container gardening (with a giveaway at the end!)
April 28th, 2009
I’ve done a lot of container gardening over the years, mainly herbs. I have planted herbs directly in the ground a couple of times and that worked fine but I keep coming back to container gardening. I guess we are usually renting and are not at liberty to dig up part of the yard for a vegetable patch. But also, I just like it. Container gardening just seems more user-friendly, less intimidating.
I’ve been meaning to start an herb garden since the day we moved here. That was ten months ago. I’m not sure what took me so freaking long, unless it’s all that traveling we seem to keep doing. But that’s just an excuse. We have to have someone watch the cats for us when we travel anyway, while they’re here they can water the plants too.
So the other day when we went to the base exchange (which is like a big department store, or on larger bases like ours, several stores) to look at Macs, we stopped in the garden center on a whim and picked up herbs, some tomatoes, a cucumber plant, and a big ol’ bag of potting soil.
I’ve never had great luck with growing tomatoes, in pots or in the ground, but I keep trying because the only kind of tomatoes I truly love are garden-fresh ones. I still won’t eat them raw except in salsa fresca but oh what wonderful salsa fresca they make! The cucumber I bought because Annalie and I both love them. I remember when I was a kid and my dad went through his gardening years, we always seemed to have a brown paper bag full of freshly-picked cucumbers still warm from the sun sitting on the counter. They were smallish and sweet, with so few seeds I didn’t even have to cut them out like I usually do with larger store-bought cukes. Man, I could eat a dozen of those garden-fresh cucumbers in one sitting.
What I really love most, though, are the herbs. I love cooking with fresh herbs. I love being able to step outside, snip a few sprigs of thyme, then come back inside and make the most kickass salad dressing. I love being able to make a batch of fresh pesto to eat over pasta or add to soups or use as a sandwich spread. I love sending Annalie out with the scissors to get some rosemary that I can mince and add to the home-fried potatoes.
I don’t know what took me so long to get around to doing this. Now the only question is, should I be thrifty and scrub out a few of the old dirt-crusted terracotta pots we already own, or should I be lazy and go buy more cheap terracotta pots? Cast your vote in the comments. On May 1st I’ll randomly pick a commenter to win a bottle of homemade vanilla!
Edited to add: There have been 50 comments so far, way more than I was expecting! You guys have all given me some great advice—it never occurred to me to put Annalie to work, duh—so I will draw TWO names on Friday and give away TWO bottles of vanilla. Heck, if enough people comment, maybe I’ll give away three!
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hehe…1st comment!!
thats never happened before….
the first time i saw your site was when the vanilla extract story was put up.. n i loved it!!hooked on to your blog rite from that day…!!
Iluv ur blogs…really I do…
Keep rocking!!!
xxxxx
Veena =)
I’ve been in a cleaning and tossing mode lately, so here’s my 2 cents… How much is your time worth? How long will it take you to clean the pots? If you buy new pots, toss the old ones. If you aren’t going to clean them now, you probably aren’t going to clean them later.
Happy planting to you, Troy and Annalie. Lovely family, lovely blog and my husband loves your recipes particularly the lemon cupcakes!!
I don’t have a lot of time to wash pots. But my boys do. I’d put them on the special task of washing the pots. Think of it: Annalie in her kiddie pool washing the pots. That’s at least an hour of entertainment!
I say wash them out. However, if you’re in a semi-dry climate, terra cotta pots can be tricky. They allow the soil to dry out really quickly. But! They’re a lot of fun to paint, either with kid’s tempra paints, or spray paint. You can mosaic them as well. Really, a stiff brush will brush off the old dirt and have them looking great again!
I know what you mean about the renting and not being able to plant a garden. I miss having fresh produce in the summer. I can’t even really grow much of anything at my apartment now because we don’t get enough sunlight.
Anyway, I’d say be thrifty and keep the ones you have… Earth Day was just last week. ;)
First time commenter, long time reader!
Have you always used terra cotta pots in the past? I am hoping to grow some herbs this year on our little apartment balcony and I am trying to figure out what kind of ‘containers’ I should use. Thank you!
I say clean the pots, that way you won’t have even more old dirty pots sitting around next year. We are trying the square foot garden this year and I just planted everything over the weekend. I’m trying cilantro and a bunch of veggies. I don’t have a very green thumb though!
I’d probably scrub out the old ones unless they’re really worn out.
I keep meaning to try growing my own herbs. I love fresh basil enough that I can eat it all by itself so I should get on that. Container gardening is perfect for me because we’re in an apartment – I just have to read up on what I can grow on a balcony that gets a LOT of direct sunlight and a fair amount of wind.
Hey, I just planted herbs this morning for the first time ever! I went with a big pot on my deck. Like you say, it seems less intimidating that way! I, too, do not like raw tomatoes, but I make fresh salsa with them and eat that by the gallon. Maybe I’ll get ambitious and buy another pot and a tomato plant this week.
Dirt-encrusted pots have “character”. Have Annalie spray them with a hose for a few minutes (kids usually love doing that!) and they should be good to go!
Old Terra-Cotta can be problematic. I have reused pots, only to be disappointed by having the bottoms crumble out of them. So I would be hesitant, unless they are really good pots. I have to agree with Rebecca, mom’s time is valuable, even though we don’t collect a pay check for it. Good luck with your gardens!!
Oooh vanilla. I love vanilla. If I don’t win some, I think I am gonna have to order the beans to make some myself.
I vote new pots, purely because I just got some cute new ones for my herb transplant (I started them in pods) and they look nice when they all match. Good luck gardening.
I would just brush out the excess dirt and reuse the pots without washing. I am perhaps a little lazy.
I used to LOVE gardening, but we’ve moved around WAY too often to do it. I should do that container thing! I don’t really have any outside space to speak of though – we don’t even have a deck on our apartment. Hm …
I vote to get new ones! Partly because I’m lazy and partly because I like new things.
The Oregonian in me tells you to be green and clean the ones you have. I just cleaned some teeny pots I have for herbs and it wasn’t that bad :)
I want to do herbs in containers for the first time this year…you may have some questions fired at you :)
How fun! I’m doing half container and half vegetable patch this year (if we ever get the patch part going…) I agree with you about the containers being less intimidating. Now I’m thinking I should have gotten some more herbs… maybe I will!
I’ve thought about doing a farm share several times as well… but honestly am afraid I’d have too much produce and it would go to waste.
And as for the pots… hmmm… I think I’m with Annika, I would just brush out the dirt and re-use them. (Do the HAVE to be washed?)
Or you could get some new ones and yard-sale the old ones (if you do a yard-sale…)
And what, pray tell, makes the salsa fresca “kickass”?
SCRUB OUT THE OLD TERRACOTTA – they are already seasoned and ready to go!
OH wait, make that SALAD DRESSING…kickass salad dressing.
Though if you have kickass salsa fresca? I need that recipe too. *smerk*
Very inspiring, I want to try container gardening now. And I vote for keeping your old pots and just giving them a fresh face – maybe you and Annalie can find something to decorate them with?
The face she is making in the first photo is hilarious!
Thanks! :O)
I think you should scrub out the old ones, but it never hurts to have extras lying around for next year. Or for projects. Or anything.
And if you want something super awesome for next year, buy some extras and let your daughter paint one and then next year when she’s older let her plan a flower or something.
My mom did that with me and you know 17 years later I’m still like “Yay gardening!” although I’m certain it was a ploy to get me out in the garden weeding for free…Curses!
I say use the old ones. I love old terracotta plants, the older the get the funkier they look. I have even used one as a pen holder in my kitchen until just last year.
It’s not quite time yet, but I hope to have some herbs out this year too.
i’ll put a vote in for cleaning but then again i’m not the one doing the deed :)
i’d say buy new ones, then you can get planting quicker! i just planted my very first lettuces, tomatoes and peppers this weekend, looking forward to seeing if i actually achieve anything with them! also, has it really been 10 months since you moved?! where did that time go?!
i’d say buy new ones, then you can get planting quicker! i just planted my very first lettuces, tomatoes and peppers this weekend, looking forward to seeing if i actually achieve anything with them! also, has it really been 10 months since you moved?! where did that time go?!
Sorry… forgot to say great post – can’t wait to read your next one!
Clean those suckers out! And maybe Annalie can use some of her creativity painting and jazzing them up. We were going to start a veggie garden this year but instead ended up buying a harvest share through a local farm. Its an experiment but fresh tomatoes guaranteed!
I say you should use what you have. Get more if you need them after that. What is the point of saving all that money on fresh herbs if you have to spend it on more of what you already have. Then you can paint more dottery!!!
My two cents worth says don’t use pots period … instead purchase several of the coconut lined hanging baskets. Plant your tomatoes and cucumbers to hang from the bottom of the pots (allowing them to grow upside down!) then plant your herbs in the top of the baskets. You can then hang them from trees, your porch, overhang, just about dang near anywhere and watering is a breeze. You avoid the mess of having a pot overturned and reduce the risk of losing the entire plant. Hanging plants make a very good conversation piece as well.
Just scrub them out! You can do it, and then you won’t feel bad about buying something you didn’t really need. (Hear my own self-critic in these words?)
Reduce, reuse, recycle. I liked the idea of sicking Annalie on the job! I also like the hanging pot idea, but when you are short like, well, us, they would need to be low enough to be able to easily water them.
So I have been talking about planting an in-ground garden for a while and came home one day to Rocco actually doing it. It looked wonderful until a week later when we did a load of laundry and realized the washer drains into the garden! We dug a culvert, but something has got to change!
Your plants look great so far!
I love the way old/dirty terracotta pots look, so I say go with those! You could even paint or decorate them yourself!!
Neither. Just plant in the pots from last year! Cheap AND easy! :)
i’d go with dirty terracotta, and not bother with cleaning or buying! nothing at all like fresh herbs, they’re worth their weight in gold.
Give Annalie the joy of cleaning out the terra cotta pots. And pick me, pick me! I was hoping there would be a vanilla giveaway!
I actually get vanilla made by my grandmother, so I don’t mind if you don’t enter me in the giveaway (especially since I’m not actually answering your question) but here’s what you should do: whether you buy new terra cotta pots or scrub the old ones, you should go to a craft store (or the exchange might have them. It’s been a while since I’ve been there) and buy some different colored glass beads and some silicon adhesive and let Annalie glue beads onto the pots. It’s an awesome arts and crafts project and it makes them shine and look so pretty in the sun. If you decide to really got crazy they have little glass tiles you can buy also (with blunt edges, so Annalie doesn’t cut herself) and make designs with. The beads and adhesive are so cheap and it’s a great outdoor project for you and Annalie!
I guess I would encourage you to scrub out the pots, since you’ve already got them!
I’d love to see the progress on your garden. I need to start a container garden. I grew fresh basil for a while and loved that. I also love having fresh rosemary, but that plant died over the winter. I need to start fresh.
I love the idea of having Annalie spray the pots out with the hose or attack them with a brush in her pool. She would probably love that, and then I don’t have to do it. Brilliant! You all are a treasure trove of wonderful ideas, keep ‘em coming!
I’d like to say clean out the old ones but who am I kidding, I’d be the first to take the easy way out. I always had big dreams of having a full-blown veggie garden once I had my own house but now that this is the first spring that I can do so – I’m totally overwhelmed! I decided a couple of weeks to go that a herb container garden would be a good way to ease myself into this whole gardening thing. Now to get myself in gear and get it started is another story!
god blessed me with some pretty neat things but a green thumb was not one of them!
but every year…i still try. lol…i might have just killed the brand new herbs we got as an easter gift. it was still too cold at night but so awesomely warm and shiny before dark so i thought i’d give the plants some sunshine love. needless to say…they didn’t make it.
lol.
try, try, then try again eh?
but what i did wanted to share with you was this…
to jazz up your old terracota pots, go to the pottery store, buy some crystal glazes (gare and mayco both make it and they’re non-toxic) and three-coat drip them on the top
(first and second coat with just the top part of the glaze then for the last coat, pour the top section of the glaze out onto a separate palette leaving just a little bit at the bottom with all the crystals. mix it up really good and use that as your last coat. pour back the rest of the glaze into the bottle and save for another project!)
fire the pots like you would normally fire pottery. the store should have some kind of policy on it…normally about 25% of the piece.
and it transforms it!
or…make pretty dottery with acryllic paint on the outside though that’s not food safe and i don’t know how you feel about that?
lol…look at me. i’ve always just read and never commented and the first comment i make is a book long. sorry.
have a great day!
Scrub and reuse six terracotta pots. Then, as a reward for your thriftiness and hard work, go buy two cute new pots (or paint them? does your painting place have pots?) to liven things up. :) I love having garden herbs, too…the problem here is that the rabbits and deer in our yard share my love!
reuse your pots… older pots look better with their aged patina. i think i’m going to try the vanilla recipe, it would be a nice gift to add to the recipe books i’m giving our moms on mothers day : )
My first instinct would be to just buy new pots and “forget” the old ones in the garage. On second thought, however, I really think you could derive some satisfaction from scrubbing those old pots and using them. I bet you and Annalie would actually enjoy playing around with the hose and some old dish brushes… hence, I vote for old pots. :)
I love buying new pots. It’s the fun part of gardening for me…picking a cute pot to put something in.
You make me want to go and garden….
Oh…and you make me want to make vanilla too.
But count me out for the giveaway draw….Aussie Customs opens every package you send me. Vanilla might be the one they confiscate. haha
Clean out the old ones. You could paint them too, if you wanted!
Home Depot has some fabulous jewel-toned plastic pots, that I honestly didn’t know were plastic until I picked them up. They’re beautiful! I think they only really have bigger sizes, though, so it would have to be a few plants to a pot to make it worthwhile.
I’ve been reading your blog for a while, and I really enjoy seeing some of the things you do — particularly the pottery painting! It’s interesting to read blogs of people here in So Cal, and see things from the different perspectives.
Scrub out the old ones, AND buy new ones. That’s what I would do. :-)
Mmmm, fresh herbs!
I buy them every year and forget them outside when it snows. This year I think I will to a fancy little indoor friendly potted garden so I can bring it inside at the end of summer.
I so miss going out and clipping whatever I need for dinner!
I vote to clean out the old. I love rustic old stuff though. I have one of those teared herb pots but find that the herbs struggle in it. I am not cleaning it out this year…maybe I’ll just stick a flower of some sort in the top tear.
I think you should reuse the old terracotta pots to be thrifty and environmental. BUT don’t bother washing them out because you’re putting dirt back in them. Why in the world would you wash them out?????
How ironic that the first post that I read of yours was the original vanilla post that I “stumbled” upon. :-)
LOVE your site. Tell Annalie that I love her smile and her enthusiasm for life! :-)
My vote is for buying new pots, but then, I’m lazy like that. I hate cleaning, especially if it’s something that has been sitting around for a while.
fun… we have been doing gardening in pots lately also. I say on a hot afternoon, give Annalie and sponge and a bucket and let her help. Benjamin would love the water/dirt/job combo… – so wash them is my vote!
Recycling is love! :) Also, a little elbow grease never hurts. Reuse the pots! (I don’t wash pots out, though; I just put something else in)
Oh, and I want to say that I am also a total web-stalker who doesn’t know you but reads everything you post and I enjoy the Annalieisms. Have fun with your pots!