My container garden taught me several valuable lessons this summer:
- Indeterminate cherry tomatoes grow like monsters and cannot be contained by tomato cages.
- Collard greens grow beautifully in containers and so do basil, tomatoes, lemongrass, spearmint, mesclun mix, dill, mustard greens, jalapenos, cayenne, tarragon, radish and string beans.
- I think cabbage grows well in containers, but it’s hard to tell with the collard greens grabbing all the sun and hiding the cabbage.
- I think broccoli grows well in containers, provided you don’t put too many seeds in such a small container (guilty as charged).
- Be careful with arugula. If not properly trimmed and pinched it goes crazy.
- Strawberries don’t seem to like containers so much, but they are producing another round of strawberries.
- Caterpillars are a real pain in the butt.
- Self-watering containers rule (especially when growing indeterminate tomatoes).
- Do not use compressed particle board when affixing wheels to the bottom of a container. It doesn’t stand up to the rain so well (2 of the wheels rotted off).
- Squirrels (the little brats) love squash seeds but won’t touch radish.
- Bokashi and the tea is a great addition to any garden.
Will I do it again?
Absolutely! I’ve learned a lot this growing season and will modify things for next year. I like growing tomatoes, greens and herbs on the deck because it’s easily accessible for making salads. Next year, however, I’ll plant the cabbage and broccoli in the yard along with a few other items.
My only regret is that I didn’t plant more veggies such as cucumbers, onion, garlic, red and green peppers.
I’ve still got a lot of learning and planning to do for next year, but in the meanwhile, I’ll enjoy my current harvest. Oh, on a side note, I finally created my first window farm contraption. (I mentioned window farms in an earlier post ) By creating a window farm, I should be able to grow fresh veggies year round.
As with pretty much everything else I do, I’m experimenting with the window farm. My first contraption is very ugly, but I’m working on improving it both aesthetically and functionally. As usual, I’ll let you know how it goes.

Ugly but Functional
8/9/12 Update: I just couldn’t stand looking at that ugly thing so I modified it to look a little less ugly. It’s still ugly, but at least I can tolerate it until I can figure out a better way to implement this.
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Hey Felicia – I just had to share this clever window garden idea with you.
http://homesteadsurvival.blogspot.com/2012/08/awesome-window-garden-for-people.html
I just found this comment in my spam folder. Don’t know why that happened.
What a neat idea for a window garden. The only problem I see with that is the opportunity for bugs to come inside.
Hi Felicia,
At least you are continuing to TRY. I admire you very much for that. And you already have goals for next year. You are one of the bright spots of my week. My depression has severly relapsed and it takes all i can do to make it thru the day but when i get your posts from this blog and NJFM it gives me a lift. I just wanted you to know how important you are as a bright spot in my life. It gives me hope that I will get better one day and become more normal.
God bless you,
Joni
Joni, I’m so sorry to hear about the reoccurrence and depth of your depression.
This may be off topic for this blog, but in my Dose of Health blog I wrote a post about magnesium. I’m taking it for reasons not related to depression, but it does have a calming effect (not to mention that it put a hasty end to my recent sciatica flare up).
I’m finding that so many of my aliments are related to vitamin or mineral deficiencies. It’s amazing how a deficiency in one vitamin or mineral can cause so many problems and conversely, when we fix the deficiency it heals so many ailments.
As my sister of another mother, I’d really like you to take a look at these links on magnesium and depression. Some are pretty technical and some are personal experiences.
http://www.amazon.com/forum/depression/Tx1SUV1OMK25MSI
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16542786
http://george-eby-research.com/html/depression-anxiety.html
http://www.real-depression-help.com/magnesium-for-depression.html
I’ve done extensive research on magnesium and the types that are best to take. I won’t bore you with details here, but if you do want additional information, I’d be happy to share it with you.
In the meanwhile, I’m glad to add a bright spot to your day.
Hang in there!