Two Month Container Garden Update

It’s time for another garden update! Let me start out by showing a few older pictures. Here’s the bulk of our container garden right after we transplanted everything two months ago:

Container garden right after transplanting

Here’s that same setup one month ago:

Container garden after one month

And here’s what it looks like now:

Container garden after two months

We’ve moved most things out of this arrangement recently, to maximize sun exposure, but I moved it back temporarily to give a better comparison with the first two pictures. Even with the rearranging, I had trouble fitting everything into the picture (I couldn’t back up enough on our small balcony!) but you get the general idea. Wow have our plants really taken off over the last month!

I think all of our plants are finally doing well. If you remember from my last update, some of our basil plants were getting huge while others were still looking sad and puny. Since then, nearly all of the basil has started growing well. The slower plants are, of course, still smaller, but they’re finally growing in earnest.

Bucket basil

The “bucket basil,” as I like to think of it, is still the largest. Who would’ve thought that an old mayonnaise bucket would be great for growing basil? Not me. We only used it because we ended up with a few extra basil plants.

Speaking of experiments, to my great surprise the garden sock basil is still hanging on:

Garden sock basil

It’s even been growing in the last few days. It will be interesting to see what it does next.

Since most of our basil plants are doing so well we’re now practically swimming in basil. It’s so fun to be able to just go out on the balcony and pick some for a meal. At this point, though, using just small amounts isn’t keeping up with supply, so we’re planning on making some pesto soon. Just in time, too, as our frozen supply from last year is nearly out.

I hope that we’ll be able to enjoy some of our tomatoes with all that basil sometime soon. So far we’ve only eaten two cherry tomatoes, but both plants are getting huge and growing a lot of green tomatoes. Early Girl’s are getting bigger and bigger, while some of the cherry tomatoes are ripening:

Cherry tomatoes

The pepper plants have been growing flowers for a while now, but it was only a couple days ago that I discovered this:

Peppers

Apparently peppers like to hide down underneath the leaves. When you look at the plants from the top you can’t even tell these are there. I’m really curious to see how big the peppers will get, and at what point they start ripening. This is supposed to be a red pepper variety and I’d love to be able to wait for them to turn red before we pick them.

In addition to tomatoes, peppers and basil, we’re also growing a container of chard and some peppermint, both of which are doing well:

Chard and mint

I really need to cook some of that chard and try my hand at making some peppermint extract. I see now why it’s recommended to keep your mint in a container. I’m impressed by how quickly it’s growing!

I’m having such a fun time with our garden. It’s fascinating watching everything grow. Now I can’t wait to actually start eating some of it! Hopefully soon… 🙂

This post is part of Monday Mania and Fat Tuesday. 

 How’s your garden doing?

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10 Responses to Two Month Container Garden Update

  1. Your garden is looking great! I'm really wishing I had planted some mint. I think that would have been fun to use. I'll have to remember to do so next year!
    • Meghan says:
      Yes, the mint has been fun. It's supposed to be really easy to grow, so I figured even if everything else went badly at least I'd still have the mint!
  2. Leola says:
    Yay! Look what you did! Congratulations!!!! It looks maaahvelous! ;-)
  3. Sam says:
    That's amazing! I'm kind of jealous. I wish I had the space for container gardening. The light's just not right inside the apartment (the UV blocking windows are great for keeping the apartment cooler, but not for growing plants), and I really can't figure out a way to get gardening materials up the rickety ladder to the roof...
  4. reb says:
    your garden looks great!! i have container garden envy. :) we lost some of ours when we had hail a month or so ago and the heat hasn't helped either.
    • Meghan says:
      Thanks, Reb! Having the plants right outside is definitely a benefit right now, since I can easily check on them and water when necessary. I don't know what normal watering requirements are like but I'm often watering twice a day or more because it's so hot.
      • reb says:
        I just made a homemade irrigation system (ie. plastic bottles with holes poked in the top :)) and that seems to be helping. But I do think I need to get into the habit of watering twice a day too. I'll be glad when this heat is done!
  5. Meri says:
    I've never heard of a garden sock but it looks intriguing! Also, glad your garden's doing so well. My mom actually texted me today to say her tomato plant has grown tiny green tomatoes. =P
    • Meghan says:
      Hi Karen! It's good to hear from you! Growing tiny green tomatoes is definitely super exciting - probably only second to picking ripe tomatoes. :) We picked our first ripe Early Girl tomato yesterday.

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