Container, Balcony, Patio & other urban "small space" gardeners - Page 2

[purplegirl]

Originally Posted by Indigo73

A combo of 5 gallon buckets, under the bed storage tubs, large terra cotta pots and half barrels.

Brilliant mama. Do you drill holes in them for drainage?

[thixle]

I thought I had posted here already????
Anyway, small apartment, small yard, 2 porches... We are doing diy earthboxes (link)

So far, we have tomatoes, cauliflower, and spaghetti squash seeds started.
I know I'm starting peas this week, and I'm just staring at everything else wondering if all that potting mix will be worth it.
Dh and his work buddies are also *ahem* planning a victory garden, since the boss said they could use some land, but no one has done anything yet. We'll probably be filling the plot once someone else tills...

Compsting-- I've been looking online and found a few mentions of using a laundry hamper to compost. It's supposed to take longer to "make" than a bigger bin, but I figure, what the heck I also admit that I had a bucket full of luscious scraps-- I just lined the bottom of the hamper with a paper bag, put some leaves in and dumped the sludge in I should probably put more leaves on top before the balcony starts attracting flies!

[Indigo73]

Originally Posted by purplegirl

Brilliant mama. Do you drill holes in them for drainage?

Yes, not many and they are often on the sides of the container and not the bottom, since the sides are thicker and less likely to crack.

At my old apartment, we used a 30 gallon black trash can to compost. It was shorter and wider than most cans. It was great. But don't have enough sun here and my dad took it for his roses this year.

[Jojo F.]

Oh, because I have WAY too many tom plants this year and not enough room I went out and bought a double shepherds hook and two hanging planters to grow my toms upside down. Then I can plant some other herbs in the top of the planter like it's supossed to be used. Can't wait!!!

As for composting in an apartment, you could look into vermicomposting. I might talk DH into letting me buy some worms and more lady bugs this summer.

[5terre]

Subbing! I'm dreaming of gardening and planting seeds, but had to put it off this year as I'm finishing up school right now. I'm hoping to buy a few plants but not sure what to do. I'm thinking about tomatoes, peppers, basil, strawberries, lettuce mix, and peas sound really pretty and fun! I want to somehow make them look 'pretty'.

Anyone have any favorites for planting together in the same container? So far my only thought (stolen from The Bountiful Container) is a tomato surrounded by basil. Still have to find large containers, though. I also want to do something with peas climbing up the center, but not sure what is compatible to put around them. Maybe lettuces?

Zone 5b/6a, condo with a SE facing deck.

[quietserena]

Hey I belong here. I have a crazy downhill yard that's all clay and was sod and treated with all sorts of chemicals..

Planning on some containers and I have a 2 ft wide stretch of dirty by the house for .. someting. I don't even know what all to plant!

Is anyone doing those upside down tomato buckets?

[bc1995]

I am planning on doing some upside down tomato buckets. Would planting pepper plants in the top part work, too?

[Indigo73]

I haven't tried the upside down buckets personally (don't have anywhere to hang them), but have seen them working for others.

I am rethinking my under the bed storage tubs (since my saw horses walked off with my cinder blocks) and may use window boxes on the ground instead for my greens this year.

But have started to plant my buckets and going to see what I can do with the fake half barrel planter that is in the front yard. May just transplant some posies and tall grass to make it pretty. And see if I can get permission to put some hooks on the porch to hang some scented geraniums.

[quietserena]

For those not finding composting solutions, vermicomposting is a lot friendlier to small spaces. I just got some worms this past wekend myself and they seem to be doing well except they're probably tired of me peeking on on them. "Leave us alone, woman!"

I think we'll have tow tomato plants in the ground and some herbs in containers. I really wanted some other stuff but plants need.. sun and the one place around my house I'd consider planting stuff is shaded most of the day. Maybe strawberries for there.

[DreamsInDigital]

I live in an apartment and have a tiny (and I mean TINY) fenced backyard. Right now my garden space consists of a 4 x 15 area (told you it was small) and then I have my patio littered with all kinds of containers. I am trying to make do with what small space I have and be thankful I have any yard at all. Last year I had a good crop of leaf lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes and sugar snap peas. I'm currently trying to get some herb seeds and corn seeds to sprout. :

[MidwifeErika]

I am going to be container gardening this year. We are moving to a different duplex and won't have a garden in the ground available to us. I haven't started anything yet as we are moving next week... now I am feeling very behind! Oh well, my tomato plants I always buy started already at the farmer's market. So, I am planning on growing tomatoes, basil, lettuce, green beens, and sugar snap peas. I am trying to think of anything else that we might want to grow.... maybe figure out a way to grow some squash?

I am really excited and encouraged to read about other methods of gardening! We are planning on using some under-the-bed sorts of crates that we have and haven't really utilized ever. Oh, we also have some shallow rubbermaid totes and a few pots as well.

Originally I didn't want to grow much, but just seeing grocery prices go up and up and up, it makes me want to grow as much as I possibly can in our small space.

[seeing_stars]

I belong here! My garden this year is an experiment. We have a back yard, but any suitable garden space is covered in rocks and I didn't have the time to dig those out and prepare the soil so I planted plastic baby pools. I plan to add more containers as I find them and train the plants that tend to spread out over the side of the containers to the empty space. Crossing my fingers that it works and we have some yummy fruits and veggies :

These are 4 foot baby pools. I drilled holes in the bottom and used a layer of rocks for drainage. Each pool took a large bag of potting soil and 1/2 large bag of mulch to fill.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v4...=garden006.jpg

Freshly planted. We have yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers.

I would like to do more tomatoes, yellow squash and zucchini at least and hope to do some herbs.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v4...=garden007.jpg
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v4...=garden008.jpg
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v4...=garden009.jpg

[Indigo73]

I have a ratty baby pool in the back yard that a former tenant left (they left a lot of junk in the basement too). I am thinking of dragging it to the side yard and filling it with greens.

[Indigo73]

This http://www.instructables.com/id/How-...verted-Planter definitely makes me wish I had somewhere to hang it.

[Kleine Hexe]

subbing to read...

[Indigo73]

I've gotten a bit more than half of my garden planted. Still need to stake the tomatoes and plant my cukes, beans and zuccs. Still debating about that kiddie pool and salad greens/spinach. Will have to wait until next weekend.

Pictures

[5terre]

Indigo, where did you get those terra cotta looking buckets?

[Indigo73]

They are safety orange paint buckets from Home Depot.

[EviesMom]

I'm hoping to get good at gardening someday. I just have 1 big super durable ikea houseplant I've had for 5-6 years right now (DH hates it but I love it, despite not knowing what it is!) But DD and DH just gave me a window box for Mothers Day and we bought herbs to grow in it. I got rosemary, oregano, chives, and "orange mint" because those are herbs I know I'll use. Any advice is appreciated!

I was thinking about planting the mint in a container in the window box rather than in the box itself with the other herbs bc I've heard it can take over. Is that really an issue in a window box though?

We also bought a potted zinnia. DD and I wanted marigolds, but the man at the store said they would never survive in a window (we have north and south facing windows and good light overall) and tried to sell us on impatiens or some other similar flower. I hate impatients and morning glories and similar. They look instantly wilted to me and I don't like them aesthetically. Morning glories DH grew for a while in the south facing window. I refused to help with them in any way having literally had a baby within days of them sprouting and dealing with PPD, I was stressed by super fragile flowers that wilted within it seemed minutes of blooming and were just way too much work for too little enjoyment IMO. I figured zinnias I've bought as cut flowers and don't instantly wilt. Worst come to worst, I spent about what I'd have spent on cut zinnias for a plant that won't last any longer than cut. I'd like them to thrive though, so any advice on which window and what to do to help it is appreciated.

What about marigolds for next year or this year if DD really wants them and I do well enough with the herbs and zinnias to start another box in another window. How would marigolds do in a window box? The library story time helped the kids plant marigold seeds last July or August and ours grew pretty tall in the kitchen window until it got cold, though it never flowered. I think it was the wrong season to plant it and have it flower though. Hence, it felt like the man at the store was not really helping, just pushing what he wanted to sell more of... But I don't know, how would they do in a window box, already flowering?

What else grows well in a window box or sunny kitchen window? I'd love to get good enough at this someday to grow dandelions, little tomatoes, and strawberries if I can do some shelves in the kitchen (south facing, lots of light) window.

For composting, the farmer's market here takes compostable scraps and you can also get free compost from them, so I've taken compostable scraps there for quite a while.

[StephandOwen]

What else should I plant? I just found out that future MIL has one more pot to give me. Woo-hoo! I already have a tomato plant, basil, cucumbers, green peppers, red peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, parsley and chives planted. I woud like to do another tomato, but the pot isn't big enough, I don't think. Maybe it is. Maybe some lettuce? What grows well in kentucky??