When I was younger, my dad worked a 9 - 5 job, five days a week for, well, forever it seemed. (He finally retired about 15 years ago.) But if there's one thing I learned from him, it was that you can take the boy off the farm, but you can't take the farmer out of the boy. My dad loved (and still loves) to grow vegetables, flowers, and plants of all kinds. When we were sent overseas so he could do some work for Uncle Sam, we lived in the desert for several years, and he STILL managed to grow something! The only time in my life I recall him not being able to is when we lived in an apartment building in the city. Someone should have told him - he still could have had a garden! (Actually, he probably already knew this, but I suppose he was too busy or something.)
So, I guess I was inspired by my dad when I went out on my own. It wouldn't take too long before I wanted to get my hands dirty. The only problem was, I wasn't in a situation where I was able to till the land and work with the ground. But, I had a great patio and a humble budget. I was going to plant a patio garden, and create an indoor herb garden.
This is a great option for people who have a limited space. First of all not everything even has to grow on the patio - you can grow things in your kitchen window, or any window indoors for that matter! Herbs make great indoor plants. You can use them as houseplants, and they also taste great in your food! I recommend growing herbs inside for three reasons:
- You can protect them from the elements, which for some reason aren't always kind to those delicate plants.
- They smell good, have great shape and color and will give life to your home that plastic or silk plants never could.
- By being inside, you can protect them from outdoor pests. Just ask my cilantro last year that never stood a chance. I had to use so many pesticides on it because of the bugs, that I never did actually use any for my famous Mexican Chicken Soup! The bugs won over my attempts to eradicate them, and I had nothing left but stubs that once formed stems. In the end, I spent 3 times the amount of the plant on "protecting" it, and another 3 times that buying store bought cilantro for my meals. Just be safe, grow the stuff inside.
For the outside patio though, I had other options. First of all, a family member had an aloe vera plant that had "babies." I must warn you however, that one aloe plant can turn into many if you continue to separate the "babies" into pots of their own. On the plus side, they grow very well in warm climates with little water. I have mine in those terra cotta pots, which tend to suck water out of the soil. This seems perfectly fine to my aloe plants.
I also bought several spearmint plants last year that are still doing well. Spearmint is great in tea and I'm sure there's plenty of other uses for it that I'm not thinking of at the moment. It can be grown inside if you have a sunny spot for it, but I had a great spot outside and it is thriving there. Still, I had to be aware of the caterpillars who seemed to think it was put there for them.
Other plants I had included marigolds, bluebonnets, three "patio tomato" plants, lots of miscellaneous flowers (I bought a can of that mixed wildflower seeds at the local Target,) caladiums, english and pothos ivies, and a few other flowering plants that I can't remember the names of. The point is, you can have huge diversity in a small area.
Speaking of diversity, I not only have a nice variety of colors and shapes, but apparently I attracted some local wildlife. I was happy to share my patio with all of them as long as they didn't eat my garden! Marigolds added great color and attracted butterflies. The aloe plants were highly coveted by a group of anole chameleons. They blended in very well and seemed to enjoy teasing my dogs with their games of hide and seek. Dragonflies also seemed to appreciate perching on the tips of the aloe plants and getting some sun. At night, I sometimes saw a few geckos come out from behind a pot or two. I always appreciated these creatures, since I knew they would eat the bugs that would otherwise be eating my plants, so it was a fair exchange: they had shelter, and I didn't need to spread poisons all over the place.
