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I grow everything in containers, one plant per 5 gallon container, though I’m no Farmer Linda for certain (more on that below). Best thing about container gardening is no bugs, though they do require extra watering that ground gardening may not. I’ve had incredible success with tomatoes, herbs, peppers, onions and radishes. This summer, I’m removing 2 deck chairs to make room for 8 asparagus plants. They only ship the plants in sets of 8 at planting time, so it’s more than I need but I may kill a couple, so spares are welcome. I’m also adding one corn plant and some green beans.

The very first time I planted sweet peppers, I went to the local greenhouse and chose two plants that had red pepper tags and two that had green pepper tags. When I got home, I noticed that I’d inadvertently brought home 3 green peppers and one red pepper plant. I drove almost 50 miles round trip back to the greenhouse to exchange a green pepper plant for a second red pepper plant. Shockingly, nobody said anything to me at the time but dutifully allowed me to make my exchange. In July, when the vegetables appeared on the plants, I was quite annoyed to see that I had 4 green pepper plants. Someone eventually straightened me out. When I say I’m no Farmer Linda, I truly mean that, but I’m learning as I go and am inordinately proud of being able to eat food I’ve grown myself. City girls 🙄

I recommend an olla for an excellent irrigation method. It's basically a terracotta container buried in the soil filled with water that leaches out just what the plant needs. There are little spike ones for smaller containers. For larger areas you can make ollas out of terracotta pots and plates or two pots with a little silicone for a seal.

Good luck with the one corn plant. I am a farmer. Corn is wind pollinated, not bug pollinated. That means the wind blows the pollen from the top tassels onto the silks on the ears below. Each silk produces a kernel. When I plant corn, I plant at least four short rows (usually more) only a tiller width apart for better pollination. I plant the seeds close together. Corn plant roots are shallow and if they are closer together, they hold each other up. They don’t blow over as fast in a high wind. You might get two or three ears if you hand pollinate by taking the pollen off the tassels and placing it on the silks but that’s a lot of work.

Now that we have a home on more or less dry land and enough room for a garden, PR and I are anxious to learn about what food we can grow in the short time we have each year.

We have good local sources for eggs, meat chickens, fish etc. but I need to con someone into raising goats d;^)