Get Ready to Grow: My Greenhouse

I’ve always credited my grandma with giving me my love for coffee. One of my most vivid memories is of her sitting at the kitchen table watching one of her evening soaps with a cigarette in one hand and a coffee cup in the other, laughing and screaming at Alexis Colby Carrington’s shenanigans. Goodness knows I was way too young to be watching those shows, but Grandma and my aunt would always include me in their evening banter. My other memory is of my grandma working in her vegetable garden.\

Grandma had two massive gardens, one at the family home in Washington, D.C. and the other at her and Granddaddy’s vacation home in Spotsylvania, Virginia. Every Saturday she’d go outside in her plaid shirt, jeans {she called them “dungarees”}, and wellies, and start working in her garden. For hours. She’d go out there, dig in the dirt, rotate her compost, and oooh and ahhh over her freshly picked fruits and vegetables. I never understood the appeal. Until now.

The Beginning

Somehow, I ended up on #GardenTok on TikTok and became obsessed with container gardens. A container garden is a garden grown in a contained space like a bucket, grow bag, or the like. Container gardens are great for people who have small spaces, or, people like me, who aren’t sure they’re really going to enjoy gardening. It turns out I do.

To start off, I went to a home and garden store and bought 6 food safe buckets, raised garden bed soil, organic blood meal, and, of course, plants and seeds. I watched a lot of videos to find out what vegetables grow well in containers:

• tomatoes
• cucumbers
• carrots
• green bell peppers
• red peppers
• strawberries
• garlic
• sweet basil
• rosemary

I also bought some marigolds to ward off pests.

So far, the marigolds are not working, but Lola and Bleu are. LOL

After about  a week of obsessively checking my plants and cooing over the little buds, I started thinking bout winter and what would happen when the weather turned. I shared my concerns with The Hubs and he suggested a greenhouse.

THE GREENHOUSE: The Outside

Around the time that we started talking about building a greenhouse, we had a contractor working on the fence in our backyard. This guy has done work for us before and I absolutely love what he does, so The Hubs asked if he’d ever built a greenhouse before and he said he had. I didn’t really know what I wanted, I just knew I wanted shelving on one side. The contractor offered a few suggestions and I liked his ideas waaaaay more than mine, so I told him to just go with whatever he thought best. And, y’all, what he created far exceeded my expectations.

Doesn’t it look like a little fairy house? I’m so in love with my space.

THE GREENHOUSE: The Inside

Tomatoes – These are cherry tomatoes and Creole Tomatoes {these are courtesy of the LSUA Agriculture Center}. Obviously, they’re not ready for harvest, but the flowers have started to bloom and I’m seeing some fruit.

Strawberries – Look at those babies. I’ve already tasted one and it was so delicious. I’m not sure if it was completely ripe or not, but I just had to.

Green Bell Peppers – This is my first veggie to pop. I’m waiting for it to get a little bit bigger before I pluck it. So far, I only have one, but I learned that I should’ve pruned soon after I saw the first flowers. Gardening is all about learning, right?

Sweet Basil and Rosemary – These plants smell sooooo good. I’ve used these herbs on a regular basis in my cooking. There’s nothing like fresh herbs. The aroma just makes my mouth water.

Citronella – Soooo, the plant isn’t working. Am I supposed to smash the leaves and make some sort of oil to ward off the mosquitoes?

Lavender – Meghan Markle Sussex has lavender in her garden, so I wanted it in mine. My plan is to use it for tea, coffee, and edible plants on cupcakes.

Cantaloupe – This is my wildcard plant. I’m not sure how this one is gonna go, but I decided to give it a try.

ON MY PLATE

So far, I’ve used my Sweet Basil and Thyme in my pasta and on pork chops {not shown}. It was sooooo delicious. The pasta dish is from With, Love Meghan by Meghan Markle Sussex.

Y’all, when I say I’m obsessed with my garden, it’s an understatement. I check my garden daily. Several times a day. My greenhouse is so relaxing. I like to just go out there and inhale. It smells like dirt, cedar, water, and life.

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN

Do you have a garden? Have you ever thought about starting one?

BOOKISH THINGS

Bookshop.org – Shop for books selected by me, for you!

NetGalley Professional Reader – I receive free ARCs from NetGalley to review on my blog and share on Instagram.

The StoryGraph – A reading app that shares all the nerdy details of my bookish life.

THANK YOU

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