Category Archives: garden

patio gardening: July

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I’ve never had much luck with container gardening. This year has been more successful. I’ve got a cherry tomato and some sort of larger, determinate tomato. The cherry tomato is producing a handful of tomatoes every few days and the other tomato has produced only a few ripe tomatoes so far, but there are more on the vines.

July cherry tomatoes

July cherry tomatoes

When I visited Oregon a few weeks ago, I had to hang the tomato plants in the basement. It wasn’t ideal, but they would have dried out and died in the Utah heat. The basement has natural light, but of course it is nowhere near what the tomatoes were used to. In the week or two since I’ve returned to Utah and returned the tomatoes to their south-facing roost, I’ve noticed that there are no new blooms on the tomato plants and the leaves look a little drab. I hope that four+ days in a basement didn’t end their season!

I also planted a zucchini in a container this year. I had the brilliant idea because I love zucchini and I know they’re prolific. Why not try them in a container? Above is a picture of the first zucchini of the summer. The plant is producing one good-sized zucchini every few weeks. This plant’s foliage is not impressive, but it is putting some energy into growing zucchinis too, so I’m happy about that. I fertilize the container (though I could probably do more), and the sprinkler system actually hits this planter, so it is one of the only plants that I don’t have to water by hand.

first zucchini from a container and a few of the determinate tomatoes

first zucchini from a container and a few of the determinate tomatoes

Some people my be frustrated by the low output of these plants, but honestly, they are all doing way better than most container vegetables I’ve tried in the past. I’m thrilled with the outcome. Pro-tips for next year include adding more fertilizer earlier and continuing with fertilizer throughout the growing season. In the Utah heat, the containers need lots of water and as a result lose a lot of nutrients.

zucchini blossom

zucchini blossom

When it comes to gardening, I’m a big fan of growing the kinds of veggies I’ll actually eat and enjoy. Next year I’m going to try to grow kale in a container. I buy and eat a lot of kale, and I frequently see it’s lovely purple foliage in containers. So, that’s my plan for next year–that is unless I happen to live somewhere where I can have the kind of garden that grows in the ground. A girl can dream.

baby zucchini

baby zucchini

patio gardening

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There’s something you must know about me: I love to garden. My parents always kept a very large garden and enjoyed it throughout the summer and put up food for the winter. Sometimes, they kept two large gardens. And, there were always additional raspberry, garlic, and herb gardens too. That’s not even to mention the multiple orchards that my dad tends. So, yeah, I like to garden. It’s in my blood.

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patio gardening with topsy turvies

When I was a little girl, I stole a bean and grew it in a cup in my windowsill. That bean grew until it ran out of space. Maybe it was transferred to the garden. Maybe it was tossed. Maybe I let it die. I don’t remember what happened to it. But, ever since I moved out of my parents’ home, I’ve kept houseplants–though I don’t love houseplants as much as I love gardening. Like my mother, I like expressive plants that change with the seasons, produce, die, or live, but change.

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patio gardening: wave petunias

I’ve also taken every opportunity I’ve had to grow something on a patio. When I was an undergrad, I  grew daisies in a small plot of soil by my apartment patio. Those daisies were amazing! I wish I could remember the variety. They really thrived. A year after I moved out, I went back and saw that they were still there, but unattended, unwatered, and smaller. They are probably long gone now, years later.

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patio gardening: strawberry

I still wish I had more space for gardening, but I’m making use of what I have: a patio, a shaded back patio, and some shaded, rock hard soil that’s mostly clay. Despite these setbacks, I’ve actually been able to grow quite a few plants this summer, and they seem to be flourishing. An enormous tree was recently removed from my back patio, so the space that was once completely shaded is now only partially shaded. That means I can grow a few things, but since the tree was only removed a few weeks ago, it’s really too late to grow anything too substantial. I’ve got a few sunflowers going back there, and that’s only because I already had the seed.

 

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patio gardening: cherry tomatoes

Maybe next year I’ll be able to do more with the space. But, I can’t help but wonder if I’ll even be here next year. I’m a home body who would love nothing more than to have a space to live long-term, a space that included lots of room for gardening, but that’s not my situation. I’ve never imagined myself as someone who lived in the city permanently, and yet right now, that doesn’t seem like such a stretch.

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planter box zucchini