It seems in recent years, the growing of one’s own vegetable garden has become more popular than ever. The trend is probably for a variety of reasons, no less than the difficult economy, and the “Go Green” movement. I’m a bit of a “newbie” gardener and the pride of watching a personal garden grow, and getting the ultimate reward of having the freshest vegetables to eat, has been a pure joy for me.
One of the best parts of growing your own garden is that you don’t necessarily have to have a large plot of land in a rural area. Some city dwellers have formed their own co-ops and used empty building lots as garden space. Everyone in the co-op pitches in to work the garden. Even extremely small spaces like apartment balconies can be used with container gardens.
For my first gardening attempt, I chose to make a container garden on my (sunny) deck. I used this method because I thought it might be easier to keep critters, both domestic and wild, from trampling, eating, etc., my veggies–if there were to be any. I wanted to keep it small because of my initial lack of confidence in being a successful gardener. (I’ve managed to kill an array of houseplants in my time.)
I decided to grow cocktail tomatoes because, (a) I love them, and (b) I love them. I bought one pack of seeds and a bag of gardening soil fortified with nutrients and fertilizer. I poured some of the soil into a flower pot approximately 18 inches in diameter. I spread the whole pack of seeds around the container, and buried them about a quarter to a half inch deep. Except for occasional watering, I left them alone.
Since I didn’t know a thing about gardening, it was much to my surprise and delight that my little cocktail tomato seeds had started to sprout. When they grew to about two or 3three inches tall, I replanted them in four large pots so they would have room to grow. My little seedlings eventually grew into plump and juicy morsels of exquisitely ripe and tasty cocktail tomatoes. They yielded fruit from the first of July until the first frost in late October.
I’m still using a container garden on my deck, but now I plant green beans, peppers, peas and tomatoes; Who knew I could be successful at growing a garden? It never ceases to thrill me to see these fresh veggies growing on my deck. If I can do this, anyone can. I encourage you to give it a try if you’ve never gardened. A container garden doesn’t take that much work and as I said, the rewards are fantastic.