Make a choice to make a change... Click here to get started!
  • Recipes
  • Events
  • Contact

Hatch Health & Happiness

Certified Holistic Health & Wellness Coaching

  • Home
  • About
    • Why Hatch?
    • My Education
    • Client Testimonials
  • Services
    • Stress Reduction
    • Digestive Disorders
    • Autoimmune and Other Chronic Diseases
    • Changing Unhealthy Eating Habits
  • Health Coaching
    • Who Can Benefit?
    • Hatch Health Approach
  • Blogs
    • Recipes
    • Health and Wellness
    • Food
    • Restarting My Hard Drive
    • Product Reviews

Container Gardens

April 2, 2018 Lydia Buschenfeldt Leave a Comment

Tips and Tricks for Starting Your Own Patio Produce Patch

Speak­ing of plant­i­ng seeds, spring is the per­fect time to do that not only fig­u­ra­tive­ly but lit­er­al­ly in your very own gar­den, too! Not every­one has the space or sun­shine to grow a full gar­den, com­plete with rows of toma­toes, pep­pers, let­tuce, and cucum­bers. But every­one has the space and time to grow some­thing, so we are going to give some ini­tial point­ers for how to start a con­tain­er gar­den, which can be done on a bal­cony or even a front stoop, with very lit­tle space required.

little sprout
Image cour­tesy of amenic181 at www.freedigitalphotos.net

First, plant your gar­den fol­low­ing know the old adage “don’t bite off more than you can chew” by not plant­i­ng more than you can grow!  Know your space, and know your expe­ri­ence lev­el. If this is your first time attempt­ing to grow fruits and veg­eta­bles, then start with only a cou­ple of con­tain­ers with a few small plants. If you only have a small space, don’t buy 5 huge planters with dreams of start­ing a road­side veg­etable stand!

Sec­ond­ly, grow what you are excit­ed to grow! No mat­ter how deli­cious home­grown toma­toes are (and trust me, they are so much bet­ter than store bought), if no one in your house likes toma­toes, don’t plant them! Who wants to spend time and ener­gy water­ing and car­ing for a plant only to nev­er enjoy the lit­er­al fruits of your labor! This goes for flow­ers, also. A friend of mine loves the scent of jas­mine and she has a large jas­mine tree in a huge planter that she brings out­side for spring and sum­mer, and inside for fall and win­ter. It is a true labor of love, but when it blooms twice a year, it is well worth the work.

Third, know how much sun­shine you get. This one is more impor­tant than novice gar­den­ers usu­al­ly real­ize. Many flow­ers and most fruits and veg­eta­bles require a lot of sun. Find a loca­tion where you can get the most sun pos­si­ble if you are try­ing to grow any­thing that requires it.

Fourth, have a water­ing plan. Con­tain­ers need more water than gar­dens plant­ed direct­ly in the ground because they only have so much soil, and the soil can dry out very quick­ly. At the height of sum­mer, most con­tain­ers need to be watered dai­ly, espe­cial­ly in the sun. Do you trav­el a lot? Is there any­one around who can help you water your plants? Con­tain­ers can be watered at any time of day, with morn­ing being the best time and mid-after­noon being the worst time. Will your con­tain­ers be near a hose? If not, do you have a water­ing can? And are you will­ing to make that many trips back and forth to the sink?

Once you have made all of those deci­sions, buy some con­tain­ers and get start­ed! I high­ly rec­om­mend buy­ing the plants direct­ly from your local farm­ers’ mar­ket. Most farm­ers sell seedlings and small plants in April and ear­ly May until they have their own pro­duce to sell. Not only can the farm­ers answer any ques­tions you have about plant­i­ng, water­ing, and car­ing for your new, young plants, but they are usu­al­ly much hardier and health­i­er because they are local to your spe­cif­ic area and per­fect for your cli­mate. You are also sup­port­ing your local econ­o­my, which makes it a true win all around!

You will need to buy pot­ting soil and the actu­al con­tain­ers at your local hard­ware store. When you are first start­ing out, plant one veg­etable plant or a few small­er flower plants per con­tain­er. I know that the mag­a­zines are filled with beau­ti­ful over­flow­ing con­tain­ers with sev­er­al lev­els of plants coex­ist­ing togeth­er in har­mo­ny, but save that for your sec­ond (or third) year of con­tain­er gar­den­ing. Some plants do work well togeth­er (marigolds and toma­toes, for exam­ple, as marigolds are a nat­ur­al bug repel­lent), so if you are feel­ing adven­tur­ous, you can try those togeth­er. How­ev­er, it is very easy to over­crowd a con­tain­er and have too many plants com­pet­ing for the resources in the water and the soil. Always start small and build from there!

Now, if all of this is just too much, you can also con­sid­er an indoor tow­er gar­den. While these can be a lit­tle pricey, you get fresh veg­eta­bles all year round with­out hav­ing to wor­ry about sun/shade, water­ing, or over­crowd­ing. Check out the excel­lent Jui­ce­Plus+ Tow­er Gar­den.

Don’t for­get to share pic­tures of your gar­dens — tow­er, con­tain­er, or oth­ers — at our Face­book com­mu­ni­ty as you are har­vest­ing all of your healthy plantings!

Food farmers' markets

Sign up for my newsletter!

Join my email list and receive 3 free delicious and nutritious recipes!
* indicates required
Email Format

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Contact Lydia

Based in Fairfax, Virginia, Hatch Health and Happiness offers full-service face-to-face health coaching in Northern Virginia and virtually around the globe!
lydia@hatchhealthhappiness.com
610-220-7036

Newsletter

Join my email list and receive 3 free delicious and nutritious recipes!
* indicates required
Email Format

Please check your spam folder for a confirmation email

Healthy Living — Great Recipes and Ideas!

Trail Mix

Bulk Bin Trail Mix

September 4, 2018 Leave a Comment

Sure, it’s tempt­ing­ly easy to grab a bag of pre-made trail mix –col­or­ful, effort­less, and with such fun names to boot! But have you ever stopped to glance at the nutri­tion facts of that bag of seem­ing­ly healthy options? More specif­i­cal­ly, check out the sug­ar con­tent. Some com­mer­cial brands of trail mix have as much sug­ar as a 16 oz bot­tle of soda! The main cul­prit is sweet­ened dried fruit, and some brands add can­dy as well. If that deli­cious mouth­ful of sweet and salty is your taste­buds’ desire, don’t despair. There are plen­ty of ways to make a deli­cious AND nutri­tious trail mix, all with ingre­di­ents from your gro­cery store bulk bin! [Read More…]

Product Reviews — NEW!

Purely Elizabeth Superfood Oat Cups with Granola Topping — Cranberry Pumpkin Seed

More Great Recipes and Ideas!

Meal Planning

Meal Planning

July 31, 2018 Leave a Comment

One of the trick­i­est parts of most people’s healthy rou­tines is the meal plan­ning com­po­nent. Luck­i­ly for you, we have that cov­ered with the lat­est install­ment in our Hatch Video series! More…

Bloat Buster Smoothie

Bloat Buster Smoothie

June 4, 2018 Leave a Comment

Now that we are head­ing into the warmer months of the year, you may find your­self want­i­ng to spend less time in front of the hot stove top or oven. For­tu­nate­ly, smooth­ies are a great way to pack a lot of nutri­tion in one place. Check out the video below for one of my favorite smooth­ies — the bloat buster!

Pan roasted plantains

Pan-Roasted Plantains

May 1, 2018 Leave a Comment

Pan roasted plantains with mashed avocadoDespite the fact that plan­tains close­ly resem­ble a banana, they have a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent fla­vor and are def­i­nite­ly not to be con­sumed raw (you’ll only make that mis­take once!). Plan­tains are actu­al­ly a veg­etable, chock full of fiber, cal­ci­um and vit­a­min C. Pan-roast­ing the plan­tains allows them to caramelize, keep­ing the out­side a lit­tle bit crispy and the inside nice and soft. Cin­na­mon, gin­ger and turmer­ic add a tri­fec­ta of anti-inflam­ma­to­ry good­ness and a lit­tle sprin­kle of sea salt makes these plan­tains absolute­ly irre­sistible. Enjoy as is, or my favorite way –- with mashed avo­ca­do! More…

Energy bites

Energy Balls

April 2, 2018 Leave a Comment

Gluten, Grain, Dairy, Soy-Free and Vegan

Seeds need ener­gy in order to grow, and cul­ti­vat­ing your own healthy habits can take a lot of ener­gy too! Ener­gy bars and ener­gy balls are every­where we look these days. They are super easy to whip up your­self, but many peo­ple are intim­i­dat­ed by the thought. More…

More Great Recipes!

About Lydia and Hatch Health

Lydia Buschenfeldt

I was a happy, healthy, newlywed 4th grade teacher when a random virus paralyzed my GI system, along with parts of my … More...

Follow me!

Client Testimonials

Rainbow

See what Lydia’s clients have to say…

I’d say Lydia Buschen­feldt has changed my life, but that would­n’t be exact­ly true. What she does is even more pow­er­ful. Any­one can tell some­one else what changes they ‘need’ to make to live a health­i­er life. It takes some­one spe­cial to enable and empow­er you to change your own life. Lydia is that some­one spe­cial. Dur­ing every ses­sion, at every twist and turn and bump in the road, Lydia meets me where I am with an incred­i­ble amount of knowl­edge and patience, and helps me iden­ti­fy one or two steps for­ward to accom­plish the goals I have for myself. She knows that each jour­ney is dif­fer­ent, and cus­tomizes our ses­sions so our dis­cus­sions are tai­lored toward what I need in that moment to help me build the health, future and hap­pi­ness that I deserve.
— L.S.
Man­as­sas, VA More…

healthy choices

quoteWe do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing. — Anonymous

Topics

Acceptance anti-inflammatory properties antioxidants apple cider vinegar aromatherapy conventional vs organic Dairy free egg free electrolytes exercise farmers' markets food allergies gluten free grain free gratitude health benefits of dog companionship healthy dietary fats healthy dog treats healthy pets healthy snacks hydrating recipes managing stress and anxiety natural remedies Natural sugar nut free peanut free pesticide-free probiotics refined sugar free Self Worth soy free vegan vegetarian
Juice Plus

Follow me on Social Media

Search

Contact Lydia

Based in Fair­fax, Vir­ginia, Hatch Health and Hap­pi­ness offers full-ser­vice face-to-face health coach­ing in North­ern Vir­ginia and vir­tu­al­ly around the globe!
lydia@hatchhealthhappiness.com
610−220−7036

© Copyright 2015-23 · HatchHealthHappiness.com · All Rights Reserved ·