GAIA Gardening

GAIA: Grow Anywhere In Anything

[gaiagardening]

Buckets full of brassicas! These are getting big enough for transplant, but we'll probably keep them in buckets. We've got them 4/bucket now, but will give them each their own as they get bigger. Buckets can usually be acquired for free from your local grocery - just call the bakery and ask them for their left-over frosting buckets. That's how we got all of these (and like 100 more).

[gaiagardening]

Here are some beans coming up in sterilite-type tubs. These are runner (not bush) beans, so when they get a little taller we'll run strings from the old clothes rack above them for them to climb. I'll take pictures then, too. You really can grow in anything! (The tubs behind are reserved for sweet potatoes, but it's too early to put them out.)

[gaiagardening]

This is a wading pool full of strawberry plants we put out last year. We didn’t get a lot of fruit last season, choosing rather to let the runners take over the pool. Now from those ten plants we’ve got all these, and the fruit is starting to come in. Yay! It’s netted because the birds and squirrels would get it all otherwise. Kiddie pools are great for strawberry plants, lettuces, and anything with shallow roots.

[gaiagardening]

This is another type of PVC trellis, with a happy honeydew growing on it. I suspect the beans in the neighboring bag may share some of that space before too long. We used a pre-fab trellis netting on this one, just slid it on the PVC, tied the strings, and popped it up in about 5 minutes. Cheap, easy, lightweight, and equally easy to disassemble/store.

[gaiagardening]

This is a kiddie pool with nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants) and Swiss chard growing in it. There are also some carrots in the back, and some nasturtiums in there for pest control. It’s amazing how much you can fit in a kiddie pool!

[gaiagardening]

These are some potatoes we’re growing in bags made from tarps. We also have some growing in plain old garbage bags. One (theoretical) advantage of the tarp bags is a central pocket so we can dig spuds without having to empty the whole bag. I’ll let you know how that goes.

[gaiagardening]

This is a nifty trellis we made cheaply from PVC and twine. In this kiddie pool we’re growing melons, squashes, and mini pumpkins, plus some marigolds in the middle for bug protection.

[gaiagardening]

This is a chronicle of our adventures in GAIA gardening: Grow Anywhere In Anything. Here’s one early shot of some of our kiddie pool and grow bag experiments.