New Additions to the Garden Family

As an anniversary gift Mike bought me garden flowers. I picked out these greens plus the pansies because they are edible flowers! They can be used in baking or in salads, plus they're very pretty and add some colour to our garden.

Our sweet onions weren't doing so well, in fact most of them were drying out.  The lesson here: create a good water drainage system in your containers.  Very important! Instead (courtesy of my father) we have these green onion beauties ready to cut and ready to eat whenever we please.

Also from my dad (the best farmer/gardener I know), a tomato tree, a 'sweet golden' tomato tree to be exact.


In your garden containers it is so important to help prevent roots from drowning and your plants from dying.  The best way to avoid this is to:

Create a good water drainage system

1. Add a base layer of rocks (similar to a pile of gravel rocks) on the bottom of your container, which should also already contain holes on the bottom for excess water to escape out of.

2. Then some people will add a layer of newspaper on top of the rocks  Since our containers are a bit small I didn't do this step.

The second very important lesson I learned:  

Mix your potting soil

The reason: it helps prevent your soil from being too heavy and weighing down your young plants and their roots, especially during the early growing stages.


For my plants I used a combination of thick organic garden soil and peat moss mix.  Of course always remember to ensure there are water drainage holes on the bottom of your containers.

The final step will be mulching, which in my case is too early yet to start.  Adding mulch to your garden containers will help to keep your soil moist and cool and from drying out.