garden herbs vegetables

Pot garden progress

by Elizabeth Beavis
I'm still here!  I just got distracted by making a new soap website and I couldn't decide where to post this.  But I'm not ready to move just yet.  I wanted to show you my pot garden as I've been pleasantly surprised by what I can grow (in winter anyway).  We are going to build a proper garden and set up the aquaponics, but other things need to be done first and meanwhile my pot collection keeps growing every time I go to our monthly share meeting and come home with another herb!

Celery, peas, winter savory and parsley

I have my collection of pots stacked on my potting table, which is the size of a sheet of mesh - I think its 2m by 3m or so.  And I have more pots underneath.  The worm farms are up top as well.  It seems to be good for the shade-loving plants, like mints, yarrow and strawberries to be down below in the partial shade.  I really like the location, it is between the house and the shed, so every time we go to the shed or to the car, we walk past the garden.  I was going to put the garden further away, but now I can see that this is the ideal spot, so we will build our shade structure at the back (northern side) of the shed and put the garden right there.


What am I growing?
Well, all the herbs that were already in pots got moved, so we have:

  • Rosemary
  • Yarrow
  • Herb Robert
  • Peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint, lemon mint (some of those are from the share)
  • Sage
  • Oregano
  • Lemon balm
  • Lemongrass
  • Winter Savory
  • Thyme
  • Brahmi
  • Soapwort
  • Winter taragon
  • Wormwood 
  • Tansy
  • Basil
  • Coriander
  • Parsley - hitched a ride with the lemon tree
  • Comfrey
Vegetables
  • Kale and tatsoi - was doing well until a bug found it, and is also going to seed now
  • Silverbeet
  • Celery 
  • Peas (best crop ever!)
  • Strawberries (also very happy)
  • I saves some perennial leeks too
Other stuff - I have a few trees and shrubs in pots that I hope to plant out soon, including:
  • Mulberry
  • Elderflower
  • Bottle brush
  • Various avocado and mango
  • Jacarandas
  • Silky oak
  • Flame tree
  • Dwarf lemon and lime trees that we've had in pots for ages
The hardest part with pots is that they dry out and you can find that you water them and it just drains out the bottom.  I have a collection of dishes and trays that all the pots sit in (some I rotate in and out if they don't like to stay damp).  This is the only way I have found to keep the soil moist.  If we are still using this system in summer it will need some shade as its currently in full sun.



And when we visit the old garden I'm always surprised to find things growing, last time I had a massive harvest of cheery tomatoes!  And there is always more kale.  I still need to take some divisions of violet, cardamon, galangal etc, but I need somewhere to put them!


I think I'll reduce my posts here to make time for the new soap website and these other outside chores that I should really be doing, but I do like to pop in and let you know that I'm still here and still growing things.  I post more regularly on Instagram and Facebook, so catch me there if you don't see me here.

Do you grow much in pots?  Any tips?  What do you find grows well?

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