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About the Header Image: Idlebrook Wendy Darling Evensen "Wendy" one of our four Labrador Retrievers.

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Sunday, July 11, 2010

Catherine's Patio Garden

Good morning,

Have you seen those patio gardens and upside down gardens on TV?  A friend gave our daughter this patio garden last Christmas.  Catherine has done a great deal of planning to get it set up and going on the patio this Spring and it is paying off now. 
She started these sweet peppers and egg plants in her office in March.
By April, they were growing nicely.
When the danger of frost had passed, she planted them outside in her patio garden with some other good stuff:  parsley, basil, oregano, tomatoes....
I'm not so sure about those upside down tomatoes hanging there. 
It appears to work on TV, right?
As you can see from this progression of growth images, the plants are pretty happy. 
We've harvested plenty of parsley, oregano, and basil, and have flowers on other plants, but we have yet to get any tomatoes, peppers, or egg plant.  There is a planter on the back side of the black patio garden that will accommodate any vines that outgrow the patio garden. 

This whole adventure is a great deal of fun!  I am sure Catherine will plant it again next year.

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11 comments:

Cathy said...

Hello Lois
Thanks for sropping in recently and for your comments. Its good to know someone is reading what I have been writing.
Your daughter with the really good name (same as mine lol) has been very industrious and as you say is reaping the rewards of all that planning. Are you using all the herbs fresh or will you dry some?
You might find the upside down tomatoes will do better if they are a little bit higher off the ground. I've only seen the hanging basket type of container sold for that purpose in our garden centres - being higher off the ground means they have more room to 'hang' - watering can be made easier by getting one of those long handled nozzles. They seem to like heat rather than sunsine if thats any help.
Take care
Cathy

Wanda..... said...

Lots of herbs for your bread making!

Catherine's patio garden (that actual type) is new to me...would be especially nice for apartment dwellers too. I used to grow things in pots on our deck.

Gardening is very satisfying, I have a small garden just beyond my kitchen door. So far one zuchinni, 6 cherry tomatoes, a cucumber, 2 peppers and basil & parsley & onions have made it to the table!

All of our rain has helped!

I've never grown the 'upsidedown' tomatoes, but my son has! It actually worked!

♥...Wanda

Rinkly Rimes said...

It's amazing how much you can grow in a small space! Not that I've ever tried!

Montanagirl said...

She sure grew a lot in a small area! Good for her. We don't grow a garden.

Claudia said...

It looks very idyllic!

Anonymous said...

She really did a good job on this. And the results are nice to see.

My son, an art director in Florida, did the original photography and art for the upside down hanging garden things.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Not sure that Grenville would go for this small gardening idea, but it seems "perfect" for a small household.

Cheryl said...

I've never seen a garden such as this but I am very intrigued! I have a pot with a cherry tomato plant in it and I have discovered two little tomatoes have blossomed! The garden looks so lush and healthy, I will definitely look into such.

Diana said...

I've seen the upside down tomatoes but not the patio garden. It looks very LUSH! Let us know about the tomatoes Lois, I am very curious!
Love Di ♥

Lois Evensen said...

Good morning,

Yes, Cathy, Catherine even went out of her way to purchase determinate vine tomatoes so they would be best for the patio garden. Perhaps next year we will add one of the type Abraham mentioned, too. We are getting more flowers on all the plants and some little peppers just since I took those pictures. You're right about the name: Catherine is a beautiful name. ;)

For those who mentioned it is a small garden, I have a reason for it. We have lived in the city near Xavier University for 31 years. There was a time when I marked off a section of the back yard and grew a few tomatoes, etc. My kids and German Shepherds respected my little fences. Now that we have Labrador Retrievers who are fun loving happy "people" who have their own agility course out there that they use with daughter Catherine and I travel a good part of the year, I have decided the back yard is theirs. I only grow flowers down on the ground. For the the people and dogs who live here and the many relatives and friends who come and go, we will have to harvest our veggies at the Kroger garden or get them in trade for loaves of bread. ;)

Thank you so much, everyone, for stopping by.

Very best,
Lois

Elaine said...

Although I grow a few veggies and herbs, I mainly rely on our Farmers Market in the summer--it is definitely a lot less work!