Who doesn't want an abundance of tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and peppers?  As part of taking my life back and being a "good" mom, I decided that my first Goal  -- Raise A Garden.  Since my job is as a researcher, I spent many evenings and lunch breaks scouring the internet looking for how to raise a container garden and where I went wrong with my previous five gardens.

What seeds to use?  What soil to use?  How to water the plants? How to use as little precious time as possible?  How to involve my young child? How to make the most of limited space? How not to spend major $$$. 

Then I found the website, Inside Urban Green at www.insideurbangreen.com. What a fabulous site.  Their goal is to supply "modern methods for growing food, foliage or flowers for millions of us who are not green thumbs."  I learned that for less than $5, I could create SIPs - sub-irrigated planters.

I started my plants in April, starting with cabbage, lettuce, radishes, broccoli and celery. In May, I harvested lettuce and spinach.  There is something to be said about vegetables harvested fresh out of the garden, YUM!  In May, I added to my crops to included plum and cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, peas, watermelon (at my son's request), cucumbers, jalapenos and squash.

The SIPs are producing 80% more vegetables than I would have gotten if I planted the plants in the ground.  My next post will give detailed instructions on how I created a SIP's container.