The garden is in! Hello world, we've got food2gro!
Posted by Jubie at 4/12/2008 9:44 PM and is filed under small space gardening,container gardening,Organic Gardening 
The garden is in! We've filled the rest of the containers with our super soil we talk about in an earlier post, Seeds for Starters. If this is your first time on the blog, we are growing a container garden this year on our apartment patio! We encourage everyone to grow a garden! Many people live in smaller units or apartments. In fact, I'd be willing to bet the majority of the population on the planet live in apartments. So if you have some space, turn it into a garden to grow some food! You can follow our advice on our blog, add comments, share experiences and give advice of your own!
We still have the tomatoes and peppers close together for the time being, they are getting the maximum sunlight hours the early spring has to offer. The great thing about container gardening is that you can actually move your garden around! We will be doing quite a bit of rearranging as the garden season progresses, there will be several changes due to the changing position of the sun. Additionally, we will take into account some companion planting when we rearrange the garden. One of the great advantages to container gardening is that you are able to rearrange and move your garden around easily!
We can't call our tomato plants baby starters anymore! These are some good sized young tomato plants now! You can see the cages for the tomatoes and the burlap mulch in each container. We have 17 tomato plants on our patio! Our patio size is about 100 square feet.
We love tomatoes and plan on sun drying some of our apartment patio tomatoes this year in our homemade solar dehydrator.
Once you have made an investment to grow a garden on your patio, you can use the containers, the soil and any left over seeds you bought for future gardens! Your biggest investment will be the first year.
The garden mascot and guard has moved from the tomato and pepper plants to the new seedlings!
These containers and the other tubs have holes in the bottom. They are lined with rocks first and the rest is filled with our super soil mix which contains compost and fertilizer. Everything our plants need is in the soil for the gardening season! Check out the biodegradable burlap in these black pots. The seedlings are safe and on their way to sprouting soon!
The garden is getting greener by the day! My apartment neighbors are taking notice and stopping by to admire the growing vegetable plants! My blog readers are stopping by on the Internet too!
Bruce and Jubie have grown organic vegetable gardens in the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest and near the Pantanal of the Amazon River.
The baby starters are huge now! They have cages around them to grow into. The soil surface is covered with two layers of biodegradable burlap. The biodegradable burlap will act as the mulch for our container garden. It will keep the soil moist and help to cut down on weed growth.
We still have the tomatoes and peppers close together for the time being, they are getting the maximum sunlight hours the early spring has to offer. The great thing about container gardening is that you can actually move your garden around! We will be doing quite a bit of rearranging as the garden season progresses, there will be several changes due to the changing position of the sun. Additionally, we will take into account some companion planting when we rearrange the garden. One of the great advantages to container gardening is that you are able to rearrange and move your garden around easily!
We can't call our tomato plants baby starters anymore! These are some good sized young tomato plants now! You can see the cages for the tomatoes and the burlap mulch in each container. We have 17 tomato plants on our patio! Our patio size is about 100 square feet. We love tomatoes and plan on sun drying some of our apartment patio tomatoes this year in our homemade solar dehydrator.
Once you have made an investment to grow a garden on your patio, you can use the containers, the soil and any left over seeds you bought for future gardens! Your biggest investment will be the first year.
We've planted several different container varieties of plants. We purchase our seeds at Park Seed company (checkout Park Seed on the sidebar to the blog). These seeds are now newly planted and the germination process is taking place outdoors on the remaining plants. The biodegradable burlap is also great for seedlings. It keeps the soil moist and keeps birds from eating the seeds and the squirrels from digging!
Bruce and Jubie have grown organic vegetable gardens in the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest and near the Pantanal of the Amazon River.
That's the worst looking pot I've EVER seen! . . .LOL
Really. . .looks like you are doing a great job. Look forward to seeing what they produce. They are tomato plants right?
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Hi Kani,
One might get high from holding their breath trying to smoke these leaves, but that's about it.
Yes, those are tomato plants. I wholeheartedly agree that they do look terrible for pot plants, but as tomato plants this Mama is proud of her babies! They're my babies raised from seed! I was very fertile this year! They are Romas. Pear and Cherry tomatoes.
The secret is in the soil....
Thanks for the comment!
Good garden wishes,
Jubie
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Jubie. . .I just noticed your picture, you look Great! I guess the mountains agree with you.
I wish I was a vegetarian my be I would lose a bunch of weight. I used to be one back in the 70s then one day I was driving down the road and what comes out of my mouth "CHEESEBURGER!" I whipped into a joint and the rest is obese history.
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Hi Kani,
Thanks so much for the complement! I feel great!
This year we are in Palo Alto, California and we are growing a container garden on an apartment patio. We still have our home in the mountains but are out here in the bay area and involved in different endeavors for the time being.
I am not sure if you had a chance to read my post on "diet transitions". It might help inspire you to make a slow transition to becoming a vegetarian again. I am mostly a vegan and eat approximately 80% raw food and I am transitioning to increase that percentage by 95%. I talk about that and show charts on how to make slow transitions as well as feature a video called "Raw in 30 days". It involves diabetics in the US who are overweight. They are participants in an experiment to eat raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains with plenty of water in 30 days. The results are astounding. All the participants that stayed with the program completely reversed their diabetes and lost a lot of weight during that time. One woman lost 25 pounds in the 30 days. Those people needed immediate help. I don't suggest anyone do this unless they are in a dire situation such as theirs was. Toxins leave your body at a rapid rate when making an extreme transition such as this, so it's best to take it easy when making a transition from meat eater to vegetarian, vegetarian to vegan and vegan to "raw foodist" (that is if you want to go as far as becoming a vegan or a raw foodist).
I also exercise, I walk everyday. I started out very slowly by just walking at a pace I was comfortable with and for a half hour each day and walked approximately 1/2 a mile a day. Now, I walk one and a half hours a day and cover 5 miles. I climb some steep hills while on the walk too! That took about a year of conditioning.
Walking is a great way to reduce the risk of osteoporosis. I try not to miss my walks because I enjoy them immensely! The hardest part for many is to get out the door, but once outside it is well worth it. I swim when I can, do some arm exercises and abs too. Not everyone will want to do all of that, but walking is a good form of exercise and of course swimming is excellent!
All the best in your quest to vegetarianism, exercise and losing weight Kani you deserve to feel great!
Health and happiness to you!
Jubie
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Thanks for the info. I just got around to reading it. Jack (my husband) had a total hip replacement on the 25th of March and I haven't been on line much.
I will look at the post on "diet transitions". With warmer weather comin on it will be easier to eat lots of raw veggies.
The problem I have with walking is "WALKING" I have bone on bone arthritis in both knees with little or no meniscus tissue. Swimming would be a great option for me if I can find a place.
Keep up the good work Jubie!
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Congrats on you garden! I have a question for you, if someone wants to turn a yard into a garden are there any concerns with the chemicals that they used in the past on their lawn?
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Thanks for the congratulations! The seedlings are already germinating as we speak!
Yes there are concerns regarding the chemicals that were used on the lawn. The microbes in the soil are most likely dead. Your soil will need to be reworked and microbes will need to be introduced to your soil once again. This may take a few seasons to regulate. You'll need to start a compost and use fertilizer ( I suggest bat guano if you can find it) and other minerals to add to the soil. You should look at bio intensive gardening and begin "growing your soil". There is plenty of literature on the subject.
Be sure you plant your vegetable garden where there is plenty of sunlight. There are also other alternatives to lawns that beautify your yard. I suggest you look at other alternatives to replace the entire lawn (for green purposes) and definitely plant your veggie garden where there is plenty of sunshine.
The key is in the soil and growing the soil. You do this through composts and good green fertilizer. You double dig your soil for the first few years. Check all of that out by researching biointensive gardening.
My garden this year is a container garden. I have great potting soil that has a fertilizer and compost in it. I will not need to add plant food to this mix. It's ready to go. You'll want to achieve the same for your garden. Veggies and other plants as well as chemicals deplete the soil of nutrients and to avoid adding plant food for nutrients it's best to learn to grow your soil. The idea is to grow those microbes and do not disturb them!
Biointensive courses are offered as well as much literature of the same. Check out: www.growbiointensive.org
The garden is in Willits (Mendocino) California and the master gardener is John Jeavons. Biointensive gardening is taught to farmers all over the world. Again, there is plenty of literature on the subject! Check it out and keep me posted! I'd love to see how your garden develops!
Good gardening!
Jubie
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I cheated and bought some plants at a home center along with some potting soil. I'm trying out 5 different types of tomato plants and a few types of peppers including some hot peppers. I planted all of these in raised planters---I'll try your method!
Side note, the 250 seeds that I started on Sunday are coming to life.
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Well you probably did the right thing buying the tomato plants and peppers already started this late in the game. I'd really like to hear how it goes for you in the garden this year!
Wow..... 250 seedlings! You are very "fertile"! LOL! Are they flowers and vegetables? Thanks again for the comment and let's buddy garden this year! Keep in touch and let me know if you need assistance! We can share our trials and tribulations!
Remember to save some plants to go to seed this year. I talk about that a bit in this blog but will launch my website soon that also talks about it at length! I'll let you know!
Let me know if you have any squirrel problems and what you are doing about it! My squirrels have come around again and it's time for the pepper once again. I did by the squirrel screamer and it's coming next Friday, but they say to use both. My pepper is not a spray it's pure powder and is doused in the soil. You need to put a lot of the powder in until it is RED! It seems to deter them for a time, unless it rains then you have to do it again.
Best wishes to you and to your bountiful garden!
Jubie
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I don't have a green thumb although I really try and love to be out working in the yard so you are inspiring me. Love the post!
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Heidi,
Nurture your plants like you do your children and they will grow strong and sure. It really makes me happy to know I am inspiring you to grow your garden!
Best to you and your gardening endeavors!
Jubie
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