Plastic Strawberry Pot by Bloem Living

Does the terracotta strawberry jar need to be improved upon? I wasn't so sure when Bloem Living contacted me asking if I wanted to review any of their colorful and elegant planters, window boxes, watering cans, and hanging baskets. After looking over their containers I decided on the Shortcake Planter since my terracotta strawberry planter had long ago succumbed to falling off a shelf and breaking. I chose the purple Shortcake jar which measures 6.5 X 8.25 inches and is made from recycled plastic.

It was late in the garden season when the planter arrived and I thought about maybe planting it with succulents like the ones I had seen at Menards and an independent garden center in Chicago.

Herbs I planted in my Shortcake Planter

Sage
Parsley
Oregano
Nasturtium
Mexican Tarragon
Helichrysum italicum

As luck would have it, we were having an herb container garden workshop at the community garden and I scored a few herb starts to plant in my planter. I took my Shortcake Planter to the garden on the day of our workshop, and it was well-received by some members of the community garden and the garden workshop attendees. Drawn to the cute size and colorful profile, a few people even asked if they could have it, or if it was a door prize for our event.

Unfortunately for them, the planter had to come back home with me so I could continue to test it out. So I sat it on the back porch with the rest of my potted plants and pretty much forgot about it all summer as I spent time a lot of time away from home. Every few days when I would return I would check on the planter and see if it had dried out in the late summer heat or maybe been knocked over by the winds.

On one occasion the planter did dry out, but after placing a saucer underneath it, the herbs growing in it pretty much survived on rainwater the rest of the summer with no attention from me.

So, does the terracotta strawberry pot need an update for the modern gardener? If you are the kind of color that yearns to add splashes of color to your container garden; the answer is yes. Bloem makes a wide-range of planters besides the Shortcake Planter in a vibrant array of colors that you cannot help but feel like smiling when you come across them. There is no mention on the website about how well these plastic planters hold up to UV rays, but I did not notice any color fading in my Shortcake Planter even after it sat in full sun for the summer. Nor was there any breaking or cracking as is usually what happens with cheap plastic planters. And of course, there was no threat of it falling over and breaking like a traditional strawberry pot made from terracotta.

Besides the obvious, what would you plant in a strawberry pot?

'Boxwood' Basil

I've been thinking a lot about basil this spring and wishing I had land to grow a lot of basil. In particular, I really want to grow a knot garden of 'Boxwood' basil and inside the geometric shapes plant dark basil varieties like 'Purple Ruffles' and 'Dark Opal.' I didn't grow the 'Boxwood' basil picture below, it was photographed at the gardens of Ball Horticulture, but all winter I've been revisiting the picture in my computer.

'Purple Ruffles' Basil

The year before last I tried to grow 'Purple Ruffles' basil from Burpee seeds which unfortunately didn't come true. The seeds did produce basil plants-they were just some genetic green basil. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. Last spring I managed to find 'Purple Ruffles' seedlings at a community garden's plant sale and purchased a few.

Seed Starting Bio-Dome From Plastic Bin

While you can easily make a bio-dome from plastic bottles for starting seeds and you can even buy a bio-dome from sources like Park's Seeds and seed growing kits from Burpee, there are a lot of options you can explore. You can make your own bio-dome from any plastic container that has a cover. Recently I found myself in a hardware store where these plastic bins were on sale and purchased one to use as a seed starting bio-dome.

How to Save Seeds

A recent visitor to this garden blog asked me what the benefit of saving seeds from the garden for next year. The answer can be a rather long one involving issues like income, consumerism, and even politics when we get into the area of genetically modified organisms and saving heirloom seeds. The biggest benefit for me of saving seeds for next year is that I create a backup of my garden should plants die or get stolen. While saving seeds from vegetables, flowers and fruits you're creating your own personal seed bank. Below are some seed saving tips and techniques I rely on to save seeds from plants in my garden. Hopefully they'll be of use to new gardeners who come across this.

How To Collect Basil Seeds

Of all the edible plants people can grow in their gardens, or in containers, basil has to be the easiest of them all. No herb garden is complete without at least one basil plant growing. My only problem with growing basil is the price of basil seedlings and seeds of the nicer basil cultivars available. Growing basil from seeds is very easy and the most affordable way to grow many basil plants. Once you've grown a basil plant saving seeds from your basil plant is very easy, you just need to learn where to look on the plant so you know how to collect basil seeds.

Growing Basil, Mini, "Windowbox"

Can an herb in your garden be too cute to eat? That's how I currently feel about "Windowbox" basil. I can't even bring myself to pinch the developing flower buds so it doesn't flower and go to seed. The seeds for my "Windowbox" basil came from Renee's Garden, but before seeing it her online seed catalog I never knew such a basil existed. On the product page "Windowbox" is described as being "truly a bonsai basil" and while the bonsai purist in me bristles at a basil being called "bonsai" I can't help but nod in agreement with this description. At certain angles, this little pot of basil looks like a miniature forest. I find myself going out to the porch garden just to look at it.

How To Collect Calendula Seeds

Calendula is sometimes called pot marigold but shouldn't be confused with Marigolds from the genus Tagets. Since they are in the Asteraceae family they also don't develop a single seed pod that makes collecting seeds extremely easy for the beginner gardener/seed saver among us, but the seeds are just as relatively easy to locate as the Marigold seeds.