Container Gardening Finds: Two Types of Planters

April 16, 2025 Sarah

Our move has been an odd one in many ways, but my ability to shop in person has been a huge one. I find myself running the mile numbers constantly. It used to take us 30 miles to get to the tiniest Walmart, that rarely had anything in stock, on the island. (And that Walmart has deep history in how an entire town gets crippled by size restrictions in an attempt to keep out Walmart back in the mid-90’s). So rarely did I shop there, because not only was it a very long drive up a 50 mile long island, there wasn’t much to look at. If I wanted to go to a large Walmart, it was a very long drive.

But now I live within 8 and 13 miles to two Walmart stores, one of which is a massive Super Center on the side of Hwy 81 in West Virginia.

And with showing up here with only a small amount of my gardening equipment, I used my mason jar selling fund to buy new items for my container garden this year. For certain things, I will always go for the lower cost version if I can – and Walmart is more affordable than The Home Depot is. It always shocls me how much some stores think you should pay for a few bits of plastic….

Up first:

I have bought so many of these plastic “whisky barrel” pots. They are huge and lightweight. I have used them in the past years on Whidbey, and they usually hold up for years. Even if they eventually crack, they still work fine. I actually left behind many that were tucked in around our gardens.

They are the Better Homes and Gardens Whisky Barrel pots, in the 20″ size (they are 13″ deep). At under $16 each, they are an affordable option. They slide easily, even when full, across patios.

They are big enough to grow blueberry plants in for years:

As you can see the Whidbey Red Garlic I brought with me is coming up quickly.

Just punch the two spots on the bottom, on each container, with a flat blade screwdriver and you are ready to fill. They take about 1.5 cubic feet of soil, I recommend using a lightened soil, such as potting mix, versus a heavier raised bed soil (which if you use, just lighten with coconut coir/peat moss and perlite).

The Next Find:

I saw the City Picker’s Trellis Towers on a shopping trip, and bought the two they had.

I paid under $24 for each of them. I ran the numbers in my mind and realized that for a pot and a trellis, I was coming out ahead.

But also, this trellis I could break down if I got to move up plants – something you cannot do easily using a metal tomato trellis.

It only took a few minutes to assemble both of them. You get two options on what to show, I went for the faux wood look, there is a wicker look on the backside. I would suggest that you fill the pot and plant first, then assemble the trellis, or you will be lowering your plant through the top like I did….

I used lightened raised bed soil and each one hols about half a cubic foot of soil/plant.

I left the wheels off, but it’s also very windy here, so I didn’t need my plants running away on me. These come with excellent drainage on the bottom, so these are outdoor only.

~Sarah

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Gardening · Homesteading · Urban Homesteading

Grow This: West Virginia Garden Challenge

April 11, 2025 Sarah

I saw the 2025 Grow This: West Virginia Garden Challenge in winter and signed up for it before we moved (Since I had the local address to use!).

I love free seeds, the challenge of growing, and the chance to show off (I am pretty competitive with gardening). Mary’s Heirloom Seeds provided the seeds this year.

I received my seeds in the mail, even though I signed up to pick them up in person at the local library. They had a few issues with the distribution this year. Nothing huge, but some participants never received their cards in the mail (I didn’t and was about to pick them up in person when I found them in my mailbox). But there were no issues; I had my seeds in hand, so it was time to plant.

So what is it?

The Throwdown is a statewide competition that aims to get West Virginians to move more, grow their own food, and crush hunger in our state. Participants complete challenges to earn points for their counties. Some challenges are simple, like donating vegetables to a food pantry. Others are more involved, like organizing a seed library or building a Grow This-themed float for a local parade. The competition is supported by grant funds for these types of educational programs.

This is something that hits me deep in my love of growing food. Sharing knowledge and helping others become more self-sufficient builds resilient communities. When people have a skill set, they become more confident in life.

It has been freezing the past few days (it got down to 27 one night), so I used my pop-greenhouse to start the seeds.

I planted about half the Mesclun Lettuce seed in 4″ pots.

The Chives I did two pots worth (plenty of chives!)

The Pickling Cucumbers had fewer seeds, so I started all the seeds.

I’ll have enough seed for the lettuce for a late summer start to have early fall lettuce.

I will transplant them into my container garden once they have sprouted. But for now, they will stay warmer in the shelter and exposed to natural light. As I mentioned, I gave up most artificial lighting years ago, as I have long felt that plants are stronger when grown under natural light (the sun).

So here is to a successful sprouting – and updates as the growing season continues.

~Sarah

Gardening · Homesteading · Urban Homesteading

Starting A Container Garden

April 7, 2025April 7, 2025 Kirk Kirkconnell

It’s been just over a week since I arrived in West Virginia. The younger two boys, the cat, and I flew out at the end of March. Kirk, the oldest son and the dogs, drove across the country.

In early March, Kirk and I had driven across the US and I had planted a couple things before we flew back. Everything made it except for the strawberry 🍓 plants. They didn’t get enough rain, as they were just bit too far back. But that wasn’t a huge loss financially. I’ll get my alpine strawberry seeds going this week.

I love 5 gallon buckets for pepper plants 🫑, this frame I found at Home Depot slightly classed it up. I decided to treat myself.

We were here a few days when the first drop of shipped items showed up, from the U-Haul boxes:

We had sent thru 10 of these, and a lot of my garden gear was in them.

With time to spare, I started building on the lower patio.

I had ordered another pop-up greenhouse so I could start seeds quickly.

Fully built and weighted down, with it being the second one Alistaire has built, it went up fast.

Bricks, blocks, or pavers hold down the cover to protect from the wind. It’s even windier here in WV than it was on Whidbey Island.

I set up a potting area so I could make soil and get going on filling pots.

The cheapest potting trays are cement mixing trays. I found 2 sizes locally at Home Depot. It gives me one for soaking coconut coir, which is handy. The work table I had shipped through, though I almost didn’t. I am glad I did!

Clancy Potatoes 🥔 and Hedou Bok Choy seeds started today.

The last frost date is later than I am used to, so it has bought me time to seed and plant. I am now in grow zone 7a, where as I used to be in grow zone 8b

Yukon Gold and Blue potatoes 🥔 that I bought in early March, I got into pots this past week. They were definitely ready to be planted!

With my garden gear there, I started filling my grow bags. This morning, I seeded Tom Thumb dwarf green peas 🫛 outside. They are cold hardy.

I have in the container garden so far:

2 kinds of potatoes, 2 blueberries, 2 grapes, 4 containers garlic, and 2 of peas. In the greenhouse, more has and will be seeded. The weather predicts freezing temperatures a couple of nights this week, so I stay patient. Soon, it’ll be lettuce and pea harvesting time, and then to plant tomatoes 🍅 and peppers outside.

There’s nothing wrong with extensive container gardening. It lets one grow, but not have to build the infrastructure. You can work it around everything else that is crushing you and not feel overwhelmed by it. Meanwhile, as we settle in, I have taken a few moments to walk our land and to think where the permanent gardens will go in.

– Sarah

Gardening · Homesteading · Urban Homesteading

Growing Garlic 🧄 From One Area To The Next

March 31, 2025March 31, 2025 neverfreefarm

As winter waned, and spring approached, I realized a sad thing:

I had either planted or sold all the garlic from summer of 2024. I had none to take with me, to our new place. The worst part is? I had been thru this before, on our last move. I had planted garlic in the fall of 2017 and left in the spring of 2018, taking none with me.

As I packed I found a tiny bulb of garlic. Little slivers for the cloves, but I figured at least I had something to grow.

In early March, I planted it on a visit out East when we drove our RV to West Virginia. I had found an old broken-down wheelbarrow downat the bottom of our land:

Just add in broken pieces of pottery lying next to it for drainage….

I asked a couple of friends, jokingly, “did you have any of the garlic you bought from me, that you didn’t plant?”

Well…my friend Linda actually did.

It was some of the best I had grown last year. Huge bulbs.

I packed it in my suitcase and flew across the US with it, as I left WashingtonState.

The first day in West Virginia, I walked to the “garden” area in the back yard and saw this:

It had sprouted in the 4 weeks since I had planted it. And survived with no watering, except for the rain.

That made me smile. I went shopping and picked up 2 large containers, and planted the rest I had brought.

Now all the garlic I brought is planted.

The garlic won’t grow as big as fall planted, but it will produce seed for next fall, where I can produce a viable crop next year, to keep my Whidbey Red garlic going! And that was all that matters. To keep it going. And hopefully by next spring the new gardens will be built. And ready to grow as much as I want.

~Sarah

Gardening · Homesteading · Urban Homesteading

The New Kitchen Garden

March 8, 2025 Sarah

Big news! We are moving soon—across the country. In my work on the new place, I found I couldn’t pass up on at least starting an easy garden. My hands must be in the soil! So while doing work on the new place, I went shopping and got some soil, a few plants, and a couple pots (though I found some on the land that I cleaned up).

In saying goodbye to the homestead on the island and looking forward to the new place we are moving to, I learned one extensive lesson in this last homestead:

It’s OK to take the first year mostly off, learn the land, and go from there.

I nearly burned myself out on the island in the summer of 2018. After leaving behind a well-crafted urban farm, I desperately wanted an established garden. I spent the entire spring and fall frantically trying to get beds in the ground and spending too much money on temporary deer fences.

It’s easy to forget that making that urban farm, like our homestead on the island, took years of hard work.

I cannot forget that I also worked on our homestead for 7 years. It takes time!

If there is one thing that isn’t hard, it is to start a kitchen garden.

It’s a low investment. Our new place has a deck off the living room, baking in the sun. Under it is a brick patio where pots can be put out.

Turning land, building beds, or putting up wildlife fences are unnecessary until we are settled in. Just fill pots, grow bags, plant items, enjoy herbs, and produce them in the first summer and fall. The investment is in a few bags of soil and the containers.

It’s still awhile till spring, so I planted things had been in the cold already.

Two grapes, 2 blueberries and bare root strawberries. I also planted a bulb of garlic I brought with us, to restart my hardneck garlic.

I will move the grapes later, into the ground, but I wanted them to get going, to waken up.

I found an old wheelbarrow, all rusty and unusable. By it, I found broken pottery, so I put them together and made a deep planter to add. Use what you have first before spending money. I planted garlic in it. Again, nothing says I will leave it in there, but it can sit for a few weeks until I have time to build the first beds. The garlic will sprout, and start growing for us.

As spring happens, I will add a lot more on the patio. Lettice, bush peas, and so on. Herb plants. A seat or two, to invite one to hang out and enjoy the views. It will be easy to maintain, and quick to walk out to, to take care of.

~Sarah