Impatiently Awaiting Spring!

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I grow my entire garden in large containers. Last summer, I only had five tomato plants and they fed me, my neighbors, dog training students and faculty all summer. I live in the middle of the city, but I have almost an acre of land. We are overrun by Eastern Cottontails here, and everything I planted on the ground inevitably got eaten, pooped on or abused by the bunnies.

So I put everything above ground in containers, and the bunnies couldn’t reach into them; finally my garden was safe. Wish I had a way to attach a photo, because it’s pretty amazing what you can grow in 13 containers. I grew the aforementioned tomato plants (three varieties, five plants total), cucumbers, 19 different types of herbs (I’m a crazy good cook), brussels sprouts, squash, peppers (both hot, and sweet), onions and carrots, as well as annual and perennial flowers in each pot. I did it all by companion planting, plus I used a HECK of a lot less water this way as well last year. 


One of the best parts of growing my garden in containers is I could place them wherever I wanted, and still have lawn, flower beds, etc. I placed four of the containers along my street front and put a note on each of my neighbors’ doors. It said, “I am gardening in pots this year, and I placed four of them in front of my home on the street. Please help yourself and family to as many veggies and flowers as you like!” It was like a block party every day. People walking by carried bags in their back pockets (I swear it looked like dog poop bags, I giggled myself silly!) stopped and picked what they wished. Another neighbor would drive by and stop, hop out, strike up a conversation, and relax. It did my heart good and my neighbors became better friends with me and each other. It’s just marvelous!

My favorite flowers are lilacs, roses ~ sweet & spicy perfumed varieties, not the heavy old-fashioned floral scents, daffodils, and petunias for their variety of colors… After living in Florida as a transplant for just seven years, I was glad to return to NH, but I missed some of the flowers that grow as perennials there, and can barely make it thru a summer here.

I miss bottle brush, magnolias, & Canna (which I HAVE found a way to grow every year, by digging up the corms and storing them in my cellar all winter). I love hibiscus, I even grafted different colors onto each bush so I had multi colors of blooms on every plant. It was a firework of a plant, a riot of color I was so happy!

I raise Monarch butterflies from egg through release all summer, so my garden is full of pollinator flowers and bushes, and I raise my own milkweed (three varieties) to support them and their migrating wild relatives.

I could keep going, I tend to wax eloquent when it comes to gardening and wildlife, I love them! I cannot WAIT for spring to start! I hope you have a wonderful one!


 

About this Author

Lyn Richards Pawlowski

Doglogic!

A professional dog trainer since 1992, currently, I’m an assistant Agility trainer at All Dogs Gym, and a mentor for graduating dog trainers from Animal Behavior College. I also train dogs privately at my business DogLogic! Since the early ‘90s I’ve been writing and a published author of dog related-articles and co-wrote part of a book on Great Danes as well. I’m a professional member of the International Association of Canine Professionals, Association of Professional Dog Trainers, and Dog Writers Association of America. I have 2 dogs. Happy my “Schnug” is my Service Dog and current Agility competition dog. My other dog is 1.5 year old adorable Wire Fox Terrier named Pocket, who’s in training to become my Service Dog when Happy retires. Pocket loves training with me, so he’s beginning Agility groundwork classes, and loves the sport!.