My mother was an avid gardener. Growing up we always had not only fresh vegetables from her vegetable garden, but brightly colored flowers in vases throughout the house. My mom loved to work in the garden, getting her hands dirty, producing a delicious crop. But for me, vegetable gardening seemed a daunting task. Then my sister recommended container gardening.
Container gardening is basically gardening that is within a container, or smaller raised bed. I started out doing square foot gardening when I had a yard available to me. Square foot gardening is gardening broken down to 1 x 1 square foot spaces. To me, it was far more manageable than my mother’s way of gardening in the traditional rows.
I started with two 4 x 4 square feet sections and grew tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, string beans, snap peas and some varieties of lettuce. It was a great success! I had a beautiful vegetable garden.
I then moved to a small apartment and only had room for a few containers for my container vegetable gardening. This is when I focused on tomatoes and green beans as they are my favorites. I also enjoyed growing herbs in my container garden.
All in all, my container gardening has gone quite a bit better than expected! I enjoy some type of garden every spring and summer and will continue to do so. My mother was right – it’s fun, rewarding and delicious!
