On vertical gardening

So if you follow Pinterest at all, you probably know:  vertical gardening is popular.  At least in the pinning world.  

Vertical gardens range from the very elaborate (here is the how to)

yes, there is actually a how to...

To the more doable (another awesome how to)

The pallet vertical garden

The advantages are obvious to any balcony gardener-- maximum plant in a small space!  Plus, they are more visually delightful than a plain wall, and I would add that it is really wonderful to have plants that you might not get to see up close at eye level.  You can appreciate the smells and delicate features of tiny flowers which may usually be ground cover so much more.

The primary downside, in my opinion, is that watering is much more complicated.  The top dries out a whole lot quicker than the bottom because the water seeps down slowly hydrating the bottom far more than the top.  This is heightened by the fact that my planter is made of felt which already dries out quickly and likely the reason so many of these vertical gardens you see are with succulents.  Last year, when I bought this planter, even with regular watering, I had a hard time keeping my top plants alive even as the bottom thrived.  

But live and learn... this weekend, I replanted my very basic vertical garden with this wetness differential in mind.

Not as fancy, still vertical and great

In order from top to bottom, we have row 1: Dipladenia and the Santa Barbara Daisy, both very drought resistant, particularly as the Santa Barbara Daisy is a California native plant.  Row 2: French Thyme and Alyssum, of moderate water needs, and Row 3: a Figaro dahlia and mint, specifically mentha spicata (more on that in a later post).  Here's hoping this year's mini-vertical garden thrives!

This is what I mean by eye-level awesomeness

The Perfect Herb Box

At long last, I finished my wine crate herb box project.  Introducing the perfect box of herbs:

 

This wine crate thing really ended up being a labor of love (more on that later), but I'm pretty happy with it!  Here's a top view:

Top row from left: flat leaf parsley and dill.  Middle: Spanish lavender. Bottom from left: Italian large leaf basil and trailing rosemary.  in the very back, I've got a plant nanny with a wine bottle (get it? in the wine crate? yay!).  If it wasn't so functional -- I tend to be a neglectful gardener when I get busy -- then it might be overkill, but I suspect it will help keep my parsley and dill alive since they will probably require more moisture.  

Right now, they're organized by current height, but ultimately, the basil will be quite tall, hopefully the rosemary will trail over the side, and in the long term, the lavender which is a perennial will grow bigger and bigger until hopefully taking over the whole box.  Then I will have a wine box of lavender -- also wonderful :)  For now, cheers to herbs!

Goodwiiillll

After a long break from gardening, combined with a recent stretch on night shifts, combined with self-induced stress about job interviews and questions like "what is my future?", I can't wait! to go outside into the sunshine and garden.

FINALLY, today, I had a semi-normal day off to do just that.  But before I can actually garden, I need to plan out my garden, choose what flowers to buy from one of my fat garden books, buy some new pots, pick up some wine crates from a kind soul at a wine store (because I am obsessed with the idea of planting an heirloom tomato plant surrounded by herbs in a wooden wine crate -- tell me that would not be the cutest), cut down my depressing dying jasmine plant and pull out all my other dead plants, buy new potting soil, and then, I can buy some plants and plant my garden.

*sigh*

All I managed to do today, before I got tired, was buy this pot from Goodwill:

It's alright.  It was $4.99.  It matches my other pots, and it will look cute with some basil in it.

Not quite the list of accomplishments I was hoping for from my day.  But I guess it's a start.  Upon coming home, I decided to make a more realistic set of gardening goals for the next week or so:

1. Either buy or find some wine crates.  I went to Lincoln Fine Wines two days ago, and discovered that they are happy to give out their leftover wine crates, but there are lots of other people trolling around for said crates (so there were none left).  Realistically, I will probably buy something online-- I am not a patient troller.  Here is the inspiration (taken from apartment therapy):

2. Pull out the dead plants.  Every time I eat breakfast, I am forced to look at all the plants I killed... it's time.  Out with the old, in with the new!  

3. Go slowly, and relax!  Instead of trying to plan out a whole Martha Stewart pinterest-worthy garden at once, which is kinda what I was trying to do (hey, dream big), it probably makes more sense to replenish the planters I have, instead of going nuts...  our collective bank account thanks me.

Anyway, hopefully next week, I will have more to report back.  Happy March!  Happy gardening!