Category: Simple Pleasures

Disclosure: This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. If you make a purchase through my link, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

I love gardening, but I’ve reached a point where I don’t want to make it harder than it needs to be.

I have plenty of outdoor space, but that doesn’t mean I want to haul myself, tools, water, and everything else back and forth across the yard every time I want to check on a tomato. 😂

So over time, I’ve started bringing more of my gardening closer to the house.

And I mean really close.

I now have four or five container planters that I keep right on my covered porch.

Some sit on the side that gets the morning sun, and others are positioned where they can catch the evening sun.

The result?

I just step out the door and garden.

I can walk outside with my coffee, check on everything, water what needs it, pick something that’s ready, pull a weed, or spend a few minutes messing with my plants without turning it into a major project.

And honestly, that convenience has made me enjoy gardening even more.

Sometimes making something easier is exactly what helps you keep doing something you love.

Keeping the Garden Close Changes Everything

One of the biggest advantages for me is simply having everything close by.

When the plants are right outside the door, I notice things sooner.

I can see when something needs water. I notice when a tomato is starting to ripen. I can catch a problem before it gets completely out of hand.

And if I only have ten minutes?

That’s enough.

I don’t have to put on my gardening clothes, gather a bunch of supplies, and head out into the yard like I’m leaving on an expedition. 😂

I can step outside, do what needs doing, and come right back in.

The covered porch also gives me some flexibility. I can position containers in different areas depending on how much sunlight they need, using the morning sun on one side and the later-day sun on the other.

I’m not trying to force my garden into one perfect spot. I’m using the space and sunlight I already have.

And because everything is so accessible, gardening feels less like another job waiting for me and more like something I can enjoy whenever I feel like stepping outside.

The Container I Keep Coming Back To

Over time, I’ve ended up with four or five EarthBox planters.

That probably tells you more about how I feel about them than anything else I could say. 😂

I didn’t set out thinking I needed a whole collection of them. I started using them, liked how they worked for me, and gradually added more.

What I like most is that they fit the way I want to garden now.

I can keep them close to the house, position them where they’ll get the sunlight I want, and grow vegetables without committing to a big traditional garden in the yard.

They also give me a defined little growing space. I can concentrate on what’s happening in each container instead of looking out at a huge garden and seeing fifty things that need my attention.

A few manageable growing spaces feel a whole lot more enjoyable to me than one enormous garden that starts feeling like work.

And because I have several containers, I can experiment. If something works well, great. If it doesn’t, I learned something without sacrificing an entire garden season.

What I’ve Grown in Mine

I’ve had good luck growing several things in my EarthBoxes, including tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and green onions.

Those are exactly the kinds of things I enjoy having close to the house.

There’s something satisfying about walking outside, seeing that a tomato or pepper is ready, and picking it right there instead of adding it to a grocery list.

Cucumbers are especially fun because once they decide they’re happy, you can go from “Oh look, there’s a little cucumber” to “Where did all of these come from?” pretty quickly. 😂

And green onions are one of those simple things that are nice to have growing nearby when you just need a little for something you’re cooking.

I’m not trying to grow enough food to feed the neighborhood.

I’m growing things I actually enjoy eating and using.

That goes back to what I’m learning about gardening in general: I’d rather have a smaller garden that I enjoy taking care of than a huge one that overwhelms me.

Not Having to Water Every Day Is a Big Plus

One of my favorite things about using the EarthBoxes is the water reservoir.

Instead of watering from the top like I would with an ordinary container, I add water through the fill tube and let the reservoir do its job.

How often I need to refill it really depends on what I’m growing.

Bigger plants like tomatoes and cucumbers can use quite a bit of water, especially when they’re growing well and the weather is hot.

Smaller things like green onions or herbs don’t go through it nearly as quickly.

So I wouldn’t say you can fill it and forget about it. You still need to pay attention to your plants and check the reservoir.

But I love not having to go outside and water every single container every single day.

That’s especially nice when the weather is hot and plants in regular pots can dry out quickly.

And honestly, anything that makes gardening easier to keep up with makes me more likely to keep enjoying it. 😂

For me, the goal isn’t a maintenance-free garden. It’s a garden with less maintenance.

What I Like — and What I’d Consider Before Buying One

After using several EarthBoxes, the biggest advantages for me are pretty simple.

I like having my vegetables close to the house. I like the water reservoir. I like being able to decide where each container goes based on the sunlight, and I like having a manageable growing space instead of a large garden to maintain.

But I also think it’s important to consider how you’ll use one.

Once a container is filled with potting mix, water, and a large plant, it’s obviously going to be much heavier than an empty planter. So I like to think about where I want mine before everything gets established.

You’ll also still need to pay attention to your plants. Tomatoes and cucumbers can go through water much faster than herbs or green onions, and different plants have different needs.

An EarthBox isn’t going to garden for you. 😂

What it does for me is make the kind of gardening I want to do more convenient and manageable.

And considering I now own four or five of them, I think it’s safe to say they’ve earned their space on my porch.

The EarthBox I Use

The planter I use is the EarthBox 80155 Garden Kit, Organic, Terracotta.

I’ve ended up with four or five of them because they work well for the way I like to garden — close to the house, easy to check on, and with a water reservoir that means I don’t necessarily have to water every day.

If you’d like to see the same EarthBox I use, you can find it here:

See the EarthBox Garden Kit on Amazon

Prices and availability can change, so check the current Amazon listing for the latest information and product details.

I Just Step Outside and Garden

That’s really what I love most about the way I garden now.

I don’t have to plan an afternoon around it.

I can walk outside with my coffee in the morning, check the plants getting that early sun, wander over later to see how the others are doing, pick something for dinner, add some water when it’s needed, and go back inside.

Some days I might spend quite a while out there.

Other days it might only be five minutes.

But the garden is right there waiting for me whenever I feel like enjoying it.

I still love the idea of a beautiful garden. I’ve just realized that beautiful doesn’t have to mean big, complicated, or exhausting.

Four or five containers on a covered porch can give me tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, green onions — and plenty of enjoyment along the way.

And at this stage of my life, that’s exactly the kind of gardening I want.

Close to home. Easy to manage. And just outside the door. 🌱

I love looking at pictures of beautiful gardens.

You know the ones — perfectly edged beds, not a weed anywhere, flowers blooming exactly where they’re supposed to, and vegetables that apparently have never met a bug in their lives. 😂

They’re beautiful.

But I’ve realized something as I get older:

I don’t want a garden that becomes another full-time job.

I want a garden I can walk outside and enjoy.

I want to grow a few vegetables, putter around with my plants, move something because I think it would look better somewhere else, and sit down with my coffee when I’m tired.

Some things will grow beautifully.

Some things probably won’t.

There will be weeds. There will be bugs. And there will almost certainly be at least one plant I bought without having the slightest idea where I was going to put it. 😂

And I’m okay with that.

At this stage of my life, I’m much more interested in creating a garden that fits my life than creating a life that revolves around maintaining a perfect garden.

I Want My Garden Close Enough to Actually Use It

I’ve learned that convenience matters.

If I have to gather everything up, haul it across the property, and turn gardening into a major production every time I want to check on something, I’m probably not going to enjoy it nearly as much.

I like having plants close to the house. In fact, I’ve made it even easier by keeping several container planters right on my covered porch, which I wrote about in How I Made Gardening Easier After 60 With a Porch Container Garden.

I can step outside in the morning with my coffee, see what needs water, notice something new growing, pull a weed, or spend a few minutes messing with a plant simply because I feel like it.

Sometimes I might spend an hour out there.

Sometimes I might spend five minutes.

Either one counts.

I don’t want gardening to be another chore waiting for me on a list.

I want it to be something that draws me outside because I want to see what’s happening.

And honestly, the easier I make it to get to my garden, the more likely I am to actually enjoy taking care of it.

I Want to Grow Things I’ll Actually Use

I’ve also gotten more practical about what deserves space in my garden.

There’s no point in growing something just because everybody else grows it if I’m not going to eat it, cook with it, or enjoy having it around.

I’d rather have a few vegetables or herbs I’ll actually walk outside and pick than a huge garden full of things I’m trying to figure out what to do with.

And flowers count too.

Not everything has to earn its keep by becoming dinner. 😂

If something makes me smile when I walk outside, attracts butterflies, smells good, or simply makes the porch or yard prettier, that’s useful enough for me.

My garden doesn’t have to impress anybody. It just has to make me happy I planted it.

I’m Learning to Work With My Space

Every yard and garden has its own little personality.

Some areas get plenty of sun. Others stay shaded. One spot might dry out quickly while another seems to stay damp forever.

I used to think gardening meant finding the “right” place for everything and somehow creating the perfect setup.

Now I’m more interested in paying attention to what my space is already telling me.

If one side gets good morning sun, I can use that.

If another area gets the evening sun, I can use that too.

And if something clearly hates the spot where I put it?

Well, apparently we’re moving. 😂

I’m getting much more comfortable experimenting instead of expecting myself to get everything right the first time.

Gardening feels a lot more enjoyable when I treat it like something I’m learning rather than something I’m supposed to have mastered.

Some Things Are Going to Die — and That’s Okay 😂

If there’s one thing gardening will teach you, it’s humility.

You can water something, move it around, talk nicely to it, research what it wants, and that plant can still look you straight in the eye and decide it has no interest in living at your house. 😂

I used to feel like I had failed whenever a plant didn’t make it.

Now I look at it differently.

Sometimes I picked the wrong spot. Sometimes the weather didn’t cooperate. Sometimes bugs got there before I did. And sometimes I honestly have no idea what happened.

But every season teaches me something.

I learn what grows well for me, what needs more attention than I want to give it, and what I definitely won’t bother planting again.

A garden doesn’t have to have a 100-percent survival rate to be successful.

If I enjoyed growing it, learned something, ate a few things I grew myself, or simply spent more time outside because of it, I think the garden did its job.

The Garden Is Supposed to Be One of the Good Parts

I think that’s what I’m really trying to create now.

Not the biggest garden.

Not the prettiest garden.

Not a garden that looks like it belongs on the cover of a magazine.

Just a garden that adds something good to my day.

I want to step outside with my coffee and see what changed overnight.

I want the little excitement of spotting the first tomato, seeing a flower open, or realizing something I planted from a tiny seed is actually turning into food.

I want to putter around for a while when I feel like it and walk back inside when I’ve had enough.

And sometimes I want to sit there and enjoy everything without doing a single thing to it.

I’ve spent enough of my life with things that have to be done.

I don’t want my garden to become another one of them.

I want it to be one of the reasons I’m happy to have more time at home someday.

A little dirt. A little sunshine. Something growing.

And me standing there with my coffee thinking, “Well, look at that. It actually lived.” 😂🌱

That sounds like a pretty good garden to me.