Urban & Small Space Gardens 2009 - Container, Balcony, Patio, Indoors

[Indigo73]

I have to admit, I used to get a little jealous of some of the other threads, reading about folks with big gardens. So I started a thread for others like me - little space to plant. The 2008 thread can be found here.

I consider my little experiment a great success. My Garden - 2008 and will be expanding this year.

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Do you have to urge your upstairs neighbor to move that un-registered vehicle so you can have the one sunny place in your shared yard?

Do you have to come up with wind screens so you can plant on your balcony?

Do you see empty paint cans and think, "oh planter"?

Do you grow you strawberries in a bag, upside down?

Do your culinary needs get met by a hodge podge of tire planters, windowboxes and earth boxes - commercial and homemade?

Then, this is the place for you and I've included some of my favorite links and small space blogs:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1647.html
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohor...6/426-336.html

http://www.containergardeningguru.com
http://www.garden.org/urbangardening...=container-veg
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/02/02mar04h.cfm

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

http://indoorgardener.blogspot.com
http://foodgarden.wordpress.com
http://balcony-garden.blogspot.com
http://www.yougrowgirl.com/thedirt
http://www.container-garden.info
http://peacebella.blogspot.com

http://urbanhomestead.org/journal

[purplegirl]

subbing!

[kmeyrick]

Jackpot! This is just the thread I'm looking for! I have a small plot of land from my building, and I am going to be making full use of my patio too. I am growing peppers, tomatoes, squash, onions, shallots, strawberries, and I want to get a blackberry bush too. Rock on!

I really, really, really want to have just one grape vine, but I'd have to learn more about. Anyone know anything?

[beansricerevolt]

subbing!

We are doing an indoor container garden this year. I haven't started yet because we might be moving ( into another apartment (still in Chicago) but closer to the lake :
Anyway, im holding off a bit to see how much space I will have if we decide to move. Otherwise, its going to be some medicinal herbs, a few cooking herbs, strawberry bush (if I can get it to work), miniature carrots, tomatoes (trying again indoor this year : ), a lettuce veg and a couple others that I haven't decided on yet. I wish I had room for potatoes Dh would go crazy with a big barrel of growing potatoes in our apartment.

[mykdsmomy]

Woo hoo.....I'm in!

[mistymama]

Joining!

Very excited to get started again this year. I've decided to expand on my original plan so far I'm planning:

2 hanging baskets to grow tomatoes & peppers upside down out of the bottom. Will do basil, oregano, thyme & mint on the top. Makes for such a pretty planter & also grows very, very well. I had more tomatoes last year than I ever imagined & can't wait to do it again!

In containers I am going to do squash and zucchini, strawberries & possibly to try start one pumpkin to grow as large as we can for ds to harvest and carve in October. We'll see how that goes.

I also have a window in my kitchen with a nice wide ledge, I'd love to grow some things there. But it's pretty shady .. a little morning sun & it's got a big tree in front of it that when it fills out I think will filter most of the sun. Is there anything I can grow with so little direct sun in a window sil?

[loraxc]

In the last thread I was advised to water my container tomatoes from the bottom--why and how?

Also, has anyone found a way to keep squirrels from digging in your containers??

[notjustmamie]

Ooh! I've been wondering about how we could grow some things in our apartment.

Subbing.

[tricia80]

subbing.. last year we did some container tomatoes, green peppers, and onions..

my onions didn't grow, most of my tomatoes got blight and my green peppers were tiny... so this year hopefully will do better...

[kittywitty]

I posted in the last thread. But I just got a good deal at Home Depot for the orange buckets. They were on sale for $2.67 or something. THe Topsy Turveys were also on sale and some other things. I also picked up some hanging baskets from the Dollar Tree that will work perfect for upside down planting.

[Kontessa]

I am really excited about this and happy to not be alone. We move a lot and so putting in a big garden seems a little silly, and not really something we can even do where we are now. So container gardening it shall be. We have done it a few years ago and GA and was wonderful. Starting from scratch here though. Finding containers big enough but not so very deep that it costs lots of money to fill them is hard. Not to mention I kinda want it all to look nice and make a sanctuary for myself. Sooooo we shall see what happens!

[Kontessa]

Is there a link for hanging growing?

[Indigo73]

Originally Posted by loraxc

In the last thread I was advised to water my container tomatoes from the bottom--why and how?

Also, has anyone found a way to keep squirrels from digging in your containers??

What I mean by watering from the bottom is, not holding the hose over the whole plant. You want to water the base of the plant getting the least amount of water on the leaves. This helps prevent certain diseases like powdery mildew.

We had a lot of mildew issues last year because of the amount of rain we got.

I ended up making a soap mix with a little olive oil and garlic. Worked pretty well except for my poor zucchini was too far gone, no more fruit.

Squirrels, I didn't have any issues. I had marigolds in all of my tomatoes, don't know if that helped or not...

[CariOfOz]

Originally Posted by Indigo73

We had a lot of mildew issues last year because of the amount of rain we got.

Battling that myself right now and it sucks My zukes are goners and it's now starting on the cucumber seedlings! Hopefully tomorrow is a dry day so I can spray them with milk fungicide and try to head it off.

[beansricerevolt]

Originally Posted by loraxc

Also, has anyone found a way to keep squirrels from digging in your containers??

I had this issue a few years ago before we moved to our current home. At the time, we had a dog. I found that if I left her outside to hang out most of the day, they wouldn't come around. Do you have a dog? Is she the type that likes to hang outside? We had a Saint Bernard and she loved the outdoors. I miss my old girl
Another option would be chicken wire. It has to be wire. They will chew up plastic.
And water works too. I know this isn't the best solution but if you already use your sprinkler in the summer regularly, put the containers near the sprinkler. Obviously not close enough to get watered down but close.

I feel for you with squirrels. It was a HUGE problem for us at one time. I tried everything and these were the only things that seemed to help. And even after these attempts, a couple would still find a way every now and then. At one point I was leaving the plants outside during the day with the dog or sprinkler and then Id pull them into the garage (if you have a screened in porch, that would be better!) at night. It is a huge pain to get up at the crack of dawn to pull them out but you gotta do what you gotta do.

[kmeyrick]

I'm so psyched. I went to the backyard of my apartment complex and took a look at what I could get. There are quite a few good places that I could use, and would you believe it, no one else besides me and one other person wants to garden?

I'm also looking into joining a community garden, as well. I'd have to consider that carefully, since it would be easier to just go outside the building, but I want lots and lots of food this year.

[CariOfOz]

Originally Posted by beansricerevolt

I feel for you with squirrels.

We don't have squirrels here (possums yes, no squirrels though but what we DO have is 2yo boys.. and I have a huge problem keeping THOSE out of my containers LOL. One bush bean lost to a small boy gleefully digging so far this year

but he looked so CUTE and happy with himself when I found him lol

[eurobin]

Sweet, I'm in! Anna and I just built three 2'x4' square foot garden boxes for our deck. We've got dirt in them (a mix of peat moss and homemade and storebought compost, I couldn't find vermiculite) and the grids are laid down. Now I'm just trying to figure out what to plant!

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-...78_5454094.jpg

I'll admit... I don't expect we'll have a lot of success. I'm a total gardening rookie and Anna's a two year old... I expect she brings as much to the equation as I do. But I at least want her to have the understanding that the strawberries that we ate last summer and composted made the dirt that we'll plant new strawberries in. Strawberries don't just come from Kroger, you know?

[kittywitty]

Ok, my brain is spazzing. I have my Tristar strawberries. I have these 16" or so by 12" bins. How many strawberry plants can I start in each? 1 or 2? I also have some 10"x7" hanging baskets. Too small for the Tristars? Maybe the Alpine mignonettes might work in them? I am waaaay out of money for containers.

Otherwise how many could go in a 5 gallon bucket?

[kmeyrick]

Bump!