Starting My First Container Garden

Starting a container garden is something I've been thinking about doing for a long time. Growing up I always had a great garden. (Thanks Dad!) As a kid, my brother and I would each choose a vegetable to plant in the spring, care for all summer and harvest in the fall. All these pleasant childhood memories boil down to: I love gardens. They are beautiful, calming, and provide oxygen. We could use more of that in LA. However, being a young person, not only do I lead a rather nomadic lifestyle (since going to college I've moved six times), but the places I do live never seem to have a glorious back yard in which to plant my garden.

After years of wanting to start a garden and being scared off, I finally took the plunge. My waffling was ended largely because I read "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver, recommended to me by my friend Kristen. It is an amazing book about a family choosing to EXCLUSIVELY eat locally grown and raised food for one year. That means a lot of gardening. The book doesn't gloss over the hard work involved in gardening, but it does celebrate the rewards of growing your own food. And while their family ate only home grown foods, the book emphasized that every little bit helps. So that was it. I was sold.

This Christmas I asked for and received (Thanks Mom and Dad!) seeds, pots, tools and a watering can. As well as a super attractive garden shelf which serves the duel purposes of creating more space on my small balcony, and providing a little separation between my space and my neighbors.

So today I finally got around to planting. The baby plants will be staying indoors for the first few weeks before they move out into their future home on the balcony. I gathered my supplies.

My seed packets and labels. (Cameo by my new trowel!)

My seed starter kit

And some freshly bought dirt. (I think it is so weird that I have to buy dirt. Even though we did that for flower beds back home.)

Then I just loaded up the little cups, followed the planting instructions and gave them a good soaking with water.

Here is the finished product.

I'll let you know how these little guys progress. According to the packaging I should be seeing little shoots in about a week. I've got a wide range of things planted, several veggies, some herbs and even a flower. The challenges of my garden will be the space issue and the fact that it gets only partial sun, when most of my plants need full sun. Anybody have some good general advice for a beginner?

Claire Out.