The Cabin Container Garden, and Spring Flowers Update

A combined entry today – on spring flowers and the new “container garden” I planted out at the cabin last weekend.


First on the spring flowers – we have irises up, but it has been so sunny that they were already past peak last weekend and I didn’t take photos. These peonies, on the other hand, were blooming away, and there were a couple of other plants just getting ready to open up – if I recall, there will be some white ones, and another bunch that is a dark red.

As far as container gardens go, this year will be an experiment for us – Mary’s done so well with the one in Alexandria I thought we should try one at the cabin. I saw this approach in Mother Earth News and thought I would try it out. You keep the soil in the bags – for a couple of reasons:

• Eliminates the need to till
• Soil is pasteurized – no weeds
• Plastic bag keeps the native soil parasites away from the seedlings
• Recycle the bags at the end of the season, leaving the soil in place for next year

So I’ve got eggplant, cucumbers (a round, yellow variety), zucchini and yellow squash going in this plot. They are all vines, which is why I’ve done this trellising. These plants are going to be on their own for a lot of the time, so we’ll see how they do – germination ranges from 7 to 10 days, and harvests are up to 80 days after…that puts us into August, so we’ll see.

If we are successful, next year we will remove these hostas and have a second row.  But the bet, as neighbor Terry says, is that all I am really doing is feeding the deer and rabbits.

By the way, here's the link to the inaugural post about Mary's container garden in Alexandria:
http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2010/05/container-gardens-here-and-there.html

This is an old shed that is directly behind the house.  It used to have power but doesn't anymore.  I think the Thompsons kept their freezer here, and Britt and Lori kept their pellets for the wood stove (which they bought in bulk by the ton) in a bin here.  A big black rat snake (the one that kept getting into the laundry room) used to live under it...who am I kidding, "used to" ...