An interesting challenge
Marci Gilbert Burpee Home Gardens Guest Blogger
Editor’s Note: Burpee Home Gardens kicks off spring with more guest bloggers from around the country. These novice gardeners will plant, grow and enjoy an assortment of varieties from Burpee Home Gardens, and we’ll follow their ups and downs, triumphs and terrors as they explore the world of vegetable gardening.
Hi gardeners!
My name is Marci and this is my first home garden. I live in Houston, Texas where it is very hot most of the year. Burpee Home Gardens contacted me a few months ago about trying their products, and I warned them that I have many things going against me in growing a home garden.
Firstly, it's very hot and dry in Texas, especially in the late spring and summer when they wanted to send me a garden. Secondly, I live in a townhouse and we don't have space to grow things in the ground. Thirdly, I have no idea how to grow a garden.
They said no problem and that they were still interested, so I accepted as an interesting challenge and maybe something fun to write about. I'm always open to trying something new. Herbs and vegetables are weekly purchases at the grocery store, and herbs can be very pricey, especially when you only need a stem or teaspoon of something. A home garden has always been an interest, but I didn't think our current house was the time to try. Enter Burpee!
Burpee sent me 12 herb/vegetable plants, including different kinds of basil, tomatoes and bell peppers. They came in little compostable 4 in. planting containers.
My husband and I went to Home Depot to buy some gardening supplies and figure out how to make these things grow. Our hope was to hang these from our balcony, but we think we bought the wrong type for our balcony. They’ll be sitting on the balcony instead.
We came home with:
- two 32 inch expandable box holders ($15 each)
- two liners ($7.50 each)
- a pair of gardening gloves ($3.55)
- a watering can ($3.68)
- hand trowel (a shovel) ($4)
- two bags of seeding soil ($4 each)
Total: ~$60
Our garden should last through the summer and grow to be very tall. We may have to replant in larger containers if the roots get wild and crazy. That’s part of the experiment, so we’ll see how it grows.
Here are the steps of initial planting:
- We left the herbs/plants in the compostable containers (we aren’t sure if this was correct or not).
- We lined each container with the liner and placed six cups in each container evenly spaced.
- We poured potting soil on top of the planter box until the cups were covered.
- We watered them with our watering can.
That was it! Now we’re waiting for them to grow. I think I’ll water them daily especially because it’s already so hot.
I hope you'll stick around to watch my garden grow.