One Pot Spring Garden
Written by joythebaker on April 19, 2009 – 7:57 pm -
There are a few reasons why you should read this post.
1. I’m no gardener, but with a team of friends and experts, I might have just created a successful one pot garden… you can too!
2. While this post may not be filled with butter and sugar, it is still a nice distraction from work, right!?
3. I’m drinking wine and I’ve got a mild degree of writers block. I’m bound to get a little punchy and make you laugh at some point. Yes?
This year’s Spring garden… ok, my first Spring garden ever… was inspired by two things: my undying adoration of summer tomatoes and my utter annoyance at the high price of said tomatoes.
So here we are, talking tomatoes. Not just any tomatoes, but peak of the season summer tomatoes. Besides my gradual fake tanning lotion, they might just be the best thing about the summer months.
The truth is, there’s a reason that this blog isn’t called Joy the Gardener. I kill just about everything I put in dirt. It’s a classic case of over enthusiasm and waaaaay too much water. I over water and kill my plants, a fact that is sad but true.
This Spring I’ve got help. My Mom happens to be an amazing gardener… she also happens to be retired, which leaves her plenty of time for nursery trips to counsel me on which fertilizer is best and why. Then there’s my darling friend Rachael. She’s blonde, beautiful, hilarious, and is oh-so-generous with the crap ton of knowledge she has about growing tomatoes. With these two on my team, my garden can’t fail! Now I just need someone to keep the watering can away from me.
If I can grow a tomato garden on the tiny balcony of my Los Angeles apartment, you can too. Here’s the skinny:
I headed out to the nursery with my Mom. It turns out… there are a TON of plants at a nursery… most of them being green. It might have been hard for me to find what I needed, had it not been for my Mom. It’s not that things are hard to find, it’s just that I’m not tremendously plant literate.
I had a very specific One Pot Garden list. If you want to play along, here’s what you’ll need
1 tomato plant (Mine is a black cherry tomato plant.. thanks Rachael!)
1 basil plant
1 marjoram plant
1 parsley plant
1 nasturtium plant
1 giant bag of Dr. Earth Organic Potting Soil
1 small bag of organic vegetable fertilizer of some sort. I used GroBetter All-Purpose Organic Fertilizer.
I stake to tie your tomato plant to as it grows
1 giant pot and saucer. Mine is about 15-inches tall and with a 15-inch diameter. I used a plastic pot because it’s much lighter and it helps keep the moisture in the soil.
Here’s what I did:
Fill the pot about two thirds full with the potting soil. Sprinkle with organic fertilizer as directed on the bag. Water just to moisten the soil. Fertilizer isn’t one of those things that you want to touch with your hands. It’s just not a good idea. Grab some gloves or use a scooper.
Arrange the plants in the pot, still in their plastic containers, just so you can see where everything will go.
Remove the plants from their tiny plastic containers and gently loosen the bottom of the soil, loosening their roots. Set in place on top of the potting soil and fertilizer. Using a large cup for scooping, place more potting soil around the plants. Sprinkling with just a bit more fertilizer as you go. Firmly press the potting soil and plants into the pot and add more potting soil. You won’t fill the pot to the brim with potting soil. Fill the pot with soil until you’re about three inches from the brim. Water generously and set in a sunny spot.
Set the stake to the side and use it when the tomato plant starts to get too talk to grow up on its own.
Fun facts:
Tomatoes like loads of sunlight. Don’t be afraid to put your new garden in a spot that gets at least seven hours of direct sunlight. Your plants will love it.
Check to see if your pot needs watering by sticking your finger into the soil. The soil should be moist and cool. If it feels a little dry, water away… otherwise, just leave it be.
Why put all those plants in one pot!? It turns out that all those plants work together like a team. Whether its keeping pests away, or replenishing the soil with nutrients, all the plants in that one pot are extremely happy. And! Nastrutium flowers are edible. They’re a a great, peppery addition to a salad!
Having a little garden is unbelievably satisfying. I sit on my otherwise uninviting balcony sometimes just to watch my plants grow. Now my balcony is like a bonus room. I also run my fingers through the leaves of my growing tomato plant to get that fresh tomato smell on my hands. Yes, dorky but true.
Even if you live in a tiny apartment, as long as you have a space with loads of sunlight, you can have a coy little one pot garden! It’s true! It makes life better! Let’s do this together!
More tomato posts and garden updates to come.
Tags: garden, home, how to build a garden, life, spring, tomatoes
Posted in Thoughts, Tips and Tricks, garden, life | 71 Comments »
Oooo I am so jealous of your tomato plant! Growing up my mom planted a big garden in the back yard every year with all sorts of veggies (I was always in charge of the carrots because they were my favorite). And then we spent the summer trying to fend off the deer and rabbits who wanted to enjoy the fruits of our labor.
I have been itching to plant my own one pot garden, but I’m moving in a month and I’m not sure it would be able to tag along. Maybe I can still plant one at the end of May and it won’t be too late…
oh! lucky! i’ve always a big ol’ garden with lots of vegetables! im sorry, but i am extremely jealous! hey, do you think you could get your mom to call my mom and i get a big ol garden for my birthday? just sayin’.
-catherine eng, almost 12
Hope you read this! It is not about gardening (sorry!) I love your blog. It speaks to me the way the others’ simply don’t, at least so far. That’s why I’m posting. What other baking blogs are you reading. I want to take my time and peruse your older posts at my leisure so I would love one more to space them out. That said, I know there can only be one Joy, which is what makes you so darn special but maybe there is someone else worth following? Maybe.
I’m so excited for you. I just started an indoor herb garden, by using those living herb that comes in a plastic container in your grocery store. So, my basil took and is living plesantly on my window sill.
Then I found this (organic) farmer selling herbs at the market and got some parsley, rosemary, sage, mint and purple basil. He told me not to let them sit outside till they are pretty grown since my basil leaves were getting scroched. So they are all growing up and he gave me a discount and advice on how to take care of them and provided potting soil ( a huge sack) for a discounted price as well. So, I am becoming a regular gardner, its soo wonderful. I used my basil for my home made pasta sauce, yum!
Sorry for this big post, but it is great that people like us can grow things…i mean i really used to kill plants before and did not have a ‘green thumb’ at all. Yay, to all of us
Thank you Joy for the nice pics and advice.
Joy-
If you ever consider adding a second tomato plant to the mix, I HIGHLY recommend a Sungold or Sunsugar. They are the most amazing little bright orange cherry tomatoes, and I swear, they’re like eating candy (and I have quite a sweet tooth, so that’s saying a lot.) I’ve even had a spectacular jam made from them!
Wow! I’ve been kind of busy and i you’ve written two posts before i could check the blog … and all the while i was playing with the idea of a garden and pot garden and we have this piece of land that is unused, so i called my mother and asked her if i could plant some plants there. She said yes.
Now i come here and i’m again pondering the idea of a pot garden, additionaly to the one next to the forrest where anything that grows will be probably eaten by animals or people walking by. 
Reading your post and reading all the comments was just so warming. I hope you all have success with your plants!
This post made me happy just reading it. I loved your pictures capturing the hands of the gardener (Your mom?). I plan on doing my own vegetable garden and pot herbs. I am blessed enough to have a very large propery here in Nova Scotia so I can watch so many things come to life in my gardens. I enjoy teaching my two children about helping things grow and the benefit of growing your own food.
[...] One Pot Spring Garden at JoyTheBaker.com [...]
Congratulations on joining the other side. I am an avid gardener. I grow all my seedlings from seed. It’s not only rewarding to grow your own food but you know where your food is coming from. Cheers to that!
[...] And it’s just one pot…almost no responsibility other than an occasional water check. Read the whole thing to put one together for [...]
[...] fun and easy. If my broccoli cupcake garden is a complete disaster this is my back up plan. http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2009/04/one-pot-spring-garden/ Happy [...]
[...] one pot garden has grown leaps and bounds since this photo was taken. Also, a spider has moved into the pot. A [...]
[...] This little bee sure is living large in my one pot spring garden! [...]
this is such a great idea, and something i can totally handle. i am coming to gardening a little late this summer, but i should manage to find enough starter plants at the farmers’ market to get going! thanks for the inspiration/tutorial/advice.
Thanks for the inspiration! I went out and bought tomato, basil, parsley, and oregano for my own pot garden. It’s out on my fire escape now, so hopefully it will all survive!”
A “thank you!” from me as well. I printed out your directions, brought them the store, got my supplies, and planned out my own “deck garden.” I ended up doing a few different pots, with 5 vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, buttercrunch lettuce, and spinach) and 5 herbs (cilantro, lavender, basil, oregano, lemon thyme) in all. It’s such an exciting thing to come home from work everyday and see their progress! I hope I get a couple bees, too
Thanks for the inspiration!
[...] you gardening? var addthis_pub = ”; var addthis_language = ‘en’;var addthis_options = ‘email, favorites, [...]
I got one of the topsy turvy tomato thingys this year and my 2 little plants are going nuts!! You have to look into these, and no I don’t sell them. However, a friend of mine went one better. For my B’day last week, he took a large hanging pot, made a hole in the bottom and planted the toms so they hang down. Then on the top, he planted basil & thyme!!! He’s soooo inventive!! And I already have little baby tomatoes too!!! Good luck with the garden, it’s relaxing & fun!!!
Having a garden, no matter the size, is so fun! We’ve already got sunflowers, zucchini and lavender:) I can’t wait to plant more squash, especially pumpkins for baking!
[...] Mom helped my plant a One Pot Garden. It was lovely… until I killed it. I don’t want to talk about [...]
Hey, Joy,
I stumbled upon your blog in late December or early January, and fell in love with you. Well, not in a strange way. I’m probably old enough to be your mother, and I fell in love with your joie de vivre and creativity and enthusiasm and your sense of purpose!
Looking at all the delicious photos and yummy recipes of things I have recently found out I can no longer eat, whimper whimper. If it’s comfort food, it’s off limits — sugar, dairy, alcohol, yeast, gluten, eggs… I don’t want to talk about it!
Then I stumbled upon your one-pot garden, and vowed to remember. You see, I’ve just moved to Ithaca, NY — for the cold weather, the sense of community, the reasonable cost of living, the gorgeous gorges, etc. etc. — for the second half of my life. The half where I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do, where I don’t have to do stuff to earn money, I can just do what I love… (and presumably, learn to love new things, like gardening.)
Well, pretty soon, end of May (I’m a May baby, too — the 21st), will be the last frost around here, and I came back to your site to copy down the ingredients for the garden. I also did a search to see if I could find any more blogs about how it went… I saw where you named your first two tomatoes, and I saw the bee, but after that == silencio…
How did it go? Will you do it again this year? Any tips for us? I’m thinking about starting the plants from seeds in doors… Because the end of May is so far away…
Anyway, I hope you and your baking and your aspirations are going well. You make me smile.
Liza