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[Battersea Power Station]

I have some backyard space in my new apartment, and the snow is almost all gone. I have no money, since my wife and I have a 2 year old and another baby due in May, but I'd love to get the family started in a little gardening.

How do I go about getting cheap (read: almost free) soil, pots, seeds, tools, and anything else I might need?

Ideally, I'd love to have these things growing:

parsley
thyme
basil
tomatoes
carrots?
blueberries

plus whatever other herbs, salad greens, and veggies might be easy.

I'm in Queens, NY, and any advice would be appreciated!

 

[CrocMother]

First thing you need to do is find a spot with the most sunlight. Herbs need a lot of sunlight.

Next, dig up some soil and get some additives from a gardening store to fertilize it. Starting a compost pile is a great way to make your own free fertilizer, very educational for the kid too.

Bitter greens tend to do well in NY if I remember correctly. Maybe consider growing some Kale or something.

Google is really your friend here, but hope that helped.

 

[John Kowalski]

You could just go to one of those big gardening stores and ask for newbie advice. You would probably make some friends in the process too.

I mean i know this just reads like "don't ask for advice on the internet" but i feel like gardening is, more than other hobbies, really focused on community and sharing. Where i live folks all have their own thing they plant (like i have oranges lemons and stuff) and we just give each other our stuff and shit. It's pretty cool.

 

[lydia]

Herbs like rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano etc grow really well in pots. We have thyme in a nice little pot behind the sink. They're widely available in UK supermarkets, I'm not sure about anywhere else?

In terms of root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips and potatoes; I would simply plant one that you're not eating for dinner that night in a small bed.

I'd make a small raised bed if I were you: 4 pieces of scrap wood and one bag of soil. Example attached.

Hope this is helpful!

 

[Kite]

Based on conversations with my mother who got into gardening a few years ago, getting started isn't expensive. You can plant fresh produce purchased from the grocery store like tomatoes, pineapples, garlic, avocados, water cress, cantaloupes, pumpkins, oranges and a bunch more. Just plant the seeds or cut tops into the soil and hope for the best. Hopefully actual experts can chime and and help you with the specifics.

 

[SteveWinwood]

you just get some dirt and throw some plants in it and they grow

i work with plants this is fact

 

[Lubricus]

Any gardening co-ops near by? They would be a good place to help out and see how it is done.

 

[Cherubae]

Tomatoes can be grown in a 10-gallon bucket. Drill some drain holes in the bottom, fill it with soil, and then plant a starter or even seeds in the bucket. This also makes them mobile or even good for apartments who only have patio space.

Blueberries need ground space. I've grown one in a pot before, but the resulting fruit yield was so low that I moved the plant into the backyard this Spring to be in the ground. You can plant them in pots, but in my experience they don't produce a lot of berries. It was more ornamental than useful.

Herbs grow well in pots, but some will spread out such as mint; that one will get out of control if you don't keep an eye on it. I've a friend whose mint went crazy and now she has mint all over the place.

 

[Battersea Power Station]

Herbs like rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano etc grow really well in pots. We have thyme in a nice little pot behind the sink. They're widely available in UK supermarkets, I'm not sure about anywhere else?

In terms of root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips and potatoes; I would simply plant one that you're not eating for dinner that night in a small bed.

I'd make a small raised bed if I were you: 4 pieces of scrap wood and one bag of soil. Example attached.

Hope this is helpful!

Thanks. What's the idea behind raised beds? If I had to guess it's to keep parasites away and to have a controlled space for high quality soil. Is that right? Do you line the space with plastic sheets, and if so do you puncture holes in it?

 

[JBourne]

Herbs are easy. If you have a railing outside, you get use zipties to hang some pots over the side and grow herbs up to your eyeballs.

If you're going to go for tomatoes, you need to start them around the end of March. Start them in a small pot, transplant them to whatever you're using longterm after they get some decent growth. The trick to getting strong tomatoes is to keep their initial growth in check. If you let them shoot up while in their starter pot, they'll be weak plants and will be unable to support the weight of their fruit. It's best to let them grow a bit, then dial back their sunlight time for a few days before transplanting. It's fun to see them get tall fast, but it's better to start them as shorter, stronger plants.

Blueberries are tricky to grow. I've never been successful.

Carrots are easy, you could grow some tasty little ones in a window box if you want to dip your feet in.

If you want to get serious, build an Earth Box. There are lots of DIY instructions online, although I've found them to be disappointing in comparison to the real deal.

 

[Darren870]

I built this in my back yard over the past few weeks. Its all veggies and fruit and looks about 100x better now as its more full. The after picture is from about a month ago.

As for the raised beds. If you buy properly treated pine you don't need the plastic lining. Its its not treated then you will need some. Ask wherever you buy it. Chances are it wont be safe so you will need to think about lining.

Next you should watch the sun position in your back yard. Herbs actually don't need that much sun (not sure why someone said that). So place them in the least amount of sun. Next think about lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini etc. They all give off a lot of veggies. Put them in the sun and you will be having loads of food. Its also about experimenting a bit. Once you harvest something, plant it somewhere else and see if it does better. We are constantly replanting and putting new things in our garden just to test it out. We just eat it anyways!

Maybe post a picture of the area you have to work with?

Before:

After:

 

[Battersea Power Station]

I'll try to post some pics tomorrow.

When I'm "starting" things, are all of you talking about seeds? Potted plants seem to cost a lot of money, so seeds are probably the way to go, except I don't know if that makes it much more difficult. I guess I have to read up about germination and what not.

Should I buy my seeds from the local supermarket (or Amazon?) or is there some other way to obtain them? Is there a chance I'm getting crap seeds?

 

[Darren870]

I'll try to post some pics tomorrow.

When I'm "starting" things, are all of you talking about seeds? Potted plants seem to cost a lot of money, so seeds are probably the way to go, except I don't know if that makes it much more difficult. I guess I have to read up about germination and what not.

Should I buy my seeds from the local supermarket (or Amazon?) or is there some other way to obtain them? Is there a chance I'm getting crap seeds?

I use half seeds and half seedlings. The only potted plants I ever used were fruit trees.

You can do either and get them from wherever you want. My basil took like 3-4 weeks to grow and it went crazy. Its everywhere now. Lettuce was about the same. All from seeds.

There is no guarantee with either, so you just plant a bit and see what you get. You can get them from wherever you want. I get mine off ebay, farmers markets, hardware stores and garden shop. No seed is better then the other.

 

[alejob]

Based on conversations with my mother who got into gardening a few years ago, getting started isn't expensive. You can plant fresh produce purchased from the grocery store like tomatoes, pineapples, garlic, avocados, water cress, cantaloupes, pumpkins, oranges and a bunch more. Just plant the seeds or cut tops into the soil and hope for the best. Hopefully actual experts can chime and and help you with the specifics.

Pineapples are tropical fruit, takes two years to grow one.. Avocados are a big ass tree. Oranges are a tree also, you can't plant them in New York. He might get away with cantaloupes if we have a long summer and he has a lot of sunlight.

OP, tomatoes are easy. Get some cherry tomatoes too. Your kid might love them. Also zucchinis. They do like a lot of light. I've herd that blueberries are a pain to grow. Another one that's failry easy are strawberries. I'm trying them this year.

Depends on what you are planting, some things germinate easy from seed like zucchini. Tomatoes and strawberries I bought the little plants. Get some dirt and compost and mix it. I'm no expert either I just started planting things a couple of years ago

 

[JBourne]

Darren, that garden is fucking sexy. Damn.

When I'm "starting" things, are all of you talking about seeds? Potted plants seem to cost a lot of money, so seeds are probably the way to go, except I don't know if that makes it much more difficult. I guess I have to read up about germination and what not.

Starting plants is pretty easy. Just give them some TLC, and look up how much water/sunlight your different sprouts will need.

Keep in mind that you can use seeds from your own produce, if you'd like. We had some garlic start sprouting in the basket before we got to use it, so my girlfriend planted it. Now we have 6 cloves growing in a window box.

Should I buy my seeds from the local supermarket (or Amazon?) or is there some other way to obtain them? Is there a chance I'm getting crap seeds?

Packets of seeds are very cheap. Walmart, Amazon, the grocery store, whatever. It's all good, although I'd try to find a place with some variety. I went to Target last night and was surprised by how many options they had, as well as suggestions for what to use for different climates and sun situations.

If you have a local farmers market, they're usually great for getting little plants for transplanting. I went to one by my apartment yesterday and they were actually giving away potted plants if you spent more than $10. Kale, herbs, flowers. Lots of great stuff.

This is something really cool my dad does: gutter strawberries. He took an old raingutter and lined his balcony railing with it. Filled it with dirt and some strawberry seeds. Boom. Simple as that.

If you decide you want to do easymode (or have fresh herbs on hand any time of the year), get an AeroGarden. A little pricey, but it's the absolute simplest way to grow something. Here's the one I got my girl for Christmas:

 

[super-famicom]

Plant some bug repelling plants such as lavender, basil, citronella, or peppermint.

 

[Jintor]

Any of you suckers got apartment gardens?

I've been thinking of getting some pots and stuff and planting chives and other herbs, but I'm not sure where in the apartment to put them. A few school-project-esque shallots and carrots are already dominating my kitchen windowsill...

 

[JBourne]

Any of you suckers got apartment gardens?

I've been thinking of getting some pots and stuff and planting chives and other herbs, but I'm not sure where in the apartment to put them. A few school-project-esque shallots and carrots are already dominating my kitchen windowsill...

I'm in a tiny apartment. It's hard, but you can learn to get the most out of limited space.

Do you have access to a balcony or railing?

 

[Darren870]

Darren, that garden is fucking sexy. Damn.

Cheers! I'll have to take another picture. The plants have been going crazy now. The passion fruit vine in the back is like another half way up its trellis and the zucchini and cucumber plants have blown up. The whole thing is much more fuller then the picture. It cost about $700-$800 all up. That includes the wood, soil, plants, trellis, grass etc. A bit much, but since we own the property it increases the value of the house. Looks much better then it did before.

I like that gutter idea, I might steal it. We've been using pots and plants to plant extra seeds/seedlings and just have more. Then we wind up selling the cuttings or seedlings on gumtree/craigslist for a few extra bucks. Probably don't make much all said and done, but we like just going outside and being able to make a salad from our garden.

 

[Chococat]

Pay attention to ads right now, allot of seed can be obtained cheap at regular stores. Tomatoes, lettuces, and most herbs are easy to grow from seed. Carrots can be hit or miss depending on your soil.

To start this year, select just a few types of thing to try first like basil, thyme, a lettuce, spinach from seed. For tomatoes, figure out how many plant you want and then you can decide if it makes more since to buy plants, or start them from seed. From seed, you need to start those indoors now so they will be big enough when it is warm enough.

All you need is a bag of soil, any type of container with holes (yogurt cups, coffee cups), and a really sunny window to start seedlings. As the plants get bigger, transfer to bigger containers (any plastic bowl with holes will do). While those are growing indoors, take the time to work the ground going to plant in. About $15 will get a bag of soil and 4-8 packets of seed depending on sales.

Wait until the ground is not mud- working to early can compact the soil texture. Remove the sod, turn over the soil about shovels deep. Mix in leaves, compost (check around for free stuff), remove rocks. Lettuce, spinach and parsley can go in early- you need to wait til May-June to put out tomatoes and basil unprotected (look on line for your areas frost date).

This year, don't worry about making the garden beautiful. Get the soil ready best you can, start small, and see if it is something you want to get into deeper as a hobby.

 

[Jintor]

I'm in a tiny apartment. It's hard, but you can learn to get the most out of limited space.

Do you have access to a balcony or railing?

Yeah, though one is primarily for clothes hanging so don't want to put too much there. Maybe hang some pots on the railing.

We do get crazy winds out here (especially when typhoon season rolls around) so I don't want to go too nuts either

 

[3phemeral]

All great advice. If you ever decide to grow cilantro, if the weather starts getting hot, you may want to keep it indoors near a brightly lit window. Cilantro prefers cooler Spring weather and if the soil gets too hot, it can suffer from something called "bolting," which causes the plant to flower as quickly as possible, thus losing it's delicious leaves. The only way to prevent this is keep the soil from getting hot, as it's how the plant determines when to "bolt."

Chives are a great addition to the garden and you need very few of them for cooking. Also, they are the last plant to die when the winter hits, and the first plant to regrow when it gets warm enough. Also pretty drought tolerant and if they're dehydrated, are easy to spot when they wilt.

I'm curious to try hydroponic growth as it limits pests and is compact and clean compared to traditional soil methods, but it's ultimately too expensive for me right now.

 

[King Mystery]

Any of you suckers got apartment gardens?

I've been thinking of getting some pots and stuff and planting chives and other herbs, but I'm not sure where in the apartment to put them. A few school-project-esque shallots and carrots are already dominating my kitchen windowsill...

I live in an apartment in Brooklyn and grow a lot of stuff year round in my windowsills. Became a bit OCD with it. I've got a lot of pictures but too lazy to upload them. I bought most of my seeds from eBay and did a ton of experimenting and research. I had a lot of failures, but I can manage to get a lot of stuff to grow now.

Roman lettuce.

Greek Oregano.

Rosemary and English Thyme.

Chives.

Sweet Marjoram.

Sweet Basil.

Banana Peppers.

Cherry Belle Radishes. (Didn't bulb)

Jalapenos.

Welsh Onions (scallions).

 

[JBourne]

Yeah, though one is primarily for clothes hanging so don't want to put too much there. Maybe hang some pots on the railing.

We do get crazy winds out here (especially when typhoon season rolls around) so I don't want to go too nuts either

Invest in some pots you can hang from a railing. We got a few plastic ones from Target, drilled a couple holes in each, and used zipties to secure them. Worked perfectly. Herbs don't need that much space, so just a few pots can allow you a decent variety.

I mentioned Earth Boxes before, and I really can't recommend them enough. My dad has been a serious gardener all his life and he swears by them. It's the only way he grows peppers these days. The guy's balcony looks like a jungle.

Here's a DIY version my girlfriend used a couple years ago. It turned out pretty nice, and was very easy to situate in a way that would get it the proper sunlight. This year we're going to have 2, since my dad gave us an official one for Christmas. One will be for peppers, the other will be for tomatoes and cucumbers.

I live in an apartment in Brooklyn and grow a lot of stuff year round in my windowsills. Became a bit OCD with it. I've got a lot of pictures but too lazy to upload them. I bought most of my seeds from eBay and did a ton of experimenting and research. I had a lot of failures, but I can manage to get a lot of stuff to grow now.

Great plants, King. That rosemary looks fantastic.

I don't have pictures at the moment aside from the AeroGarden, but here's what we having going outside at the moment:

Mint
Chocolate Mint
Thyme
Rosemary
Stevia
Garlic
Kale
Yellow Onion (no idea what type, we planted it from an onion we got at the grocery store)
Sage
Thai Chili Peppers

AeroGarden herbs:

Thai Basil
Genovese Basil
Dill
Parsley
Chives

In a few days we'll start a juliet and a goliath tomato plant for an Earth Box, along with some burpless cucumbers. We're not sure what kind of peppers we're going to do, since we both want different things.

 

[The Llama]

My mother keeps a garden in the backyard of my parents house. It's p easy. Just plant stuff, water it, and let it grow.

Also make sure you keep deer/etc. away.

 

[DJ_Lae]

Herbs I find the easiest to grow - other than basil, which I would love to have in abundance, but it always mysteriously dies on me. Parsley, though, or thyme, sage, dill, mint, they all thrive with pretty much no effort whatsoever.

My only real complaint is the growing season where I'm at in Alberta sucks ass. I love vine-ripened tomatoes but even if I pick up large plants early in the season there's a good chance that a decent hit of frost is going to come before most of them are anywhere near ripe. The last two years there have been lots of fried green tomatoes and green tomato relish. They're good uses of green tomatoes, of course, but green tomatoes are not what I wanted.

I would complain about my stevia plants doing poorly but I know that the cause of that is simply my daughter picking off leaves and eating them whenever she's near the garden. I can't blame her, they are tasty.

 

[3phemeral]

Herbs I find the easiest to grow - other than basil, which I would love to have in abundance, but it always mysteriously dies on me. Parsley, though, or thyme, sage, dill, mint, they all thrive with pretty much no effort whatsoever.

My only real complaint is the growing season where I'm at in Alberta sucks ass. I love vine-ripened tomatoes but even if I pick up large plants early in the season there's a good chance that a decent hit of frost is going to come before most of them are anywhere near ripe. The last two years there have been lots of fried green tomatoes and green tomato relish. They're good uses of green tomatoes, of course, but green tomatoes are not what I wanted.

I would complain about my stevia plants doing poorly but I know that the cause of that is simply my daughter picking off leaves and eating them whenever she's near the garden. I can't blame her, they are tasty.

How have you grown Basil? Sweet Basil, for some reason, is horrendous. It germinates quickly and then after the baby leaves sprout, it dies on me. Thai Holy Basil is amazing though, in both growth and cooking. You can grow them from cuttings and it takes about a week or two for roots to form, but once they do, just plant them in bright light and they will shoot up. Nip the stalks to encourage branching and after several weeks, you'll have a well branched bushell.

Maybe I should try the cutting method for regular basil. I might have more success with that as I've only done it with the Thai kind.

 

[triplestation]

I have 3 lizards and a tub of bugs that I use to feed the lizards

The bugs eat dry oats and veg scraps and the lizards eat the bugs

Both the bugs and lizards poop

I take the poop and toss it in the dirt chock full of nitrogen phosphorus and potassium

 

[DJ_Lae]

How have you grown Basil? Sweet Basil, for some reason, is horrendous. It germinates quickly and then after the baby leaves sprout, it dies on me. Thai Holy Basil is amazing though, in both growth and cooking. You can grow them from cuttings and it takes about a week or two for roots to form, but once they do, just plant them in bright light and they will shoot up. Nip the stalks to encourage branching and after several weeks, you'll have a well branched bushell.

I had most of my herbs in a three-tier planter - nothing fancy, but I figured it would do well in there considering everything else did. I still don't know if it was overwatered (unlikely, the container drains well) or something was eaten it (didn't look like it) or maybe didn't get enough or got too much sun.

I'll have to try different types of basil this year and see if any of them do better. I'll try that thai stuff - my several attempts at sweet basil were all pretty pathetic. Maybe they would grow better indoors with a more consistent temperature. I dunno.

Only other plant that grew poorly in a baffling way was a Brussels sprouts plant I picked up. It didn't die, but past a certain point it also didn't grow either. I left it alone all season but the thing just sort of carried along in its own stunted way. Meanwhile the kale plant nearby got huge. Go figure.

 

[3phemeral]

I have 3 lizards and a tub of bugs that I use to feed the lizards

The bugs eat dry oats and veg scraps and the lizards eat the bugs

Both the bugs and lizards poop

I take the poop and toss it in the dirt chock full of nitrogen phosphorus and potassium

I have three tanks: one 30 gallon, one 15, and one 70. When I do a water change, I let the detritus settle at the bottom and drain most of the clear water, then siphon them into old distilled water jugs where I store it for watering all plants. Works great as a fertilizer and considering how much I have to do water changes every week (especially that 70 gallon one), I have plenty of fertilizer for the plants. Plus, I'm almost certain the aquatic plants aren't using all of the aquarium fertilizer that's recommended, so there must be some benefit for any remaining liquid fert. left.

 

[JBourne]

Herbs I find the easiest to grow - other than basil, which I would love to have in abundance, but it always mysteriously dies on me. Parsley, though, or thyme, sage, dill, mint, they all thrive with pretty much no effort whatsoever.

I would complain about my stevia plants doing poorly but I know that the cause of that is simply my daughter picking off leaves and eating them whenever she's near the garden. I can't blame her, they are tasty.

You can't kill mint. That shit is immortal. We tried to let out mint die, and it refused. We harvested most of it and what was left shriveled up and looked like brown nothingness. It stayed outside for a cold winter. Decent amount of snow and ice. Now it's nearing the end of March and there's bits of green popping up in the window box it inhabits. The mint is resurrected. Both regular and chocolate. It's pretty nice though, since we've taken a liking to making tea with a clump of chocolate mint thrown in. It's great stuff.

And yeah, stevia is great. We keep a big bag of it on our tea table and use it for sweetening kale smoothies. Got a pretty high yield from just one plant.

Dill is still new to me. I never really cooked with it before, and I'm only just now figuring out what it goes with. A couple weeks ago a picked some and threw it on an egg I had in a little one-egg poacher. Amazing.

 

[triplestation]

I have three tanks: one 30 gallon, one 15, and one 70. When I do a water change, I let the detritus settle at the bottom and drain most of the clear water, then siphon them into old distilled water jugs where I store it for watering all plants. Works great as a fertilizer and considering how much I have to do water changes every week (especially that 70 gallon one), I have plenty of fertilizer for the plants. Plus, I'm almost certain the aquatic plants aren't using all of the aquarium fertilizer that's recommended, so there must be some benefit for any remaining liquid fert. left.

fist bump

I liked reading that

 

[3phemeral]

I had most of my herbs in a three-tier planter - nothing fancy, but I figured it would do well in there considering everything else did. I still don't know if it was overwatered (unlikely, the container drains well) or something was eaten it (didn't look like it) or maybe didn't get enough or got too much sun.

I'll have to try different types of basil this year and see if any of them do better. I'll try that thai stuff - my several attempts at sweet basil were all pretty pathetic. Maybe they would grow better indoors with a more consistent temperature. I dunno.

Only other plant that grew poorly in a baffling way was a Brussels sprouts plant I picked up. It didn't die, but past a certain point it also didn't grow either. I left it alone all season but the thing just sort of carried along in its own stunted way. Meanwhile the kale plant nearby got huge. Go figure.

Good luck! Thai basil is a little iffy to root sometimes, but the method I've found that works is this:

• Get glass container and fill it halfway with water,
• Place saran wrap over the opening and hold it down with a rubber band
• Poke a hole just big enough to thread the Basil stalk through (it should be at least 6-7 inches, all leaves removed except for the very top few)
• Change out the water every day or every other day, then reseal and repeat until roots grow

The reason why I use this method is that I've had my stalks rot and essentially melt in their jars. Having the stalk only partially submerged while keeping the humidity in the container high seems to allow roots to form without oversaturating them. It also helps to replace the water so it doesn't become rancid. After you get a healthy-looking root ball forming, plant that sucker and watch it grow!

Oh, and as for Stevia! This is great! I was recently searching for this online as I was curious about growing my own Stevia but wasn't sure about it: is it safe?

The FDA approves processed version of it and WebMD only recommends the same. I know it's used to sweeten tea naturally but I wasn't sure if there are any studies showing that natural, whole-leaf consumption of stevia is safe. Probably nowhere near the same as potatoes as the're nightshade family (obviously), but I just wanted to be sure I'm not adding some unknown into my cooking.

fist bump

I liked reading that

::fist bump::

 

[Jintor]

Those are gorgeous. I might go whole-hog once I get some time. Main problem is going to be trying to figure out which seeds are which since I'll have to figure out what they are in Japanese... ==;;

 

[rykomatsu]

I'd look into heirloom varietals - much more flavorful in general. Don't see them in stores much because they're not as disease tolerant or don't ship well.

For tomatoes, I'd recommend black varietals such as black krim or chocolate cherry- a lot of umami (no joke).

Kuroda or New Kuroda carrots are extremely sweet compared to what you can get in stores.

Need to do a little groundwork on google, but well worth the effort.

Also, for colder climates I'd recommend starting with seeds indoors on a heat mat - first year will be more expensive for materials than seedlings. Starting following year, much much cheaper...direct sowing of seeds has higher failure rates...heat mat indoor planting gives me virtually 100% germination rate, so I can give a bunch of seedlings away to coworkers

 

[Jasup]

Watch BBC's gardening programmes. No, really, that's how I got into gardening.

How to be a Gardener for example might be a cheesy at times and Alan Titchmarsh is a bit Alan Titchmarshy at times. However it covers many basics and it's not too long.

First episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyPDuE_dvHU

 

[DrM]

Another tip : never use fresh water for plant watering. Use collected rain water if you can - your water usage will be greatly reduced.

We have two 1100 liter containers that collect fresh water from our roof. We use dirty water pump to get water to the hose and then we can water whole garden. Right now, we are in the middle of renovation, because we built new greenhouse and we will be using the same water there.

 

[CanadianGal]

Here is a good article on the benefits of having plants in apartments by a website called Rentseeker.ca:

http://www.rentseeker.ca/blog/index.php/category/the-benefits-of-plants-in-an-apartment