enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

getting started growing.

Plants
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Plants2 Plants4
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I went to a local nursery yesterday and picked up a 42 lb bag of soil, a cart-full of herbs and a few tomato plants. After a lot of discussion, Paul and I agreed to start small with our little patio garden and see how things go. We have had herbs before, but always planted in small pots on a windowsill with poor drainage. Hopefully direct sunlight, more space and drainage will help our basil, mint, rosemary, cilantro & thyme grow.

And the tomatoes are just a whim. I have never planted anything besides herbs so we'll see how they do!

ps. those tan flats are c/o Blowfish Shoes and isn't "Green Thumb" the cutest name for a nursery?

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44 responses to “getting started growing.”

  1. Isobel_A Avatar
    Isobel_A

    Basil and tomatoes grow as well together as they taste together – if you grow them interspersed with each other, it helps to fend off the bugs that they are prone to and they just seem to encourage each other, somehow. The odd chemistry of growing things, I suppose.

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  2. Johanna Avatar
    Johanna

    Best luck with your little garden of sorts! I wish I had a “green thumb” like my mother, maybe a spot with less bugs than our balcony will help me cultivate one sometime 🙂

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  3. Kaytie Yost Avatar
    Kaytie Yost

    Yay – adventures in growing, this is so exciting! I’ve done container garden tomatoes for a few years now, my only piece of advice would be to make sure you have a large enough pot and to put bricks/rocks or something heavy in the bottom to keep the plant from falling over. Tomatoes get so big and heavy I was so disappointed to come home and see my plants laying all over the ground! 🙂

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  4. Natalie (QSOgirl) Avatar
    Natalie (QSOgirl)

    Hi Elise,
    Your garden looks lovely! I’m anxiously awaiting the last frost date in my area so I can put mine in the ground!
    I had a container garden on our balcony for several years while I was in grad school, and I found this book (The Bountiful Container by McGee & Stuckey) to be invaluable! It’s the best vegetable container gardening book I’ve found.
    http://www.amazon.com/McGee-Stuckeys-Bountiful-Container-Vegetables/dp/0761116230/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332937931&sr=8-1

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  5. Kelly Cree Avatar
    Kelly Cree

    I use an “earth box” for our tomatoes and was amazed beyond belief! Couldn’t believe the results–it’s the real deal and I’ll never grow them in anything else. My plants were over my head–around 6 feet tall–and I was giving them away to neighbors all season. Check it out on google.

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  6. Leah Buckley Avatar
    Leah Buckley

    so envious that you have space to garden! that looks like so much fun. have you read any of gayla trails’s books? they are amazing resources, especially Grow Great Grub. her blog is also great: http://www.yougrowgirl.com/

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  7. Lauren Avatar
    Lauren

    So exciting!! Your basil is going to completely explode outside! I had so much last year that I had to periodically trim and dry huge amounts at a time. Which was worth it, because know I have the best dried&crushed basil for cooking!

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  8. Clare D'Onofrio Avatar
    Clare D’Onofrio

    Looks great, happy to see a young couple gardening. Only advice I have is that I think you have things too close together. Tomato plants end up 6 ft tall they usually do better in a big pot since they will get huge. If things start looking crowded just replant before they are huge. Love your enthusiasm for life in general.

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  9. LizzyM Avatar
    LizzyM

    Ahhh…. Once you’ve grown your own tomatoes, you’ll never go back!! Enjoy it!! 🙂

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  10. Rose Avatar
    Rose

    You’ll be surprised at how well your tomatoes will grow. Ours were out of control last season.

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  11. Chelsea Avatar
    Chelsea

    I think I love your outfit. Atleast from what I can see!
    I have the urge to start my own little garden too, hauling stuff in my car is just a huge pain. But maybe I’ll go for it today!

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  12. Lane Avatar
    Lane

    I’ve had a lot of luck growing herbs and am by no means a great gardener. It’s a really easy and rewarding way to start. I will caution you about the mint. The stuff grows like crazy. Watch it to make sure it doesn’t overtake your other herbs or just plant it in its own container. I’ve also had good luck with oregano and chives.

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  13. Allison Avatar
    Allison

    So jealous Elise! I won’t be able to start planting until May. Good luck with the tomatoes!
    xx
    http://www.thrifted.ca

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  14. Trina Curran Avatar
    Trina Curran

    Oh, I just did a guest post on Campfire Chic’s blog about planting an herb garden. 🙂 I used lots of vintage pots and they are outside on my porch. Hoping they stay well and that I can use them in recipes all summer. Yay! Here’s the post if you want to see my planters…I have lots of animal ones. http://campfirechicblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-create-your-own-herb-garden.html

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  15. Leah Avatar
    Leah

    I can’t wait to move in with my boyfriend this summer and start gardening on our deck. However, here in Cape Breton (on Canada’s east coast) we still have snow on the ground! We’re just dreaming about gardening at this point. Love your blog for inspiration!

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  16. Frankie Avatar
    Frankie

    I love your gardening enthusiasm. Some advice on the tomatoes though- those pots are a little bit small for tomatoes. They need about 18 inches of space for their roots. Also be careful with watering them- there’s a fine line between the appropriate amount of water and too much to get flavorless tomatoes. (Sorry, I’m just serious about growing tomatoes.) Good Luck!

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  17. Michelle Avatar
    Michelle

    Green Thumb is such a fun and perfect nursery name! Your little plants looks so great already. Can’t wait to see their progress, cause I know we will 🙂 Is the towered pot for tomatoes? Love that!

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  18. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    thanks so much! there are tomatoes in there and some basil plants as well… we will see how the stacking goes…

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  19. krugthethinker Avatar
    krugthethinker

    Excited for you! And slightly jealous: we get no natural light in our apartment, so our herbs have not fared very well. Hopefully this time next year we’ll be living somewhere where we can plant outside! Happy gardening!

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  20. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    yes! this is why I am worried about the tomatoes … not enough space. Turns out I need another planter anyway, so those will probably be moved. Thanks for the tips!

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  21. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    awesome! I have a bunch of basil plants.. .really hope they flourish with extra soil and sunlight. 🙂

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  22. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    ahhh!! good call. I might move the mint today.

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  23. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    good call – thank you. I am going to see about getting a few more pots.

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  24. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    I have not! Thanks for the rec!!

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  25. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    GREAT tip. Thank you.

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  26. kristen Avatar
    kristen

    Yay! You started! Love that tower of basil plants – your homemade pesto will be even more awesome now 🙂
    Also, yeah, just wanted to echo that the tomato plants will get HUGE.
    So excited for you guys!
    xo

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  27. tate Avatar
    tate

    I seriously have horrible luck with plants but cherry tomatoes and basil are the only think I have had success with- SO easy to manage… you will be fine!

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  28. suzanne Avatar
    suzanne

    For a small space; I’ve grown “patio plant” tomatoes. They didn’t grow over 3-4 feet and were healthy.
    Cheers to spring plantings and renewal!

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  29. ktmade Avatar
    ktmade

    I’m planning to make that same trip to the nursery this weekend! We’re hoping to do cherry tomatoes and herbs. Maybe a few other vegies just for kicks. Hope yours go welll!

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  30. Patricia Avatar
    Patricia

    E drone has given you similar advice–I have a huge garden. I plant my tomatoes three FEET apart. Always look so far apart when planted but they fill up all the space. They get very top heavy, especially in pots, as someone said. So happy to see folks gardening. Nothing like it.

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  31. Chrystina Avatar
    Chrystina

    Good luck!! This is such a great project to take on!!

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  32. Kathy Aylward Avatar
    Kathy Aylward

    Very exciting growing fresh herbs and tomatoes…try planting some “butterhead” lettuce see if they have it in the USA (we do in Australia). You can just pick leaves off for your lunch and it keeps growing…they are so easy to grow and you could grow 6 of them in one of those troughs you have.
    I planted two cherry tomato bushes and they did amazingly well. As you’ve seen mentioned above, when this plant gets going you are not going to believe how top heavy it will get. One thing with tomatoes is they don’t like water around the stalk or on the leaves so just water around it but not wet. Tomatoes can have leaves that go brown and dead and just snip them off at the stem and thow them in the bed..don’t compost those as they are unhealty. Your plant still grows and the tomatoes are wonderful. You won’t believe the taste of the home grown tomatoes… My advice like the others on the tomatoes is if you can put the trough near the wall and buy a piece of 1mt or 1.5mt high lattice or wire for the plant to grow up and lean on. It can be slightly slanted towards the wall so when the tomatoes vines are attached to it, it doesn’t bring the whole plant down. Very easy and can be done and they will double in size in a month. Also at the base of the stem of the tomato plant take off any stems that are starting to grow too low so that you just have one main vine going up and then sprouting off higher. Totally do-able and totally worth it but you will need some form of trellice to tie the vines up onto. That was my first tomato plant it I had so many amazing tomatoes and it’s nice to give them to friends. I used to package them in brown paper bags or little celophane bags with red checked ribbon…so yummy and always appreciated Regards Kathy A, Brisbane, Australia

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  33. Kathy Martin Avatar
    Kathy Martin

    I can already taste the fresh pesto! 🙂

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  34. Frankie Avatar
    Frankie

    You’re welcome! I hope it all goes well.

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  35. Her Sunday Avatar
    Her Sunday

    Oh man! I just got really giddy looking at your photos of plants. I adore gardening. It’s still too cold here to start anything but we are already making plans and drawing up the garden layout. We’re hoping to change things up a bit this year and see if it makes a difference to our harvest. Next month I’ll be able to start a few things indoors but we won’t be able to move them out until June. Such a short growing season here-bummer.

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  36. Sara B Avatar
    Sara B

    I had a little garden at my last apartment in the Bay Area–I loved going to the nursery and spending a Saturday in the garden. My mom has an amazing garden with all kinds of fresh veggies and fruit! Someday…
    In other news, I MUST know, where did you get that chambray shirt? 😉

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  37. Carla M Avatar
    Carla M

    oh my goodness, SO cute! I realllly want to do this now too! Do you recall where you found that stand-o-pots container? It’s on the right side of your watering pail. Hope you have an awesome harvest!!

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  38. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    I found it on amazon!

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  39. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    j.crew factory online!

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  40. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    WONDERFUL tips – thank you.

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  41. Ashley Avatar
    Ashley

    This is SO fun! Ya’ll are going to LOVE having fresh herbs and tomatoes– Yay for fresh pesto!! We grew tomatoes for the first time last year and could not believe how HUGE they got. It is SO fun to go out and pick fresh tomatoes and herbs to use in meals. Yay! Have fun!! 🙂

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  42. Suzanne Avatar
    Suzanne

    Oh! And also check out this month’s Sunset magazine. It has the what, where and how of choosing and planting tomatoes 🙂

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  43. Elizabeth Avatar
    Elizabeth

    Saw this and thought of you http://ana-white.com/2012/03/5-potting-bench-plans not sure if you would have room or not. I definitely see one in our future. But first I just want to try and plant some flowers with my girls. 🙂

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  44. Skye Avatar
    Skye

    I’ve been too lazy to start gardening but it’s on my life list! I can’t wait to see how your plants turn out!

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