It's been years, oh yes, years (12 to be exact) since I have grown a vegetable garden. Being in Hawaii did not lend space nor time to tending veggies, especially with the vast number of legged and winged creatures that abound on island. Our house plants grew really awesome both inside and out and I will eternally miss my huge fanned white bird of paradise. Alas, I love gardening. I love plants. With a two year old running loose and inspectors constantly crawling around our house, I have not "restocked" the jungle. It is oddly barren for me. I am having green withdrawals. Flower withdrawals. Living things that don't poop, kine withdrawals.

With a two year old with those old medical things in the background, we try to keep her food as clean and healthy as possible and supplement with occasionally through the drive through, lol. She doesn't get sweets too often (rare) or other crap though that girl loves her some good breads in huge ways (I think she's a carbohydrate freak).

However if any of you buy organic, we all know it's financially impossible to eat that clean without breaking the bank (and personally, I will never ever pay $17 for freaking juice, I don't care how pure!). So, we are giving our hand at this organic garden, and if it gets tainted, well--it is still better and fresher than the grocery store produce.

I recently checked the local food coop for what used to be known as a crop share program. Where you pay a set amount and get a large take every week of the seasonal produce from local farmers. Unfortunately, times change and the farmers are charging the same as the store, if not more. Many (5-6) hundreds of dollars for 18 weeks of stuff we may or may not use and without any bulk to freeze or can. (I freeze--I'd be scared to kill someone with a bad canning job, lol). Not such a good deal anymore and that's too bad--one it's not worth it and two, I can grow it myself at half the price for countless times as much. What we can't use, freeze, store, share, or give away will go to the local food pantries as they accept produce from home gardeners.

Being that we lease, we can't really till up the back yard (though it could use it--the one thing they cheaped out on building this house was the back lawn!) So we are going to step into the adventure of container gardening, which most amuses me to call it the "Contrary Pot Garden" while others prefer "_______ (insert last name) Farm."

Our plot is unique--we've got a great patio and at least 80ish feet of river-rocked, (50' full sun, 30ish, partial sun and shaded) sidebeds on which to set some 50+ good sized pots (update: will be over 70+ pots). We just plan to intersperse the pots with veggies and flowers. Wish us luck that the soggy Pacific Northwest weather works with us (zone 8a, region 2, which apparently was once upon a time, zone 7). Right now, my kitchen island looks like a bench in a potting shed! I planted totally against the moon and season on April Fool's just after midnight.

I was thinking then, I may regret this--within the day, we were busting soil top and now, a week later, have 2 and 3 inch seedlings and almost everything has broken ground. I did not imagine having to tend to these things for a couple of weeks, but we have seedlings doing incredibly well already. Everything from asparagus to zucchini and a good handful of herbs we use on a regular basis (ok, the watermelon is a stretch due to shorter season, but worth a shot! (I've never been able to grow one larger than a softball in any previous decade (ok, only a couple)! It is definitely worth the seed to try though). We've got jellybean tomatoes with all the normal fare. I've already learned that such a late decision meant I am paying the same price for seed for a fraction of the seed had I had the forethought to get it direct from the seed companies. *facepalm*

How many of you have ever organic container gardened aside from tomatoes on the balcony, patio, walkway, driveway, corner of the lanai? If you've done any large scale container gardening and have any additional ideas, please share! While gardening is not new, whole pot gardens, are.  I am trying to keep it all companion planted and insect beneficial--so far, so good!

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