I haven’t done a gardening post in so long. I really did not even plan on having a garden this year. Our backyard is not huge and the dogs have run of the place, so it just didn’t seem worth the effort, especially since I was really pregnant at the time. Around Mother’s Day, Matt decided that he was going to plant some type of garden for me in spite of my resistance to the idea. He said I NEEDED this, and reminded me how much joy I got out of our raised bed garden back in Calgary.
He was right. I did love our garden and all of the amazing food we were able to grow in such a small space. Our space here is even smaller though, and I really was not even sure that I would be able to maintain a lot of plants. With a newborn, two other little kids, and three dogs, my time is stretched pretty thin. I finally gave in though to having just a few plants in a container garden tucked back in the far end of our front courtyard.
We use this space mostly for dining outside when the weather is nice. It is on the east side of our house and shaded from the hot afternoon sun. When we first placed the pots here the crepe myrtle was not in bloom yet, so the sunlight was able to stream through to the pots, but now it taking over the courtyard. I suppose I should cut back some of the lower limbs on the crepe myrtle tree, but I hate to steal its beauty!
The garden itself consists of two sets of three pots. We have planted a variety of small container friendly tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, basil, chives, eggplant, and summer squash.
The tomatoes are doing pretty good. The girls love picking them off the vine and popping them directly into their mouths, so I haven’t exactly gotten to use them in the kitchen.
The basil is also thriving.
We haven’t had much luck with the other stuff yet. The squash plants have had huge blossoms at times, but no fruit has grown from them. The peppers and tomatillos also have yet to produce fruit. I am afraid that it might be due to the lack of sunlight and I need to just get to work on trimming back the crepe myrtle. If we don’t get much out of it, I still think it will have been worth the effort. The girls love to help with the watering and picking the tomatoes, and I always think that attempting to grow food beats out growing flowers and ornamentals any day!
Beau agrees too!
Does anyone else have a container garden? What are you growing?
XO-Jenny
Jenny Garvin Fitness 
Your backyard is quite charming!
Thank you Anjana! I love how it is right there on the border between charming and overgrown!
There’s such a joy to growing your own food, even if it’s in small quantities. Your tomatoes and basil look amazing. My tomato plants are still tiny so no fruit yet. My basil, however, just won’t grow! I don’t know what I’m doing wrong and I really want it to grow as I love the stuff! Hope new baby is keeping well.
I totally agree June, there is something so gratifying about growing your own food. It is still pretty early in the season. I remember my tomato plants in Calgary didn’t really fruit until September and then when they finally did, I had more than I knew what to do with! Good luck with your basil, mine enjoys being neglected I think!