Gardens

[jglass]

I have gotten some great deals on herb seeds the past few days.
My FIL is planning to get the first plow done on the garden next week weather permitting.
So far I have picked up dill, flat italian parsley, curly parsley, cilantro, genovese basil, giant basil, sweet basil, butternut squash, parsnips, thyme and chives. I still need a few more packs of basil and thyme. I also want to get tarragon, mint and sage. So far it looks like my rosemary bushes survived the winter. The thyme, sage and parsley come back every year. I want to get some savory and lavender if I can find them.
Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 60's but only for a couple of days then back to cold and rain.

Wish me luck. They are having some place from Lexington come tomorrow to see if they can patch our cracked bathtub. I kind of wish they would just replace it and get it over with. Patch one place and what is to say another one wont pop out next week. It looks like it is getting ready to crack in several other places already.

 

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Please help!

I don't know whether to even try another l'il patio garden this year!

My condo has a smallish 10'X12' patio-slab w/ a roof over it. Around it is a small surrounding plot which holds evergreens w/ scattered wood chips (which has space for maybe 2-3 large pots pulled out from under the protective roof so thay can get more sun).

Over the last 3 years I have accumulated about 8 large pots and a chest-high cedar trellis. I have tried growing flowers and herbs/veggies. Most of my flowers did semi-well (though I would LOVE recommendations of flowers to buy that can provide lovely blooms all summer long- rather than just a couple weeks!)

But my herbs? Of the 10 I planted- only the mint did well- actually, it TOOK OVER.

And the veggies? None ever took off. I mainly would love to have tomatos- but they just seem to need more hot sunshine than my l'il covered growing space can allow.

Does anyone have any helpful container-gardening skills they can share?

 

[jfain]

Well Kevin I can help you with the flower part. Have you tried nasturgums? They bloom all summer and they are also edible. I love the shape of their lily pad leaves. Also have you tried varieties of “patio tomatoes” They are smaller tomatoes but they don’t need as much light.

I love my garden. I am so happy to be able to grow one. For years we lived in a townhouse apartment. I could grow herbs tomatoes and hot peppers but not a real garden. We aren’t able to actually plant till May but I will be starting my seeds soon. We have a greenhouse that we use to start our heirloom vegetables.

 

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Thanks, jfain... I'll have to search around for the 'maters!

I have grown nasturtiums successfully before and I do enjoy them a lot. (I decorate cheese-balls, desserts and poached salmon w/ them all summer long!)

I LOVE grape hyacinths but they're flowers w/ only a tiny windows of bloom-time...

 

[jglass]

Wish I could help. All I do out on our balcony is 3-4 smaller pots of herbs. They never do well out there. It gets so hot with the heat reflected from the parking lot and the cars. Our balcony is not private. It runs all the way around the entire building to all six apartments. This year I am going to get a patio cherry tomato plant and put out there. I had never done it before because they fuss where our apartment is on the front. Last year they let the others put tables and chairs by their apartments on the balcony. This summer Im going to do a tomato plant and a few more pots of herbs than I have in the past.

One year everything I put out there died within two weeks. I couldnt figure it out and then my little neighbor told me she had been watering my stuff out there and putting miracle grow on them. That would have been all well and good except that I was also putting miracle grow on them lol. The next year I asked her to please not help me. She moved away last June.

 

[The Ironic Chef]

An important thing to know when patio gardening is to be on the south side of a building and getting plenty of sunlight, not being blocked by trees and to have a good watering jug.
People don't realize during the spring when they first start to set out plants that trees grow leaves during the summer. Some canopies do a real good job at blocking out sun light as the season progresses. Very few gardening gurus even mention the fact.
Clay pots require more watering so for containers go for plastic type containers. I work construction and usually use cleaned out 5 gal. buckets. I also had about 20 5 gal. pickle buckets given to me years back from a deli. I never knew pickles came in 5 gal. buckets before.
Most garden centers are really good about having plants for containers. They are usually marked. Look for names like patio tomatoes. These plants are more of a compact plant. I also like to use bush type plants instead of vine varieties. Bush cucumbers, beans, melons, egg plants, zucchinis. The plants are more compact and take up so much less space.
I have had luck with peppers, 2-3 in the same bucket.They help to support each other. For tomatoes I actually have used a hanging method where a small hole is cut into the bottom of a container. The plant is inserted by the root end into the hole and then the planting mixture is then added around the root. Talk about saving space. These hanging containers can hang off a balcony , patio or porch headers. You can grow tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and other vine like plants in hanging containers.
My wife does all the flower gardening. I just do the weeding and mulching. I handle the vegetables. I try to use what ever space I have available because I hate starting plants and then throwing out any once I start thinning.

 

[jglass]

They resurfaced out bathtub with a figerglass spray today and fixed the holes.
Talk about stink! It reeks in here and talk about an allergy headache. I have had the mother of all headaches all day.

 

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Thanks for the loads of great info, IC! VERY helpful... I'm lucky as my patio does indeed face south...

Working in commercial kitchens for SO long... 5 gallon pickle buckets were a way of life. I gave many out to folks each Spring and friends & family were oh-so-grateful to be gifted such perfect 'mater-buckets for gathering garden harvest!

 

[The Ironic Chef]

5 gallon buckets are a good source of revenue around here. We live right on the water and everyone keeps coming to me for buckets for bait. A bait shop charges close to 10.00 a bucket. I think the home depot charges about the same for their orange ones. Maybe I should start charging, lol.
Chubbs, you have to work out a deal for some of that harvest for your own consumption in trade. I'm sure that once your family and friends start getting ripe produce, specially tomatoes, they give you plenty. Some times so many tomatoes ripen at once and a person gets so many they can't give them away fast enough. I have to can on the BBQ Burner just so as not to heat up the house during August when I start getting tomatoes out the yang.