A Patio Container Garden...an online photo tour

Dear garden buds,

I've been very lax at taking photos of my garden, but finally got a bee in my bonnet and did it. These are random photos taken here and there, willy-nilly. I love growing plants in containers, and try to add new ones every season. I'm really getting into combining plants now and love how the colors and leaf textures set each other off.

In the garden vignette photo above, I have a galvanized tub on an old bench discarded by a neighbor and hand-painted. In the tub, I'm growing sweet marjoram, dianthus and alyssum. The tub is surrounded by hand-painted birdhouses (one by my friend Sherry Gaffney), a galvanized saucer used as a birdbath, another birdbath and a hand-painted bucket planted with comfrey. Just to the right, you can see the edge of an old wooden barrel that serves as a pedestal for a potted bamboo.

I love my potted bamboo, a gift from my friend Fred, by way of south Austin. I planted some white dianthus at the base of it. What a gorgeous combo they make in the hand-painted lime green Mexican cement pot.



Lemon thyme and white alyssum live happily in an old Goodwill store find...a wooden chips/dip bowl painted blue with drainage holes drilled in the bottom.



The cactus (started as a few pads salvaged from the neighbor's trash) continues to thrive in the old antique iron pot I bought from a fellow at the side of the road.



A combo of a small cherry tomato, a purple dianthus, and two small pepper plants grow in the galvanized metal trough on my patio.



A small salad garden grows just steps outside our dining room/kitchen door.



Another new project this spring is my galvanized tub/trellis project. Two tubs, drilled in the bottom for drainage, filled with great Gardenville potting soil and planted with Scarlet Runner Beans (on the left) and sweet peas (on the right). They've all sprouted, and started their journey up the trellis. I love the purple gazing ball in between. A small cuphook screwed into the side of the house helps keep the trellis from flapping about.



Most of these containers can be enjoyed from the living room and dining room windows inside the house, something I plan carefully each season.

Hope you've enjoyed this little tour of my container garden! (And notice how I've combined herbs, veggies and flowers!)

Happy trails from Texas,

bobbi c.

Raised bed gardens--easy, fast and inexpensive

april 4, 2007 by bobbi a. chukran


Mornin’ Earthly Gardeners!

As promised, today I wanted to give you a few ideas for some small raised bed gardens you can make in your own backyard, front yard or small piece of land. One uses common cement blocks you can find at stores like Lowe’s or Home Depot or a masonry supplier. They usually cost less than $1.25 each, last time I checked. The blocks are around 12″ each, so it’s easy to decide how many to buy.

Here’s a photo of my largest cement block garden.



And here’s another view, at the corner.



To make the bed, all I did was find a relatively flat spot in our front yard, stacked the cement blocks end to end until the bed was as long as I wanted it, filled it with a mixture of homemade compost, store bought compost, topsoil and bagged dirt and sand. I mixed it with a hoe, and raked the top smooth. Then I planted! It really was as easy as that. We didn’t have a lawn there, so it was a bit easier. But if you do have lawn, cut it as low as possible, try to dig out the grass, cover the grass with a thick layer of newspapers, then put down the cement blocks and fill with soil.

I told you it was easy! I eventually painted my bed to match the garage that you can see in the background of the corner photo. I used a very watered-down latex paint, leftover from painting the house. It’s been painted for years now, and still looks as good as in the beginning.

One thing I learned is that most smaller plants and vegetables don’t have to be planted in two feet of soil. Over the years, the organic matter has changed the consistency of the soil in these beds, and it’s deeper. But the height of the blocks is sufficient for most things you’d want to grow. I actually have a small fig tree at the end of the bed, and it’s doing fine.

Also, we have a series of cedar board beds, at the other end of the front garden. Here’s a photo of those:



Those are a bit more difficult to make, but basically I used 2″ x 12″ untreated cedar boards and screwed them together using butt joints at the corners. It wasn’t hard, but was unwieldy since I didn’t have a workshop set up at the time. I basically assembled them in the garden. Each of those are about 4-feet square and I grow all sorts of things in them: rosemary (seen at the left), lavender and native salvias (at the right in the front), garlic, potatoes, and even a few small crepe myrtle trees for shade in the middle of several of them. Since potatoes require deeper soil, I made a little division in the middle bed at the right side for them using two scraps of pine boards. As the plants grow, I’ll put in more soil in that area.

Neither of these beds take up much room. The cedar beds are in an area that’s smaller than a normal sized backyard. They could also be painted or “colorwashed” to match a fence, or whatever. I just wouldn’t paint on the inside of the boards.

And speaking of small container gardens, here’s a photo of my tomatoes I planted some time back in my new EarthBox. I spied a baby tomato on one of them yesterday! How exciting!



The weather guys are calling for colder temps this weekend. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had a “late” freeze this time of year. It’s already down in the 60’s (it was 86 yesterday!) so I’m keeping a close eye on the plants! That’s the beauty of the EarthBox, you can wheel it inside the garage, or to a sheltered location, if the weather threatens.

dig it!

bobbi c.

copyright©2007 bobbi a. chukran. All rights to text and photos reserved.