Growing your own veggies and herbs?

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.

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/

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

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).

bump

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.

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

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!!

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.

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!!!!

on a balcony there a LOTS of options...


one of my fave websites has an area for kitchen gardeners:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchen/


and another for balcony gardeners:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/balcony/

Hey Toots! I am planting my 2nd veggie garden this year in the D/FW. Last year I had great success with zuccini, bell peppers and cukes. I got some production last year from tomatoes and watermelon, but I think I planted too late for big crops (May?) Totally look up the square foot garden stuff, the sooner the better. We often can have 2 growing seasons here but in the hottest time of the year production slows down because the heat can steralize the pollen or something like that, from what I have read anyway. I would love to hear updates and we can compare notes...just message me. If you have any questions let me know.

Amanda

We are going to try and garden this year. I've done a little container gardening in the past with a tomato plant or two but never a full blown garden. We live on a farm so have plenty of room but it will be lots of work and we're learning as we go. I've already got some spinach and kale doing very well in containers and now have some swiss chard and green onions coming up in other pots.

We are also looking into getting chickens for eggs.

I am a new urban homesteader and loving it. I'm on a tiny 1/10th acre city lot and grew nearly all my own produce my first year trying it. This year I'm expanding to the front yard and digging up what grass remains in the back yard. I still have some time before all my perennials and fruits are established and I learn enough to grow more intensively. I'm trying to make as much as I can myself and on my little lot, so I've added rabbits for fertilizer (they are angoras so I got a spinning wheel to learn to spin too). I'm very excited about the whole thing and even just finished the master gardener training so I'm going into it a little wiser this year.