You might remember a recent post from me titled How to Plant a Container Veggie/Herb Garden, where I shared my family’s experience planting vegetable plants and herb seeds. We’ve been caring for our little garden for nearly two months now, so I thought it would be fun to share an update today including photos and care tips. To close, I’ll share some thoughts on the experience of caring for our garden as a family.
Then & Now
Italian Herbs
In the front bed, we planted Italian herb seeds, which are just now beginning to sprout. I can’t for the life of me remember which order I planted the seeds in, but from the looks of them I recognize Parsley and Thyme sprouts. What do you think?
Care Tip: The sprouts are rather delicate, so I water them with the mist setting on my hose, once or twice a day depending on the look and feel of the soil.
Mint & Red Pepper
In the second bed we originally planted mint (on the left) and chocolate mint (on the right). Unfortunately, the chocolate mint plant didn’t make it so I planted the red pepper plant in it’s place. The mint has doubled in size and the pepper plant has taken on a life of it’s own. It has small flower buds popping up all over that I assume will turn into our red peppers.
Care Tip: We caught some tiny green worms munching on the mint about a month ago. We removed them over and over again for about a week until they finally disappeared. Now, I carefully check the top and bottoms of the leaves of every plant daily to ensure we remain pest free.
Basil & Tomato
In the back bed, we planted Basil and Tomato. Our basil has doubled in size and our tomato plant is garnished with many small, green tomatoes and a few that are just turning red.
Care Tip: Our garden gets adequate light in the morning hours, so I placed them under the shade of an umbrella to protect them from the harsh afternoon sun. I water all plants once or twice a day, depending on the look and feel of the soil. If you aren’t sure if they need watering, just stick your finger about 1 inch below the surface of the soil. If it’s dry, go ahead and water, if it’s moist, hold off until tomorrow.
Caring For Our Garden as a Family
I knew when I planted this garden as part of our Summer Bucket List, that I wanted Dutch to be involved every step of the way. In the original post, you’ll see how we involved him in the purchasing and planting process by allowing him to accompany us to the gardening center, dig and dump soil, pour compost, and water the plants. For the past two months he has helped with watering almost every day, in fact it has become an anticipated daily experience.
He’s grown quite infatuated with the tomatoes and their changing colors. When we have company over to visit, he eagerly drags them outside to show them “his gween tomatoes.” I’ve also let him pick some basil leaves in preparation for dinner, he enjoys sniffing them and inhaling their sweet scent.
This experience has proven fun and enriching for the whole family, but for Dutch it has provided him a sense of autonomy. He feels like his is a part of something, because we have involved him every step of the way. I’m also proud to be teaching him the value behind the foods we consume. We live in such a convenient society these days, where oftentimes we only see our food packaged behind refrigerated shelves. I’m really looking forward to watching Dutch pick fresh tomatoes, peppers and herbs in the coming months and even involving him in the process of cooking them.
Do you have any care tips to share? Don’t forget to say hello in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you. Also, check out these related posts:
Related: How to Plant a Container Veggie/Herb Garden
Related: DIY DISTRESSED TERRA COTTA POTS
Related: Outdoor Play: A Day At The Farm
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Creatively Yours,
Lindsay ❤
Letters To Dutch 
Very nice, Lindsay!
We have enjoyed caring for our garden as a family this summer as well. I have been picking veggies faster than we can eat them this week!
Did you know if you snap those flower buds off your basil plants, it will prevent the leaves from tasting bitter?
Enjoy those ripening tomatoes — yum!
Stacy
Hi Stacy!
So nice to hear from you. Thank you for the tip about the basil flower buds, I had no idea they would affect the taste of the leaves. I appreciate you stopping by and sharing that with me, our food will taste that much sweeter. 😊
Hope all is well with your sweet little family!
All the best,
Lindsay
Wow… They look very healthy. Well done👍
Thank you Joseyphina! Appreciate you stopping by 😊
My pleasure, Lindsay ☺