My Patio Garden

From college until we bought our home last summer, my gardening was limited to windowsills, patios, and balconies. Even though I have plenty of ground to dig in around our new home, I continue to do a lot of container gardening on our patio. Some of the plants on our patio I've had for a few years. Others are recent additions. 

I've always loved herbs, and they're well-suited to pots. Some herbs I have simply because they smell nice, even though I have no idea how I'd cook with them (such as chocolate mint, lemon balm, and lemon-scented geranium). It's nice having them in arms-reach on the patio where I can enjoy their scent while relaxing with a cup of coffee in the morning.

Clockwise from top left: Strawberry, basil, rosemary,
jalapeno pepper, lemon-scented geranium, chives, and
lemon balm.

 It's nice to have the more useful herbs on the patio, too, for a quick snip while I'm cooking. Currently I have basil, chives, and rosemary there. I have some strawberry plants that I've grown in the same pot for a couple of years. They're not very fruitful, but it's fun to pick a fresh strawberry on my patio. I planted a jalapeno pepper plant in a pot upon request from my husband. He wanted to do an experiment to compare how they grow out in the raised bed versus how they do in a pot. I'll let you know how it turns out.

My godmother created this lovely seashell planter for me when I was in high school. I held onto it for years until I finally was able to decide what I wanted to plant in it and get around to putting it together. When I saw a remarkable collection of succulents for sale at Walmart last fall, I knew I'd found the perfect thing. The shallow planter dries out very quickly, but succulents don't need much water anyways. One of the plants died, but the others have more or less thrived.

'Knock Out' rose (left) and snapdragons (right) are in
bloom on my patio right now.

Normally I grow a lot of flowers in pots. I've been so busy with the rest of the garden, I haven't gotten around to planting all my summer annuals yet. I was given two Knock Out roses by friends last fall. I planted one in the ground, and the other I've decided to keep on the patio for now. The snapdragons I've had for a year and a half! I thought that they were supposed to be annuals (which means they should be dead by now). I didn't have any other plans for that pot, though, so I just cut them back when they looked sickly and they kept coming back. There's a Carolina jessamine in the lion planter next to the snapdragons that came with the house. It doesn't look like much now, but it had stunning flowers in February.

Camellia (left) and hydrangea (right) are happy in the
shade under the covering on my patio.

In addition to the rose, I have some other shrubs on my patio. I bought a camellia on sale a couple of years ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed its white flowers on my patio this winter. It won't grow very big in its little pot, but it's happy enough for now. I decided to keep one of my hydrangea cuttings on the patio this summer. It likes shade, and I can baby it while it gets a bit bigger and I decide where to plant it. Who knows, it might even bloom on my patio!

Some tips for container gardening in the South:

• Buy good potting mix. It's worth the extra dollar for Miracle Gro brand.
• Buy large pots, especially if you want to grow shrubs or vegetables. Smaller pots are fine for annuals or some herbs, but just remember: the smaller the pot, the more often you have to water it. In July, that can mean watering twice a day, depending on the plant.
• Choose plants suited to how much sunlight your patio/balcony gets. (See my post Flowers Anyone Can Grow for more on how much light your plant needs). Patios and balconies usually get a lot of shade from the building and nearby trees.
• In the summer, expect to water flowers, herbs, and vegetables once a day (unless you get rain). I've killed more plants just because I forgot to water them in the summertime (or went out of town for the weekend and didn't get someone to water my plants for me).
• If you want really lush plants, fertilize regularly with a water-soluble fertilizer like Miracle Gro (either all-purpose, or one specifically for flowers, depending on the plant).

Vegetable Garden Update: It's been 33 days since I planted my vegetable garden, and I think it's looking lovely, don't you? We added a homemade trellis for the tomato plants (on the left side of the picture). I'm not sure the radishes are going to be edible. I remembered reading they have a really short harvest time, so I checked my book to see when they would be ready. It said 4 weeks from seed until harvest. It's been more than 4 weeks, so I kept reading until I found my answer:  "Don't let radishes stop growing or dry out;  lack of water causes hot-tasting and pithy radishes." I'm pretty sure I let the radishes dry out several times (hey, most plants like to dry out a little between waterings!), so that would explain why they're not getting fat and round. I'll have to try again in the fall (radishes don't like the heat of summer, either).