Monday

The Deck Garden

Photo of an earthbox with cucumbers and tomato plants

I had a desire to grow more than herbs this summer. Last summer, living in St. Pete, I grew cherry tomatoes and managed to get some pineapple heads into the ground. Moving to Apex, NC opened up a few more opportunities for summer growing, so began my research. First order of business was finding heirloom seeds, which I found at Botanical Interest, a seed company based in Colorado. I ordered a variety of seeds, the tomatoes and cucumbers marked in the beginning to be center of attention. I also found plenty of DIY projects for self-watering planters but the lack of space to build the planters lead me to the local garden center. After wandering around all of the gorgeous herb and vegetable arrangements, it became clear that the Earthbox was going home with me.

The Earthbox comes with everything you need except good dirt and plants. I had started tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots and green peppers indoors weeks ago, so I was eager to get them into roomier accommodations. Needless to say, they loved the move and began growing like crazy once they hit the box. The photo above was taken many weeks into the adventure in growing, the plants are doing well. I also planted some vegetables in regular pots, they never took off in the same way as the Earthbox, I was a little surprised.

What I learned this go around—
  • tomatoes love the sun, but not the heat (high heat)
  • bumble bees love cucumber flowers
  • cucumbers love bumble bees, especially heirloom cukes—the pollination thing
  • carrots probably need their own pot
  • growing my own food makes me happy