Blogging from A to Z April Challenge: Container Garden

Y’all, I have turned into a full-fledged {container} gardener courtesy of TikTok. I’ve wanted to start a garden for years but I was hesitant to dig up my yard and fail, then I stumbled across container gardening and thought that met my needs. Container gardening is just what it sounds like, growing your garden in containers. But before I did anything, I did a deep dive on TikTok to find out what I needed to do to get started.

According to the USDA Hardiness Zone Map, I live in Zone 9a, which means our average minimal temperature is 20 to 30 degrees. Knowing this information lets me know which plants will grow best based on weather patterns. I also learned that our last frost date was around mid-March, so I needed to wait until that passed before I started planting my veggies. And, while there’s no guarantee that there won’t be a frost after the given date, the guideline does help.

When it was time, I went to Lowe’s and purchased 5 five-gallon food safe containers, some starter vegetable plants {tomatoes, squash, potatoes, cucumbers, sweet basil, and rosemary}, raised bed and garden soil, and other necessities. I also bought a few seed packets {sage, kale, and lettuce} too. I wanted the plantings because, well, instant gratification. And the seeds to prove I could do it.

After I unloaded everything from the trunk of my car, I drilled drainage holes into the bottom of my buckets. Side note: this was pretty exciting for me as I’d never used a drill before. LOL In the words of Charlene Frazier from Designing Women, “I have the ability to be amazed by absolutely nothing at all.”

The Hubs set up a potting station for me so that I could pot my plants without having to bend over. I so appreciated this space as it allows me to keep my supplies organized as well. I want to put some storage containers under the table for additional supplies like seeds, gardening shoes, trowels, and such.

Once everything was planted, I scoped out my yard to ensure that my plants would get 6 to 8 hours of sunlight and that the water hose would reach, then I stood back and admired my handiwork.

It’s been 20 days since I planted my garden and, while I haven’t harvested any vegetables yet, I have used the sweet basil for our dinners. There’s sweet basil in the pasta!! Y’all, I nearly cried when I made our dinner plates. I’ve since used the Rosemary to season our fried chicken. It was delicious.

I can’t wait to share pictures of my vegetables at harvest time.

ABOUT THE BLOGGING FROM A TO Z APRIL CHALLENGE

I’m linking up with Suzy at SuzyTurner.com for her A to Z Blogging Challenge. Do you remember blogging challenges from the early days of blogging? They were so much fun as they provided an opportunity to learn more about the people in my blogging circle and I found new blogs {and picked up new bloggers}. Before I go off on a tangent, the idea behind this blogging challenge is to write a post every day of the month of April {wait, what? How did I miss that part? I thought it was once a month. Haha Jokes on me.}. Anyway, the goal is to write a post following the alphabet for every day of the month. If you decide to join us, please leave a comment with your blog link below. Thank you!

THANK YOU

Thank you for stopping by my blog. I hope you enjoyed this post and learned something new. If you like what you read, please consider sharing this post on Facebook or Pinterest. While I pay for many of the items I share on this blog out of my own pocket, some items are gifted to me {I always disclose those items}.

Come back soon,