Neighbours talking over the garden gate has long been a tradition. They share gardening tips, complain about the weather and pests yet are ever eager to discuss their gardens. That is what I had in mind when creating this blog. So stop by my garden gate to find out the latest happenings in my garden.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
"All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child." ~ Madame Marie Curie"
I honestly can't believe 2012 is drawing to a close. It has been a busy year getting adjusted to our new home and one again doing that rip out, start over thing. While we did put in three new raised beds this year, next year promises to see a lot of changes. I've already ordered from Richters and will place an order for live plants as soon as they start shipping in the spring. I have my orders planned for Dominion Seed House and Stokes. The end of the holidays and constant company is very close so I expect to be adding to my indoor garden this coming week.
On the topic of indoor gardens, all of my herbs are doing fine as is my avocado plant and lemon trees. The geraniums I'm over wintering are nice and healthy while the hibiscus keeps rewarding me beautiful bloom even though we were away most of October and December. This week I plan on starting several more herbs, a few tomatoes, peppers and lettuces for the indoor garden. It's too soon to start anything for the outdoor garden. One blog I read reported good results with growing sweet peas indoors and I know pole beans can be grown indoors as well. I have seeds for both so will start a couple of pots to see how they fare.
So. we say goodbye to 2012 but from a gardening perspective I have a lot of plans in store for 2013. I really want to expand my indoor gardening and will definitely be focusing on small space gardening outdoors. I think it is going to be an exciting growing year to come! I can't wait to share some of my ideas with you.
A couple of days ago I wrote about the concept of a continuous harvest by growing an indoor garden. A wide range of vegetables can be grown indoors year round. The choice for fruits, on the other hand is a bit more limited. Many herbs can be grown indoors as well. Unlike growing outdoors, the indoor environment is a controlled one. All the necessities for healthy plant growth are controlled so you don't have to worry about drought conditions, adverse temperatures, frost or damaging winds. The limiting factor with growing indoors is space. In fact space is a limiting factor when growing outdoors but many home gardeners ignore that especially when failing to consider that little bush they planted is going to become a huge bush at some point. Indoors, the space becomes more of a consideration. Unless you have a huge house with a lot of empty space, certain plants like fruit trees or bushes are not going to be possible. Oh sure, I have three small lemon trees and a small avocado tree but logistically they will likely never produce fruit. Certain edible plants simply are not suitable for growing indoors but there is no harm in trying. Here are some of the edible plants I'm or will be growing indoors (successfully grown in the past). The list does change especially after the holiday season as I start gearing up for the main gardening season and spend more time on my indoor garden.
- herbs - parsley, thyme, sage, rosemary, chives, basil, mints, lemon balm
- greens - leaf lettuces, mesclun mix, mustard, spinach
- vegetables - Jawell mini cucumber, Tiny Tim tomatoes, Tom Thumb sweet peas, Blue Lake pole beans, potatoes, carrots, radish, zucchini,
Indoor Graden at Crystals in City Center, Las Vegas
May 9, 2011
One lovely benefit of vacationing is checking out gardens in other regions. We recently spent our spring vacation split between Las Vegas and Florida so I will be sharring some of the gardening pictures with you. Pictured is one of the cute indoor gardens at Crystals in City Center in Las Vegas.
The ginormous bunnies were quite cute. Now the designer for this garden likely has never dealt with bunnies in their garden. If they had they would not have made these bunnies so cute. Having had a lot of dealings with wild rabbits, trust me they are not cute! Still this was a lovely little indoor garden, full of whimsy.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
