Carrie's Garden

I have a small, but functioning container garden with four different plants. I would have liked to add more plants to my garden, but living in an apartment, and never having done it before, I decided to stop at four, otherwise, I'd would have kept adding plants, until I couldn't manage them anymore.

I was at the greenhouse, looking for some bright flowers to stick outside my window, when I noticed that they were selling strawberry plants, in containers. So I immediately bought a container. The greenhouse guy said they would flower this year, and give strawberries, so after waiting a month, and hearing about the nice crop of June berries, I was starting to lose hope. Than, a flower, the next day more! and a few weeks later, a strawberry. I have no idea when they ripen, but I'm guessing to have red strawberries in a week or two. My last strawberry/ flower count was at about 25, so I'm happy.

This is my container lettuce. My friend's Mom gave him a pot full of lettuce last year, and I was completely amazed. I didn't know you could grow leaf lettuce in a flower pot. So this year, I went to Wal-Mart, bought a 97¢ packet of mixed leaf lettuce, and talked the cashier into selling me the wide pot with cracks running down the sides for $4. I added soil, put in the seeds, and viola, a few days later I had sproutlings. The lettuce is quite big now, and I haven't tasted it yet. It's so pretty, growing in my pot. I really don't have the heart to eat it, although... It's looking yummier and yummier all the time.

This is my tomato plant. I bought it at the same time I bought my lettuce seeds. Aren't my tomatoes beautiful? I don't remember the variety, but they are a cherry tomato, supposedlyy good in containers, and seeing the large amounts of flowers on them, I will have to agree. The plant is about 24 inches tall, and quite compact. I was worried that I didn't buy a big enough pot for them, but they are doing wonderful. They do take a large amount of water. Out of all my plants, they are usually bone dry by the time I give them their nightly drink. I don't like large tomatoes, but I love the cherry tomatoes. These guys should get to be about an inch wide, so it will be good eating.

These are chives. One of the people at work was thinning out her chive bed, and brought a whole box full in. She left them outside, and forgot to tell anyone that she had chives to give away. By the time I got to them, the chives had sat through a few days of hot weather and were not looking so good. I grabbed the healthiest bunch, and stuck them in a bucket full of water, and left them in my office for a weekend. When I came back, they had perked up, and starting to smell, well oniony. I put them in a pot, where they were growing, but not thriving. It turns out, the plant was just growing brand new spikes, and now I have a healthy chive plant.