Gardening? :)

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His_Ruby

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I’ve really never gotten into gardening and always wanted to. I live in an apartment now so I have no yard really for myself, but a nice little deck and porch where I could do potted things. It’s getting to be that time of year for planting I suppose, but I have no idea what to plant and when.

Let’s see… I figure it’d be a good, therapeutic little hobby for the summer with new baby, and something to do now while I pass the days waiting for him to arrive. 🙂

Our deck gets a lot of shade… or maybe half shade, half sun… I’d have to really look over the course of a day to find out. But it’s totally covered, but has railings I could hang potters, sit pots, or put hanging plants.

I’d love advice on anything to plant that’s not TOO high maintenance, good in partial shade probably, and ok for beginners… whether flower or herb or whatever! 🙂
 
Try some tomatoes. They can tolerate a variety of conditions. Also, consider some hers, such as thyme or basil. These are easy and require very little attention.
 
I second that. If you do tomatoes don’t forget the basil. Nothing’s better than fresh bruschetta in the summer time. Plus both are so easy to grow.
 
cool! 👍 I’m very preggo myself and my livingroom is taken over by seedlings I have started and can’t WAIT till it warms up to transplant in my veggie garden!

I’d get some tomatos too, look up gurneys.com (spelling?) they mail order them, you can get tomato plants especially developed to be in planters or hanging planters (cherry tomatos I think)…

I’d also do some herbs. mint for the smell? chives are easy (they have garlic flavored ones!), I plant dill, or whatever you like to cook with. maybe put them in window box looking planters you can set on/over the railings?

I have never tried it but I hear some strawberries or blueberries do very well in large pots. that would be fun, I think. they’re also on that website, I have been thinking of trying them too.

I’m an eater, never saw the point in growing flowers… :rolleyes:
 
just_me said:
cool! 👍 I’m very preggo myself and my livingroom is taken over by seedlings I have started and can’t WAIT till it warms up to transplant in my veggie garden!

I’d get some tomatos too, look up gurneys.com (spelling?) they mail order them, you can get tomato plants especially developed to be in planters or hanging planters (cherry tomatos I think)…

I’d also do some herbs. mint for the smell? chives are easy (they have garlic flavored ones!), I plant dill, or whatever you like to cook with. maybe put them in window box looking planters you can set on/over the railings?

I have never tried it but I hear some strawberries or blueberries do very well in large pots. that would be fun, I think. they’re also on that website, I have been thinking of trying them too.

I’m an eater, never saw the point in growing flowers… :rolleyes:
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sorry TOMATOES. it’s late… 🤷
 
Go for it! I also live in an apartment and have quite a collection of pots going. I started with just a couple, but it is addicting! 😃

One of the easiest things to start with is some basic annuals. They are supposed to die, so if you kill them you won’t feel too bad. 😉 😃

I really just started experimenting. Read the labels and just pick anything that you like and says something about full to part shade. Also make sure that it won’t grow too big, many things will say something about good in containers. You will kill some things off, but you will also find things that work well.

I’ve found Wal-mart to be a good source for basic, cheap pots. I just got a bunch that match and are kind of a greyish color that way the focus is on the plants and not so much the pots.
 
if you want hanging baskets- go for dragon wing begonias. Srsly, those things are amazing! You can let em dry out for a good 4-5 days, give em a watering, and they’ll pop right back up! They’re generally shady, but they’ll take morning sun as long as you don’t live in New Mexico or somewhere hot like that. They don’t need cleaning. Those things grow like a bush! Srsly, I’ve worked at a greenhouse for a few years now and I’ve never heard anyone say that they’ve had problems with dragon wings.

and since it’s a shade plant you could always bring it into the apartment over the winter if you wanted to. You could always pop the hanger off and set it in a corner of your living room or something. The hangers pop back on easy enough come spring time!
 
I also say tomatoes and basil.
Also, I would add a strawberry pot.
All are very easy and, of the things that people grow in home gardens, I think these are the ones that are easiest and tastiest.
I’m of the opinion that ALL homes should have at least a little dirt with stuff in it. 🙂
 
I’m reading a good book called The Bountiful Container by McGee & Stuckey. They have good info that makes container gardening sound really easy. There are “recipes” for what to plant in pots together for an edible garden. I haven’t tried it yet but it sounds like lettuce is easy to grow in containers especially if you have a shady spot-sounds like lettuce doesn’t mind SOME shade. I grew peas on an apartment balcony once. Just need something for them to climb up on. A tomato cage can work for that. I’d say try to grow what you like to eat. If you have a shady spot cherry tomatoes would be a good choice since they ripen faster. I don’t know where you are, but up here I have a hard time getting my Roma tomatoes to ripen by September even out in full all day sun. And I didn’t have much luck with Basil-this year I’ll have to bring it in on cold nights. My first batch last year shriveled up on a cold night in JUNE. lol. I think the arctic circe is widening…

Anyway I highly recommend the book. I checked it out from the public library. They make container gardening sound really simple.
 
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