Gardening - Where to grow

Once you know what zone you are in, you can decide where you want to grow your food, herbs or flowers.

I am particularly fond of square foot gardening. Not only have I done this for many successful years, but it was all I knew until one year I unsuccessfully tried to grow rows of carrots. Square foot gardening allows for growing twice as much in half the space.

This year, we will have a ground garden about 4' x 12' and many containers on the patio. Then we also have about 30' of window boxes from a balcony. The base of the balcony will be about half full in length of box planters to grow green beans. The other planters range in sizes from small to extra large. In one windowsill I have our herbs growing in planters that will also be transplanted to indoor hanging baskets.

If you do not have an actual plot of earth to work with, don't worry, there are plenty of other ways to grow bountiful gardens!

Start with a sunny patio, deck, balcony, sidewalk, or porch. Anywhere there is space outdoors that gets sun, you can put planters. They can be many feet in diameter or inches in diameter. You can stack them on shelves. Hang them from windowsills or balcony railings (make sure they are very secure so they don't fall off when loaded with moist dirt.) Of course the larger space or more spaces you have the more you can grow.

To find planters, you can purchase new clay or plastic ones at a hardware or discount store with an outdoors department. You can even make them out of materials you find around the house. A great smaller sized planter can be made from cutting a plastic milk jug in half and poking a few drain holes in the bottom. Plastic dairy containers will hold flowers or herbs. You can build one out of wood scraps. Use old houseplant planters. Large mixing bowls, porcelain sinks, wash tubs or claw foot bathtubs work.

If you have the opportunity to grow outside of containers, then you can find an area that gets 6-8 hours of sun and has good drainage. Small areas around the house or large plots of land will hold a lot of garden.