Our little Porch Garden

Getting resettled in Maryland is a challenge after such a long stay in the rainforest.  The amenities are welcome, I must say.  But the last time I lived in an apartment was decades ago, so I require to do some adjusting.  Back in the rainforest, I had built a little raised-bed garden that was producing nicely for me.  Here we have no real estate for gardening so we undertook to create a Porch Garden on the landing that is the entrance to our second-storey home.

When I was visiting last year, I purchased several pots of herbs from a local florist's shop.  We had basil, thyme, oregano and rosemary growing well on the landing and available for some of the recipes we had come to enjoy.  My wife overwintered the herbs indoors.  They were in good shape when I rejoined her last December and we started making plans for an expansion of our incubator herb farm.

We use a lot of mint, basil and rosemary in the preparation of  meals. Hoping to get more herbs, I made another trip to the florist but their selection was very limited. Nevertheless, I snagged some spearmint and some basil and parsley that were ready for transplantation.  A trip to Walmart courtesy of my father-in-law allowed us to secure some large pots, tools and potting soil.  So after a transplantation session, the beginning of our Porch Garden was underway.

We also purchased a tomato plant with the intention of trying a Topsy-Turvy hanging planter.  Unfortunately, the Porch Garden would not accommodate the hanger so we transplanted the tomato in a large pot just for kindness' sake and not really expecting anything of it.

We also started chives from seed I secured on an expedition to Big Lots.  There is a flower box mounted on the porch rail where the landlords normally planted flowers each spring.  They maintain the property in a lovely state with hedge, shrubs and flowering bushes.  We decided to forgo the annual flowers and attacked to flower box with our new cultivator to rid it of last year's debris and prepare the soil for the chives.  To our delight, they sprouted dutifully and are doing just fine.  We look forward to seeing their purple blooms.

On another shopping trip we purchased three houseplants, one of which can be seen hanging out in the herb garden.  It's so uplifting to have plants around.  Our Porch Garden was growing.  And there was yet another opportunity for expansion.  On the main rail were mounting brackets for a second "window box".  We managed to find one at Big Lots and after melting some holes in it, I was able to secure it to the brackets using cable ties.  It has become home to some basil sprouted from a kit, and the spearmint and parsley I got at the florist's.

The next addition to the Porch Garden was a shoe rack - honestly!  We had bought one for the house to accommodate our collection of sandals, flip-flops, sneakers and other footwear.  When I was sitting on the porch watching the plants grow, it occurred to me that a second shoe rack would be perfect to give the garden a makeover.  So the Porch Garden now looks a little more organized and is easier to tend.  And yesterday we discovered some baby tomatoes.  How about that.