Planning My First Container Garden

I admit it: I have never had my own garden. I have tried, but I have never succeeded. Growing up, my grandparents had gorgeous gardens. I loved to go out and pick fresh strawberries or grab a carrot from the ground, clean it off and take a bite. In the past, I have tried to grow things, and unfortunately, everything has died, except for the rose bushes I have in my back yard. Now I am planning my first container garden and I hope that this time my brown thumb turns green.

Reuse, garden style: Get creative with your containers.

You may be asking, why a container garden? Well, I live in Arizona, and we have a weird type of soil where I live — it is very clay-like in consistency. We can definitely garden in it, but it takes more preparation. I have also read that it is very easy for a first-time gardener to succeed with a vegetable or two in a container garden.

So, here is my plan. First, I need to find a suitable container. Since I’m focusing on creating an eco-friendly container garden, I need to reuse something I already have. I am thinking that an old crate with a lid that is warped would be great for the container garden. The lid doesn’t fit tightly anymore, so the crate isn’t great for storage. However, I think it would be perfect for a container garden.

After that, my kids and I will fill it up with soil and actually plant some vegetables. Right now, the votes are for tomatoes and a type of lettuce. From what I have read, these two vegetables are relatively easy to grow in a container setting, are good in Arizona and the kids love them.

I am determined to succeed this time. I have a large yard, and I’d love to expand my lettuce and tomato container garden to include a variety of vegetables and, of course, strawberries. There is nothing tastier than a fresh-from-the-vine strawberry.

While my grandmothers had great gardens that I loved to eat from, I never had a desire to learn the art of gardening. Based on my past attempts at gardening, I can honestly say that there is truly an art to it. I hope that by sitting down with my kids and figuring out this together, they’ll be able to grow whatever they want as they get older.