
Since I'm one of the lucky ladies who benefits from a year-round growing season here in the San Francisco Bay Area, it's easy to forget that other gardeners, especially those in the Midwest, aren't so lucky. Long, harsh winters often kill some perennials, and the six-months-or-less growing season is often spent in a harried planting state, trying to cram in as many plantings and colors as possible. Connie Price writes in her article "
Contain Yourself," from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, about ways that gardeners can supplement the color and variety of perennial gardens by using trendier and more colorful plants in their container gardens.

The other day, when I was walking through the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, I saw the cutest flower display outside of an Italian restaurant. Blooming out of imported tomato sauce cans were gorgeous red geraniums. This is an easy, quick idea you can adapt, too.

Since many of you have mentioned that you'd love to
garden, but you're dealing with very little room for growing plants, I figured that the
Stack and Grow Planter ($39) might be perfect for you small-space gardeners. This planter fits a lot of green into a tiny amount of floor space, with four levels that can hold up to 20 plants. This planter is made of UV-protected plastic, and is supposedly pretty durable while also fairly light (though once you fill it with soil and plants it'll definitely get heavier).

Did you read my post on
building a redwood planter box. If so, you're already halfway done. You still need to anchor the box, level it, fill it with soil, and plant it.

This weekend, I decided to expand my
vegetable garden space by building another garden box. If you know how to operate a power drill, you can build this box, too. Here are some tips to make it easier: If you're a first-time builder, go to a small hardware or lumber store with a friendly clerk who can help you work out the details.