My Experiment in Container Gardening in Wisconsin

I have always loved gardening. I grew up on a hobby farm and the world (or field) was my oyster and we could plant anything we wanted. Granted, that was when I was a child so I'm sure I had more fun swinging on a tire swing and not planting a garden. I vividly remember planting a very large section of potatoes which we had to dig up in the fall (and I don't remember that being that much fun) or dealing with small black beetles in the raspberry bushes (which would scare most kids away from grabbing any raspberries without first giving them a very good visual inspection.)

Now that I'm all grown up, have a family, and have far less space than I used to I yearn for the good ole days of that hobby farm. I have two children (ages 5 and almost 2) and I want to show them where fruits and veggies come from (and the grocery store doesn't count.) I have yet to convince my husband to dig up a part of our 3/4 acre lot for a garden, particularily because I find most garden plots unattractive. If I locate it in the back of our yard I know the neighborhood deer will eat everything anyways, besides the thought of dragging hoses out there to water is enough of a turnoff. The solution I came up with was container gardening in my backyard. So here I go...

This year I have taken a pretty sizeable undertaking: 14 tomato plants (mostly heirloom tomatoes); patty-pan squash, pickle bushes, a variety of peppers and herbs, summer squash, garlic, green onions, lettuce, radishes, and carrots. All located on our west-facing stamped concrete patio.

I will be posting my successes and failures to help any of you that love to garden and have contemplated container gardening.