Every year I plant a small vegetable container garden.  Every year my garden does poorly and I get very little vegetables.  But every Spring I decide to try again.  I guess just can’t resist the thought of fresh from the vine produce.

The biggest problem with my container garden is it’s location.  Our small backyard space is mostly devoted to grass and a couple of small flower beds.  I don’t want to lose the grass as it is prime playspace for Little Bug and in her younger years The Hound.  So, that leaves a narrowish stretch of concrete sidewalk on the side of our garage.  This space gets morning sun only.  The other side of the garage also has a narrow strip of space that gets afternoon sun only.  It’s not ideal lighting but you work with what you have when you live in the city.

This year I decided to to try grow bags.  Have you seen them?  I found some 20 gallon ones online, and thought I might have more success if I planted things in something that had more growing space.  It took approximately 1.5 large bags of potting soil and about half a bag of compost to fill one 20 gallon grow bag.  In my bags I planted (from seed,) zucchini, beets, and sweet peas, (all container varieties.)  And then in regular plastic pots I planted swiss chard, baby carrots, and spinach.  My green thumb neighbor grew some tomato seedlings and was generous enough to give me a couple so I have two tomato plants as well.  All of these things I planted on the “morning sun” side of the garage.

On the “afternoon sun,” side of the garage I have two wooden planters that The Mister built for me a few years ago.  In these I planted herbs, (not from seed,) and a couple of cucumber plants, (also not from seed.)

I’m happy to report that so far everything is fairing well.  The stuff I planted from seed still has a long way to go, but the cucumber and tomato plants are growing like crazy.  I’ve got about 10 small green tomatoes and 3 or 4 teenie tiny cucumbers already!

Keep your fingers crossed for me!  If anyone has any container gardening tips they would like to share or any kind of vegetable that has done well with limited lighting please leave a comment!