I remember what it was like getting ready to plant a fall vegetable garden the hard way. There was a great deal of sweat and fatigue involved. No more. With an easy condo garden, clearing out the old to get ready to plant the new took me about ten minutes. The hardest part was finding a brown paper bag from the supermarket to contain the debris. Since I’m bringing reusable bags on the few short trips I take (most of my purchases are delivered after I order online…wonderful), finding a paper bag took about half of the ten minutes!
I then took my garden scissors, a small trowel and the bag to my garden. There I snipped away any plants that were finished and dumped the debris in the bag. I also removed the garden twine I used to fill in the gaps on my two trellises where I had grown snap beans this season. I dumped this into the bag as well. It’s really inexpensive, so it’s much easier to throw this out, than to untangle it.
If you have been reading this blog for awhile, then you know that I moved my garden pots from one side of the building where I live to the other late last spring in order to follow the sun. The next step in planting my fall garden was to move the pots back to where the sun is now shining most of the day. Then I caught a cold, as did everyone in my family. No one wanted to move pots. So, they sat there for two weeks. I still watered and harvested carrots and tomatoes, but I did nothing else for my garden.
Last weekend, my son-in-law came over and helped me move the pots. I thought he was going to bring my grandsons, but they were off having fun somewhere else. It wasn’t difficult to move the pots. I had purchased a small dolly, and he lifted the pots onto it. We (read that “he”) pushed them one by one to the other side of the building. While doing this he discovered why I suggested bringing the boys. With their size, it would have been easy to push the pots. Although the pots were elevated on the dolly, he had to lean over quite a bit to reach them. Next time he will remember to bring the boys!
That was all my cold would allow me to do. I guess that was even too much. My cold turned into a sinus infection, and I have zero energy for my garden…or anything else. The good thing about an easy condo garden is that it will wait. As long as I water what is growing, no harm…no foul. Of course, I may have missed the window on planting cool season tomatoes. I’m not sure. According to the Burpee planting guide for California, there is no fall season for tomatoes. However, there are short season tomatoes with names like “Siberia”. If I’m feeling better next weekend, I may go ahead and plant one.
In the meantime, I’m searching for a bag of Kellogg N’Rich Organic Compost to augment the Square Foot Gardening soil in my container garden. I found a three cubic foot bag at Home Depot, but that is way more than I need! I don’t intend to store compost. In a condo, keeping the neighbors happy with your garden is really high on the list of priorities. Storing compost is an invitation to problems both from critters and smell. I’m not going there! So the search is on…
Until next time,
Elizabeth
I then took my garden scissors, a small trowel and the bag to my garden. There I snipped away any plants that were finished and dumped the debris in the bag. I also removed the garden twine I used to fill in the gaps on my two trellises where I had grown snap beans this season. I dumped this into the bag as well. It’s really inexpensive, so it’s much easier to throw this out, than to untangle it.
If you have been reading this blog for awhile, then you know that I moved my garden pots from one side of the building where I live to the other late last spring in order to follow the sun. The next step in planting my fall garden was to move the pots back to where the sun is now shining most of the day. Then I caught a cold, as did everyone in my family. No one wanted to move pots. So, they sat there for two weeks. I still watered and harvested carrots and tomatoes, but I did nothing else for my garden.
Last weekend, my son-in-law came over and helped me move the pots. I thought he was going to bring my grandsons, but they were off having fun somewhere else. It wasn’t difficult to move the pots. I had purchased a small dolly, and he lifted the pots onto it. We (read that “he”) pushed them one by one to the other side of the building. While doing this he discovered why I suggested bringing the boys. With their size, it would have been easy to push the pots. Although the pots were elevated on the dolly, he had to lean over quite a bit to reach them. Next time he will remember to bring the boys!
That was all my cold would allow me to do. I guess that was even too much. My cold turned into a sinus infection, and I have zero energy for my garden…or anything else. The good thing about an easy condo garden is that it will wait. As long as I water what is growing, no harm…no foul. Of course, I may have missed the window on planting cool season tomatoes. I’m not sure. According to the Burpee planting guide for California, there is no fall season for tomatoes. However, there are short season tomatoes with names like “Siberia”. If I’m feeling better next weekend, I may go ahead and plant one.
In the meantime, I’m searching for a bag of Kellogg N’Rich Organic Compost to augment the Square Foot Gardening soil in my container garden. I found a three cubic foot bag at Home Depot, but that is way more than I need! I don’t intend to store compost. In a condo, keeping the neighbors happy with your garden is really high on the list of priorities. Storing compost is an invitation to problems both from critters and smell. I’m not going there! So the search is on…
Until next time,
Elizabeth
