Container Gardening for Dummies

I wasn't too impressed with Container Gardening for Dummies. It seemed to spend too much time talking about gardening aesthetics (what kind of interesting items can be used as containers, for example) and not enough time talking about the details of what makes a successful container garden. I did find the chapter on soil mixes to be useful as well as the chapters on plant watering and pests and diseases. This information largely overlaps with information I already have in my other gardening books though so I'm going to resell this book.

Growing Basil Plants

10/20/06





Basil #2, grown at home


Basil #1, grown at work!


Basil #1

These plants are from the same seeds. See what a difference growing conditions can make?


I took basil #1 home and this is what happened to it. It started looking like this in its container, so I transplanted it to a large container thinking maybe it was outgrowing it's container. It only looked worse though, even after it had time to adjust to the new conditions, so I dug it up and put it back in a small pot and took it back to work.

basil #2, June 12
This is the plant that used to be at home. Taking it to work has massively improved it.


basil #2, June 19


Basil #1, June 19. This is the plant that started at work, then went home. Now that it's been back at work for a while, it's looking a lot better.

Blue Borage

Blue borage at home

Here you can see a chronology of my two blue borage plants which I grew last spring. I started both at home but later took one to work to brighten up my days. While this was one of my more successful plants, meaning that it lived up to its promise to be easy-to-grow, I didn't really like it. The blooms are very unique looking, but only last a couple of days before they fall off. They are edible and have a very faintly sweet taste, which is neat, but overall the plant is kind of ugly and feels uncomfortably scratchy when you touch it.


Another shot of blue borage at work sometime before May 20


Blue borage at work, May 20, 2006


Blue borage at work, 6-12-06


Blue borage at work, 6-12-06


Blue borage at work blooms! June 18, 2006


Blue borage at work. Can't believe how tall it's gotten. June 18


Blue borage at home. Not sure of the date but it was before June 22. Here I can see that the bug infestation started earlier than I realized by at least a few days, if not a week.


Blue borage at home, 6-22-06


Blue borage at home, June 22, starting to fall over from bug infestation


I think these may be black aphids but I'm not sure. They are making the leaves sticky and curl under. They are mostly on the undersides of the leaves but there are a few on the top. At first I thought that some dirt had blown up onto the leaves. These things don't appear to move, but if you look very closely and for a long time you'll see one move. I got some organic three in one insecticide and sprayed it on the leaves on June 23 in the evening. I first noticed the problem on June 19, I think. The plants seemed to be handling their transplant up to a larger container fine, but I've read over and over that blue borage doesn't like to be transplanted because of its tap root. Maybe transplanting them weakened them and made them susceptible to the insects. They didn't look that great before I transplanted them either, though.