Last Saturday, May 3, I started by drilling the drainage holes in the bottom of my four new containers. Then, I cleaned up the dead plants in the current containers, a bunch of dead leaves, and other rubble. Then, I determined which containers I was going to keep. The four new containers will be for tomatoes and in the back row. The two large black containers I bought last year will be for the Serrano and Jalapeno peppers. The two remaining large blue containers will be for cilantro, and the two green containers from the lower deck will be for Basil. There were five or six extra, smaller containers, and I emptied the soil into the four new containers. Then I hauled the four bags of potting soil into the back yard and dumped each bag into one of the new containers. Then I got out the leaf blower and cleaned up the dirt I spilled, and I was done for the day.

On Monday, May 5, I went to Menard’s and got the two Obelisk tomato cages I needed, as well as a couple more bags of soil and bean seeds.

Today, I went out and planted the plants in the container garden, then a pot of basil and cilantro from seed. I have two other pots that I will plant in 3 to 4 weeks, and I’ll rotate crops between the two sets of pots. I need to get a large pot of basil next time I go to Goebbert’s.

I watered the container garden, cleaned up a bit, and came in for dinner. I made tea and heated up some of the chicken parm and spaghetti. We were able to eat on the back porch for the first time this year. Yay!

Goebbert’s didn’t have the large Jalapeno plants out yet so, I will plant those when they are available.