Container Gardening

So, you want to have a container garden? It's a great way to grow your own veggies and herbs in a limited amount of space. WARNING: One of the first things you should do when container gardening on a balcony is find out what the weight capacity of your balcony is! Dirt is HEAVY and when you add water it becomes insanely heavy. If you plan on having an extensive container garden like the one in my pics please find out how much your balcony can hold first!

What you need: Seeds vs. Starters: The first big decision you need to make is whether or not you are going to start from seeds or from starters from your local greenhouse. Both have their advantages. If you haven't been gardening long, or this is your first garden, you may want to use the starters especially for less hearty plants. If you want to try growing some seeds I'd try peppers or something hearty. If you are planning on growing herbs the starters are usually about as cheap as the seeds. Pots: Go to your local $1 Store and look around for various sizes of planting pots. I like the pots from the General Dollar- usually they are the same as the ones from Wal-Mart - just cheaper. What you are planning on growing will deternmine what sizes you need. Bell Peppers and Tomatos require large pots. I have used lined single load laundry baskets to grow tomatos in. This would probably work for Green Peppers as well. In any case, ultimately, you will need something about that size. Hot Peppers only need about a 8-10" pot. Yellow Bell Peppers Other Stuff: You will probably also want a couple of spray bottles. One for just water for spritzing your plants leaves and one with water and a few drops of dish soap... yes, dish soap. For some reason aphids and some other bugs that are harmful to your plants won't touch them or will leave them if you spray with the dish soap mix. If you already have these pesky critters spray your leaves top and bottom with dish soap and water and spray it directly on the critters if you see them. It may not be a cure all but it is a safe alternative to start with. Eventually, you may need to buy a watering can, but at first you'll probably be able to get away with a glass or two of water. Depending on if you start with seeds or starters you may want to buy some potting soil. Starters can usually stay in their own pots for awhile but don't keep them in there small pot for too long! The poor plant will get root bound and die. Root bound is when the plants roots don't have enough room to grow and the loop back in on themselves, eventually strangling the plant. In the pic above on the top shelf in the large pot is my first Chamomile plant. It died. I had alot more luck with my second one (see the Herbs page for the story.) The baby food jars have Watermelon sprouts. On the second shelf are some Jasmine sprouts which are tropical and didn't make it in the climate I used to live in. Which brings us to an important point: The US is divided into growing regions. Before you try and grow an exotic plant, please, check your growing region! Now, just because a plant is not slated to grow in your region doesn't mean absolutely it won't grow. However, at least if you choose to grow a plant not slated for your region you won't go into it blind then wonder later, "Why the heck did my plant die?" Where should I get seeds? This is the fun part!!!! Go to your local grocery store or farmer's market. Now, look at all those veggies! What's inside? SEEDS! I grew some very good green peppers from seeds from one I bought at the store. The Watermelon sprouts were from one we bought at the store and ate. I also sprouted Cantelope, Mango, Orange, Lime, Jalepenos and quite a few other things. Now, I do not suggest Watermelon and Cantelope for container gardening if you really want a melon. Melons take up alot of room. You really need a yard for melons. Now, if you start them too late in the year to produce then you will have some nice vines with pretty flowers. Most Peppers you buy at the store will grow nicely and produce. Bells require large pots but you can grow them in pots on your balcony or patio. Hot peppers usually don't require such large pots and they have pretty little white flowers before they produce. Citrus plants WILL NOT produce fruit if you grow them from seeds bought from the store. They do make very pretty houseplants, sort of bushy with nice dark leaves. The leaves are fragrant and will give you that light fresh citrus smell. If you keep them inside you will need to put them in a spot that gets plenty of sun and doesn't get too cold. Remember that these are usually grown in Florida and areas that don't have an actual "cold" Winter. If you choose to grow citrus plants you will need to nick the outer coating on the seed, carefully, so as not to damage the inside of the seed. Then soak them in warm water for a few minutes until they swell up a bit. Tomato Sprouts I have known people who have grown Tomatos from seeds of the fruit bought from the store. Some tomatos have REALLY large plants and can be five or six feet tall. If you get a really BIG tomato assume it came from a really BIG plant. I grew some tomatos in pots that had very good flavor and were about the size of my palm. I have not personally grown tomatos from the store bought fruits. One of the things I love about tomato plants is their smell. Those of you who have grown tomato plants know how addictive the smell of a tomato plant can be. Tomato Sprouts and Hot Peppers The Hot Peppers in the above photo did not have to be replanted. The tomatos were a different story. What I wound up doing with them was putting them in a single load (round) laundry basket lined with trash bags. It worked really well and my tomatos were yummy. Lots of sprouts! The graphics on these pages are creations by: Except on the Salsa page and the Coffee page. Aren't they beautiful? She has alot of wonderful FREE graphics on her site. If you use them- please link back to her!!!!