Friday, August 21, 2009

Outdoor Flower Pot Gardening

My indoor gardening this spring was pretty much a total flop. Seeds sprouted, but didn't have enough sunlight to grow. The other problem....


look closely...
...mold and mildew.

I couldn't even grow a cactus indoors without mold growing on top of the dirt. We run a dehumidifier 12 hours a day, but our apartment still grows mold. That was the end of indoor gardening. My gardening neighbors said they had the same problem with trying to grow plants inside.
I decided to get some outdoor plants once it was warm enough, but we don't get direct sunlight in front of our apartment until the end of June. My friend, Zona, gave me some advice about plants that do well in the shade. She suggested impatiens and begonias. I bought some of those, plus some other flowers that had tags saying they would grow in the shade. We also tried out some vegetables and herbs in the small area that gets some sun in the summer.
Here are recent pictures from our outdoor flower pot garden:


outside our apartment
These are Nasturtiums. Dorina sent some of these seed packets to me. She said you can't kill Nasturtiums. Yay! Just what I needed!



To the left of our front door we have Nasturtiums, New Guinea Impatiens, Begonias, Dusty Miller, and Impatiens.



To the right of our door we have a big pot of Impatiens.



The New Guinea Impatiens are my favorite.



Here are herbs, lavender, tomatoes, zucchini, lettuce, and gourds.



Tomatoes that started out in a topsy-turvy planter and had to be rescued and planted properly.



I have a very nice gourd growing.



We have lots of blooms on our zucchini, but the slugs keep attacking before they actually produce fruit.



My poor zucchini plant



But look! We did get one zucchini!!! I think this will be our only zucchini. It is still August, but the sun is pretty much gone from the front of our apartments. Very little sunshine left for the plant.

10 comments:

  1. I am beyond impressed that you planted this much stuff!!!! Wow! It tires me out just thinking about it! I hope you get some more zucchini before the slugs get them. The flowers look great! I love lavender. So glad to see a blog from you! :)

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  2. Rachel! Your flowers are absolutely beautiful! They must bring you so much joy! Well done, girl.

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  3. I like the gourd... it looks pretty sweet. :)

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  4. WOW! We have absolutely no moisture here in the Land of Nowhere and I still can't grow anything.

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  5. Rachel,
    You can buy slug pellets to kill the rascals. Your dad does this.
    Mom

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  6. very pretty flowers and plants! I hope that you enjoy that zuccini! vince and i have been looking everywhere for nice size zuccini's.. and cant find them... i think it might be a tough year for them to grow.... the farm stands dont even have but 3 or 4 itty bitty ones :0)

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  7. Visiting from SITS.

    Okay, now I'm going to give away how dumb I am when it comes to plants. That stuff on the top of dirt is MOLD? I never knew what that was!!!!!!!! My plants all end up looking like that. (Sigh) THIS is why I prefer artificial plants. I can't be trusted.

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  8. Ouch that mold is scary. I got my sago palms spouting nicely this summer. Your veggies look great.

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  9. It looks so good! Oh my! I need you to come to my house. My garden is in SERIOUS need of help. I keep meaning too. And then passing it by....!

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  10. Thanks for stopping by my blog! Always glad to meet another sister in Christ. I will keep you and your family in my prayers.

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