The error of my ways

In my last post, I mentioned that I had done absolutely no research into balcony or container gardening. I had taken note, when purchasing seeds, of the graphic of a friendly green check mark in a pot that indicated the plant could survive in a container. Other than that - nada. I chose plants and seeds based on childhood memories, whims, and attractive colors.

I translated this graphic as "Why, yes, I will grow beautifully on your balcony and produce bountiful fruit for you to feast on. Please enjoy."

So yesterday I did a google search on patio/balcony/container gardening, both in search of information and perhaps some other blogs that I could use as resources (and as a procrastination tool to avoid setting up a Western blot). What I found was that in growing plants for less than a week, I had already committed several cardinal sins. Here are some suggestions/rules that I've broken:

1. Use containers made of natural material. One blog claims that natural materials (eg, clay or wood) are best. I, of course, went with the cheap plastic option. And chose a dark green because I liked it better than the burnt sienna color that looked like it was trying to be clay. Turns out that's wrong, as well (see below).

Cheap plastic, dark green, no drainage system installed. Three wrongs in one choice - if I were a football team, I'd have to punt. Luckily gardening and football don't invite many comparisons.

2. Choose light-colored pots. This is to avoid overheating of the soil during the hotter summer months. Yep, dark green will definitely retain the heat better. I chose...poorly. (Name that movie!)

This blog got it right. Apparently they went all fancy and researched things beforehand.

3. Water daily. Wait, what? Haven't I killed every houseplant I have ever owned because of this exact issue? And yet I found several websites that claim this is the best way to take care of your patio garden.

4. Don't waterlog the soil or roots. Well, now I'm just confused.

5. Use fertilizer in dilute amounts often/daily. Then why does it say on the bottle to use it every 7-10 days? Are they lying?

I'm not lying - right on the bottle, for garden/patio. What am I missing? If anything, shouldn't the product be trying to get me use it more often, so I will go through it quickly and buy more?

6. Make sure the plants have full sun exposure all day. The minimum they need is six hours per day. This one I am quite paranoid about. Unfortunately I only have one place to put my plants, so it's not a multiple choice option. I have carefully noted that my plants get their first peak of sun at approximately 8:30 am, but I haven't been able to be home in the afternoon to see when the sun moves to the other side of the building and the shade sets in. I do believe it's well into the afternoon, but I plan to stalk the sun this weekend to get a time (the forecast is for rain, making this a moot exercise - or a "moo" one, as Joey would say).

7. Put your plants on a south facing wall. The logic behind this isn't stated, but I believe it's related to the above rule, to maximize their sun exposure.

8. Have a good drainage system in place. I have none, which I suspect doesn't qualify as "good."

See, Ma? No drainage! (All of the boxes/pots do at least have holes in the bottom). But most websites suggested rocks or plastic bottles or pipes. None of that fancy stuff here!

9. Add mulch. One site actually recommended "top-dressing" with mulch, which I'm not sure what they mean, but it sounds inappropriate for polite company.

10. Use gloves with potting soil. This one was on the bag of soil itself. But I forgot to buy a pair and was too impatient to wait. So far, no strange red welts or bumps, but I'm keeping an eye out.

Yep, I just flat out ignored that one.

So there you have it. Less than a week into my garden, and I'm heading down ten different directions, all wrong to some degree. Who's excited!?