Greg's Growing Garden... day 1

When my brother died last September, my sister thought we should encourage those who came to the funeral to plant a garden in Greg's honor.

We made "flags," collected seeds, put the seeds into brightly colored straws, figured out how to keep the seeds from coming out ... and handed them out at the celebration of Greg's life following the burial.

I have been looking at my seeds for a long while, but I hadn't planted them.

I have about the blackest thumb in my family ... so I worried about what might come from my planting them.

I finally got the courage to plant them while my parents were here.  I thought it would be good to have them nearby during the planting as they both can make plants grow just by looking at them.

We were all pleased to see the little shoots poking up from the soil after only a few days.  The red dandelion took off first, with the red beets coming in a quick second.  I worried about the cilantro and hoped for the best for the rest.

Beets, Red Dandelion and Green Chard (in the back)

I left them in the care of a friend while I was away and came back to find them flourishing.

Cilantro, Curly Parsley, Flat Parsley

But, it has been almost a week since I returned, and it was pretty clear that they were about to fall out of their little starter containers.  I was also having a hard time keeping them watered and out of the direct sunlight.

After a little research into gardening supply choices, I decided that I was most likely to find what I needed (and could afford) at BigLots!.

I can't really plant the little guys in the soil outside my apartment.  There isn't really room and the soil is terrible and I am afraid the gardeners would just cover them with bark.  I didn't want to put them in planters that would be too stationary because I am worried the little plants won't be able to withstand the heat.

I found a standing hanger with room for three planters.   I chose one large and two small.

I am not sure it was the right choice, but I put the beets in the large planter, on the theory that they need more depth to grow.

Beets in their hanging planter.

I put the chard and the red dandelion in one of the small planters.  Since both of these are greens, I thought they might like to be together.  I planted more seeds on the sides ... probably too many, but we will just hope for the best.

Chard, left & Red Dandelion, right

In the other small planter, I put all the herbs: two kinds of parsley and cilantro.  If they get too crowded, I guess I can go an buy another one of these hanging planter holders and separate them.

Cilantro looking wilty and the two parsleys

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Greg's Growing Garden

This is what they looked like after all the rearranging and watering.

Fingers crossed they will continue to thrive and enjoy their new surroundings.

Can't wait to harvest, Greg would be so proud.