Thursday, June 30, 2011

Potted Crops

The last couple of years have been difficult for gardening.  Last year, it quit raining in June and, even with daily watering, the crops sort of withered and died by the end of July.  I have to admit that it was wonderful not to have to pull weeds for the entire season, but I also didn't get the excellent home-grown veggies that make the whole process worth it.

This year I studied up on container gardening.  Crops in Pots and You Grow, Girl were my favorite books on the subject.  I carefully started heirloom tomatoes and several other kinds of seed in egg cartons.  They all made it to the big pot stage.  But the rain never quit and it was cloudy and coolish for a long time.  Nothing grew with a bang.  The plants all just crept along. 

Lately, in between downpours and vicious storms, we've had enough heat that I expected my "babies" to grow.  Still nothing spectacular.  Finally, I decided to dig them into the garden.  Either it will kill them or they will grow better.  This morning, most of my container garden became regular garden.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

As I was working a shovel gently under as much of the soil as possible so as to do the least damage to the roots, I realized that every pot was soaked.  The plants had all been standing in water.  Perhaps that had something to do with their general health.  I'm sure hoping for some home-grown tomatoes this year.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi

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