Porch gardening, and justifying my peony pots

Go look at some greeny-green gardening sites and books, and most of them will urge you to focus your energy, space, and resources on EDIBLES ONLY. Flowers take up space, sunlight, water, and lots of mental and physical energy. Practically speaking, they are - gasp! - wasteful.

But since I can't imagine a garden without flowers, there was no was I could stomach that indictment. I just had to find a way around my practical brain. No problem. I am an Epic Rationalizer.

The biggest hurtle I came up with was the water. We get plenty of sunlight, the pots don't take up that much space, and if the bulb kit I bought can be trusted, they shouldn't require a lot of other special TLC. So, where can I get some extra (otherwise wasted) water?

I looked into rain barrels, and though tempting, they are kind of expensive and would require me to alter the eaves and gutters on our rental. Our landlord is already a bit twitchy about our little menacing dog, so asking if I could take a hack saw to the gutter pipe seemed like pushing my luck. I took a trip to the hardware store to survey my options, and came up with this:

When I was a kid, I remember that my grandma kept a bucket in the bathroom next to her tub. And I asked her why. She told me that she uses the bucket to catch all the water that goes down the drain while you wait for the water to get warm, and then any more water that drips out of the faucet while you are in the shower. She used the water to water her plants. And wouldn't you know it, I fill up the ENTIRE 3.5 gallon bucket every time I shower. Geez oh Pete, that is a lot of totally wasted water!

But my plants don't need 3.5 gallons of water every day. So I got this too:

A big plastic garbage tub with a snap-on lid. I filled this baby up with just a little over a week's worth of showers. Now when I go out to dump my shower bucket, I check on my plants, and give them a little drink if they are looking dry.

And today I started a bunch more of my organic veggie seeds. Cherry tomatoes and green beans. In little starter cups and an egg carton:

 Check it out! My itty bitty basil sprout is now joined by a whisp of tomato sprout! All the shower water and sunlight are actually working. I have to say, I'm amazed.

I think Aug thinks that if he lays in the sun, he might keep growing too.

Anyway, now that I have more than enough water for my plants, I have no problem planting my dahlia bulbs as well. As soon as I get some more big containers. The peonies haven't shown any signs of life yet, but I'm hopeful.