hello, brandy new here as you can see. Heck im brand new to gardening but all last summer I was disappointed with the produce in the stores and vowed to try growing some of my own so I would give it a shot. I am new the the whole scene so any posts or PMs that could help me get my bearings would be appreciated. For example I found this site on google, and other than burpee.com (which I only found because a previous owner got their catalogs) this is the only resource I know of online for gardening. My location (CT): I live in a condo (end unit) that looks like this: On this side the garage door faces directly West. Another identical building is directly across from it but it is a fairly open other than that. I dont know what the soil is like for growing things under the decks but the weeds certainly seem to thrive in the summer This is the back, it faces due East and as you can see is on a hill. There is no building behind me and the treeline is below the ground level under my deck so the entire side of my building is completely in the sun as of sunrise. There are a lot of rabbits and birds in the complex (birds especially in the back). I am open to using pots for plants or any other growing mechanism (do people use troughs?) or planting them in the ground under the deck(s) (rear deck has AC unit and dryer exhaust below it though), whatever you reccomend. If it was up to me I would probably like to do it on one of the decks so it is more accessible and probably safer from rabbit types or hungry neighbors I really want to grow tomatos...lots of them...and am also very interested in garlic, eggplant, and maybe some hot green peppers. I would like to throw some herbs (esp basil) in also but I get the feeling they are much lower maintenance. So I look forward to your advice. If it is the best method I would love to start planting indoors now, and I live alone(no meddling kids spouses or pets to worry about) so as long as it isnt leaking all over the carpet, I could put the pots or seedlings in front of windows in the living room or wherever ot get sunlight until it gets warm enough for them to go outside (if this prevents me from needing grow lights). Where should I plant? Can I do it in pots? Where should I buy supplies? Where should I buy seeds? What can I read (online would be great) to get me started? thanks for your patience!
Hi slug (do I have to call you 'slug', I'm sure you're much nicer than a slug ) and welcome to GardenStew . We are a crazy bunch here and still a relatively undiscovered community but growing by the day! I hope you become a regular so we can see how your gardening exploits turn out I really just wanted to say hello but judging by what you wrote I reckon some container gardening would be perfect to start off with, maybe to ease you into things before getting started on the 'rabbit hot-spot' below your deck I found two links that should make interesting reading. Firstly a link from this site which is Discover Container Gardening with Tomatoes and the second, which I think will be extremely helpful, is Container Gardens. That link covers all the basics. I'm sure others will be along with additional advice so until then maybe you'd like to introduce yourself here http://www.gardenstew.com/about3.html Happy (Container) Gardening!!!
Hi! I live in Arizona and the weather is slightly different from connecticut, but I have spinach planted in pots. I used the long narrow pots for the spinach but round ones would work for most things. probably they would be better for tomatoes because tomatoes have a bigger root system. Most things could probably be started now. Use small peat pots if you can get them in your area. WalMart should have them. Use potting soil to start them. WalMart should have seeds too. If you have a nursery close to you, that might also be a good place to start. They would have all the supplies you need. They would also be able to advise you on when to move things outside. You could probably put things out during the day and cover them at night or move them inside. If you start things inside, put the peat pots on a cookie sheet to keep them from leaking water where you don't want it. Look for an earlier post on this site about making pots out of newspaper if you want to plant a lot of stuff. My son lived in an apartment a couple of years ago and grew his garden on his patio. He said it looked like a jungle. If you grow in pots, you will have to be sure to keep the soil moist and feed them every so often. There is a book called "Container Gardens for Dummies". You may be able to find it in a larger bookstore. Hope this helps. Others will have ideas too. Dooley
thanks guys! Today I swung by the home depot and they had the burpee seedling starter kits so i bought one. 72 pods, I figure I will plant them all and with any luck a few will survive to pot and grow all summer long bought a few burpee seeds and planted them and ordered a few more online Also checked out amazon for a little while and found a decent sounding book about growing veggies in containers that had a couple good reviews: "McGee & Stuckey's Bountiful Container : Create Container Gardens of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers" Ill let you know how I make out!
ok....so I am still around....but I am off to an awful start. I think I planted my seeds quite a bit too early (problem 1 but oh i was so excited) and I did not transplant them as soon as I should have.... It has probably been about 8 weeks for some, and 5 weeks for others (got some seeds later) but I planted a few different types of tomatos, some basil, eggplant, and broccoli rabe. It was all going super they were so green and growing so fast (burpee seedling starter kit so I assume this is because their soil pellets were choc full of nutrients and whatnot). They started to look a little weak, some of the tomato plants are getting purplish around the veins you see in the leaves, all plants have lost a bit of color in recent weeks, especially the broccoli rabe which it said to plant in bunches and i now have several seedlings in each bunch that are dying off. The basil has lost a lot of color too and things are looking bleak. They are all still being kept inside in the window where they get lots of sun and are all still in the initial seedling kit tray. I am finally going to move on to the next step and am about to go out and buy some large pots for them along with soil but first....questions... Does this sound recoverable? or have I killed my plants already? (such an idiot) I have a book "The Bountiful Container" which reccomends an intermediary potting before I put them in the final pot, is there any reason to do this or can I just stick this constricted tomato plant into a big 5 gallon pot and let it go from there? Because the tomatos like a lot of space they will each need a 5 gallong pot but since space is limited can I put something seemingly smaller in the same pot? IE Basil/oregano/rosemary/thyme? and plant this around the tomato in the center? Any reccomendations for brand or type of soil or fertilizer to buy? Thanks!
