American Lady's Little Garden

[Americanlady]

Well, today I finally planted my three large ceramic pots. In one I put a tomato plant, the second has bell peppers, and the third has strawberries. I still have one pot left but haven't decided what to put in it. I made sure to enrich the soil and put them in a sunny location. Hoping for the best.

[madmum]

Fingers crossed for you AL

[Americanlady]

Thanks, Madmum - I need all the luck I can get. Got a suggestion for my last pot?

[mrs boodles]

Morning AL, what about courgette, I think it might be called zuchinni in US. you can buy seeds that grow up. what about dwarf beans. I am doing some containers this year and all my tomatoes are going in tubs.

[sazchops]

Courgetes are my favourite but this year I am trying Aubergine ( egg plant?) in a big tub.
Good Luck with your Little Garden

Don't forget pictures!

Sarah

[Annie]

Courgettes are a very tolerant and easy plant but they do like to sprawl so the tub would have to be a good size I think. I like the idea of dwarf varieties - beans or peas - beans especially would be decorative as well growing up canes and their pretty pinky red flowers smother the plants.

[Americanlady]

Thanks for your suggestions. I will look at seeds tomorrow to see which I can get in miniature type plants. Well, the weather report today said that temperatures will drop below freezing tonight, right after I plant my little garden!!!! So I wrapped them loosely with clear plastic and hopefully they will be okay. I have a lot to learn about growing a garden, but I'm interested and willing.

[MissEllie]

Good luck with your garden AL, it's so exciting when you start to see the first shoots appear

[Benny&Co]

Good for you Amlady, I'm sure you'll soon see lots of seeds sprouting up

I find courgettes/zuccini very easy to grow, along with cucumbers too

[Americanlady]

Plants are doing very well. Small but standing strong. I used Miracle Grow for the first time ever so hoping it does the plants a lot of good. We have a nice long growing season here, so expect to have my veggies all summer and early fall.

[Benny&Co]

Good on you AmLady

What's the weather like with you at the moment?

It's very up and down here - was lovely at the weekend, nice and sunny, but now it's blustery, cold and raining.

Just hope my seedlings that are outside will be okay

[Americanlady]

We had a lot of rain last month, with low temps at night, but the past two weeks have been wonderful, in fact a few days have been pretty hot. Temps average around 75 to 80 degrees F and one day (Sunday) it reached 90 degrees F. We installed my swamp cooler in the window last Saturday, and have used it a few hours the past three days.

[Kaeta44]

As you've planted a tomato, how about some lettuce or, better still, mixed salad leaves to go with it.

You can get a variety of colours and leaf shapes, so the pot could look decorative as well as useful.

[Benny&Co]

Oh that sounds lovely AmLady and I bet your seedlings will thrive

What is a swamp cooler? Is it like air conditioning?

[Americanlady]

I'm with you Kaeta, I think I want to plant salad greens in my last pot, either some type of lettuce or cress. Maybe spinach.

Bev, I take it you don't have swamp coolers there. Well, it sort of looks like an air conditioner box, but water is pumped through these sorts of pads around three sides of it (inside) and it has a fan that blows the cooled air into the room. It's cheaper to buy and to run than a regular air conditioner, but a little old-fashioned. Most people don't use them anymore, but I don't have central air, so this is my chosen cooler.