This morning, six fellow gardenerds joined me for the Small Space and Container Gardening class.  We had a range of gardening space situations, from a no-space garden to patio and rooftop gardens, and even someone with a back yard that has a little bit of soil for a vegetable garden.  Most were beginning gardeners, but we had a couple intermediate level green thumbs as well.

We watched a little video about Square Foot Gardening, talked about terra cotta versus plastic pots.  We discussed the recent article about a three year container garden test trial from Ed Smith where he found that self-watering containers out-performed regular pots when growing vegetables in containers.  Here's the link to that article, if you care to read it over:

http://www.gardeners.com/Growing%20Vegetables%20in%20Containers/7014,default,pg.html

We also took to the garden and planted some opal basil seeds in pots for everyone to take home.  We sniffed organic potting soil - yes, we sniffed it - and some found it surprising that well-composted organic material is very sweet smelling.  For me, it's one of my favorite smells.  Some people have a scented tree air freshener in their car;  I'd drive around with a bag of compost in my trunk if I could.   Well - maybe not during the summer.

Nadine was the lucky winner of the raffle for some Gardenerd gear.  She walked off with the Gardenerd Journal, which apparently she had been eyeing at the beginning of class.  Congratulations Nadine! 

Our next class in on Saturday, May 17th - Seed Starting, Transplants and Heirlooms.  If you are in the Los Angeles area and would like to join us, check out Gardenerd Class Registration for all the details and registration.