So Many Questions!

This post is primarily for those of you who are looking to start a little bit of gardening, but who are not in a rural setting like mine.  You may have a patio or tiny yard and you may be renting, so plowing up your allotted bit lawn is out of the question.  In what ways might a person in this situation set up a winter garden or any kind of garden for that matter?


For starters, watch Bill Mollison's video, at least as far as his permaculturing of a high rise balcony (which isn't very far in).  He does amazing things with that tiny space that will reportedly produce one fifth of the food needed by the people in the apartment! 

Now that you've done that, here are answers to some of the questions I've been getting asked: 

1.  Starting tomato seeds - A seeding tray can be purchased at this time of year for cheap at almost any hardware, home improvement, or even grocery store.  They look more or less like this:

The trays with the plastic cover like this one are particularly nice because they reduce the need for watering and they capture and hold more heat.  The "cells" come in a variety of sizes.  You'll just have to choose the size that you think suits you best.  Keep in mind that larger cells will hold the plants for a longer time period without re-potting.  You will probably need to purchase potting soil as well to fill it with.  Bring it all home, fill the cells with soil, wet the soil thoroughly, make dents about 1/4" deep, drop in your seeds, cover with the soil from the sides of the dent, put the cover on the tray and set in a warm place.  They don't need a sunny spot until after the plants emerge.  When you start to see elbows you need to put the tray in a sun room, sunny window, or under a grow light.  (Important note:  If the sun is only shining on one side of the tray the plants will photo-trope {lean toward the light} and etiolate {become spindly} so you need to turn the tray frequently to even up the amount of sunlight the plants are receiving.)  This same method works for peppers and herbs as well.  Be warned . . . peppers take a lot longer to emerge and REQUIRE temperatures of 70 degrees Fahrenheit to germinate.

2.  Container gardening - I could probably do many posts on container gardening, but for now I will limit myself to a long paragraph with pics.  The options for container gardening are almost limitless.  Flower pots and window boxes are the most common options, of course.

Cucumbers

Tomatoes and herbs (did you know you can eat Nasturtiums?)

Strawberries!

Salad!

Herbs in a shoe holder!

The ultimate container garden!

I will typically fill a window box with several different herbs.  A recent popular addition to the container garden repertoire is the "Topsy-Turvy" tomato planter.  They look like this:

They can be hung from the ceiling of a balcony or patio (provided your space receives at least some sunshine) You put the plant in the bottom of the soil filled bag, and water from the top.  The days of needing lots of ground space and tomato cages are over!  Incidentally you can even grow potatoes in containers!

3. What constitutes a vegetable garden? - I suppose technically, you can only call it a vegetable garden if you are growing only things like Swiss Chard or Celeriac where you eat pretty much the whole plant.  Tomatoes, squashes, peppers, and eggplants are all actually fruits.  Beets, potatoes, and carrots are roots.  Bag all of that.  If you can eat what you are growing, call it a veggie garden!

4.  How soon can I start? - Start now!  Find seeds of cold tolerant varieties if your weather demands it.  Tomatoes planted now will be ready to go outside by the time things warm up (especially this winter)  I planted my tomatoes in January, I think, and the largest plants are about a foot tall. They are begging me to be put in the ground, but they will have to wait a few more weeks!

5.  "You should offer courses in self-sufficiency with internships for food and board!" - We would love to do that and are working towards it.  We need to get a small cabin or two built where interns could stay. 

Like this

Or this!

Or maybe even this!!!