Growing your own veggies and herbs?

toots99

Does anyone here grow their own veggies and herbs? I am wanting to try this, but don't know much about how to go about it. I live in a small apartment in Texas, but have a balcony that gets lots of late day sunlight. And I wouldn't be able to plant anything in the ground, it'd have to be grown in pots. Is this doable? Any tips on what wold grow best, what to do, what not to do, would be very appreciated. :flowerforyou:

Ashley_Panda

I just started growing my own and I put them in my kitchen window sill. I have some veggies/fruits in pots until they're big enough to put in the ground outside, well that and until I find a place to put them outside. Target has some little tiny different herbs you can buy for like a dollar that are perfect window sill size. I found them in the dollar aisles. Right now I have: Parsley, Basil, Chives, Oregano, Tarragon, Green Onions, Watermelon, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, etc.

neelia

If you want to grow tomatoes, you could get aTopsy Turvy. My MIL has one and they work! You could definitely grow them on your balcony.

0flynnstone0

I was wanting to start a garden this summer, too and I found this site. It has a lot of helpful info. I was looking mostly at the outdoor stuff, but it has stuff about planting indoors in pots, too. hope it helps!

http://www.homefarming.com/

Carl01

I have a large garden outside and a great way to pass time in the evenings after work.
Tomatoes,potatoes,peppers,squash,lettuce,onions,sweet corn,eggplant,and melons.

missy1970eb

i grow strawberries and tomatoes, both in pots and potatoes in a big bucket or bag

afteil

you can do strawberries in the topsy turvy too:)

Try growing lettuces/spinach- they grow like weeds and will taste better than anything you buy at the store. We bought a small salad mix that was already growing at our farmers market and we are going to have to transplant it bcause it is now too big for the bowl we bought it in. We also had a ton of success with peppers (until my cat decided to dig them up that is).

The only problem with some things is that direct sunlight might hurt them (as some things need less sunlight per day or shade) so be careful to pick areas of your balcony that might get more shade then other parts for certain plants .

jljohnson

We're lucky enough that my parents have a farm, and let us plant our veggies there. In pots, some items might be tough because the roots don't have room to spread out. You probably want to get the largest pots you can find. Sometimes there are even ones specifically for herb gardens. Herbs you can definitely do. Tomatos would probably fare well. Smaller veggies might work too, like beans, peas. Things underground like carrots and potatoes probably won't work, as well as things on vines that spread like pumpkins and zucchinis. I'm probably about 1000 miles north of you, so what works climate-wise will be significantly different for you as well. If you can get your hands on a Gurney's catalog, they would give you climate recommendation, and tell you the height, etc. each plant grows (they usually have good deals first thing in the spring too).

♥Faerie♥

Tomatoes do well in pots, try ones like Tiny Tim or Pixie II, a lot of time the labels on them will state if they will do well in pots......
My herbs always do well in pots, I have rosemary, basil, lavender, mint, tarragon, cilantro, lemon balm......I have never had any problems with them in containers.
Also try some peppers, they do great in containers!
Good luck

sweetheart03622

bump

JenWorthen3

Google square foot gardening. He teaches you how to get the most out of small spaces. Just click on the patio boxes section. You could also look into window gardening for your herbs. You get those old trading card sleeves, put some holes in the top and bottom so you can add suction cups to it, then put in a little soil in each of the pockets and some seeds. Then just attach it to a window. You can get some great herbs that way! That idea was from a family fun magazine I got a couple of months ago. You could probably find it on their website to get a better idea of what it will look like.

I love gardening and just can't wait until the freezes all stop here in Utah so we can finally start planting. I have a decent sized yard, so we're planning on building about 12 grow boxes this year so we can have all raised beds for better drainage. Here's to hoping it works! Oh, and be sure to grow tomatoes. No matter what else you grow, grow tomatoes. They're like weeds because they grow so easily and they're so worth it! Zucchini is also another really easy thing to start with. All the other kinds of squash give me anxiety because I never get anything but gourds, but one day I will succeed in getting my prize-winning pumpkins! Or at least one that is bigger than my hand and actually can be used as more than decoration.

california_peach

I grow tomatoes, pepper and a variety of herbs in pots on my back porch. We have a drip watering system out there which makes it easier as I do not have to remember to actually water anything. It is really easy and you don't need much space at all. I started with plants purchased at Home Depot and I use a basic vegetable potting soil. I used to grow flowers out there, but the veggies and herbs are much more fun.

PamDW

I am doing a big garden this year, I have started over 160 seeds indoors and will plant them outside. The topsy turvy tomatoes work just as well with gallon size milk jugs for alot less money. I understand you can do peppers and pole beans that way as well.
Also planting a strawberry patch this year!! Can't wait!

az1cowgirl

I have grown my own lettuces, brocolli, and cauliflower for the last few years. I live in the Phoenix area so it's really hard to garden here but I choose some alternative methods including the "earth buckets" or "global bucket" system. It's a great way to grow your own food using the least amount of dirt, water, and space and it's all pretty cheap to put together. I grew some awesome brocolli and cauliflower this year and tomatoes last year although I had more luck with the smaller variety of tomatoes than the larger ones. I attribute it to our weather! I love growing my own basil because I use it in a lot of my recipes.

Here is a link to a youtube video that shows you how to build an earth bucket: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE8OrdUZQKk

Good luck.

Linda in Arizona

lutzsher

I am an avid gardener but sadly live in a climate that I can only grow outside from mid May to the end of September. I do start things inside so I get a jump on summer.
The best items to grow in balcony containers are fast growing things such as romaine, spinach, and radishes. They will all do just fine in pots on your balcony. I also buy the little tomato starter plants and always grow these in pots as they take up too much room in my garden. I've also grown some bush bean plants in containers as well but make sure to only put one or two plants per container as if you crowd them they won't produce as well.

Make sure to get good quality potting soil but be careful to purchase an ORGANIC version to avoid any contaminents in your plants since you will be eating them. There is no need to fertalize, just use plain old water each morning. Only water in the morning and not in the evening as well.

I've actually grown potatoes on a balcony before. Drill a few holes in the bottom of a big garbage bin. Fill with about 6 inches of soil and place your potato starters in with another 6 inches of soil. When the plants grow about 6 inches above the soil, fill them in with more dirt until your dirt is at the top of the containter . . . then just keep watering them and let them grow. At the end of summer you will have lots of baby potatoes all through it to harvest.

Gardening is actually one of my favorite things, kind of like my "zen".

funnygirl0940

YES! You can do it! square foot gardening will help! It takes some studying but if you are serious about it, you can have a lovely balcony garden

I planted my first garden in Oct, I live in Mexico w/spring like temps year round and have already harvested lettuce, spinach, beets, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and tomatoes.

How much sunlight do you get?

Herbs should do well with partial sun. all those I mentioned above will do well in partial sun but beets and carrots will do even better in full sun. Tomatoes need full sun! Tomatoes can be grown in hanging baskets. That's what we're doing. 6 hanging baskets w/tomatoes. I just thinned them out yesterday and hoping for better results with 1 plant verses 3. I planted dill with my tomatoes. They grow huge so you have to trim them back or dry the dill. Fresh dill makes salmon scrumptious!

You also need to study about companion planting. It has to do with what bugs your plants need and which plants like the other.

Originally, I just wanted an herb garden but after learning about urban homesteading and square foot gardening, I quickly expanded. The herbs I'm growing are basil, which being I cook a lot of fresh marinara sauce & basil pesto I just can't keep enough on hand and would like more than the 6 plants I have. I have oregano, thyme and rosemary. You only need 1 rosemary, they grow huge!

Also in my partial sun area I have eggplant and both serano and bell pepper growing well so far.

Just noticed you have late sun so you...here's the square foot gardening site http://www.squarefootgardening.org/ lots of videos on youtube will help you see what you can do with your space! Have fun!!! I'm excited for you!!

toots99

Thanks for the help! There's a gardening store near me, I might just go in and say "help get me started." I'd need to find out what grows best in 100 degree weather! I'd much rather grow my own and know where it's coming from than spend money on buying things.

I'd love to grow spinach, peppers, herbs, tomatoes...just about anything.

wewon

I've grown vegetables almost every year since being married.

Growing in an apartment on a balcony in pots should be no problem, especially a wide array of herbs.

With some planter boxes you should be able to grow tomatos and peppers pretty easily.

callipygianchronicle

I truly know almost nothing about gardening, but managed to grow a small garden last year. I live in a condo, and we have a small patio, but not actual yard. We planted a small container garden last year and want to continue this year. We had success growing herbs, which lasted all year and are still going strong (parsley, basil, thyme, rosemary—adding cilantro this year). We also grew two varieties of cherry tomatoes and may add a larger tomato variety this year (we grew these in pots). We grew strawberries in a topsy turvy planter last year, The yield wasn’t that great, but they were the sweetest strawberries I’ve ever had. I probably won’t grow them again because we have easy access to farm grown strawberries just 10 minutes from the house. And we can even do U-Pick there. We are getting ready to do our planting this weekend. I think I’d like to try growing bell peppers, arugula, spinach, and zucchini this year.

punkrockmama

There's actually a great book called "Bountiful Container" that will give you awesome, detailed instructions.
I love gardening, but will caution you: I have both a container garden and a "regular" garden. Last year we had unusually high temps and it burned most of my container veggies. (I live in PA, btw.) When doing your searches, make sure you are looking for tips based on your weather!!!!

sophiajackson99

I knew nothing when I started and over the years have learned by trial and error what grows best in my hot dry climate, and what is too much work. As many have said, tomatoes are pretty easy if you have a lot of sun an it's a good starter plant. I love fresh herbs, so I have rosemary (which stays over the winter), basil (plant only after you're sure the frost has passed) and mint (separate container b/c it takes over everything). It's such a great feeling to walk out on my back porch and pick something that I can throw into a dish on the stove. Free food!

Good for you for giving it a go.