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Gardeners with small growing spaces

Posted on May 7th, 2007 – 11:58 AM
By Jaime Chismar

Every year, readers ask about patio gardening for apartments and small spaces. And, every year, I am reminded of my very first patio garden.

While finishing my undergrad work at the U of M, I lived in a great brownstone apartment with hardwood floors, stained glass windows and a three season porch. My roommates and I had a great view of the skyline, but not so much sunlight. The building next door block our north-facing windows and our west-facing windows caught summer’s warmest rays around 2 p.m.

Our landlord discouraged gardening in his yard and we didn’t trust our frat boy neighbors (or their drunken friends) to leave our plants in one piece. But, unphased by such challenges, my roommate Melissa decided to test her green thumb on a little porch garden. She filled a few pots with dirt, planted seeds, then crossed her fingers.

The sun scorched many seedlings. Others grew too leggy and Melissa grew frustrated. Vigorous and stubborn, the morning glories soon sprouted and quickly climbed anything and everything. All June and July, we had big beautiful blooms. Our porch was transformed, enchanted. It quickly became our favorite room in the apartment.

Now, as I run out of room in my own garden, I think of Melissa’s morning glories and try to emulate her experimental spirit. Each year, I own more patio pots, and each year, I test my green thumb by growing edibles in these small spaces.

Lettuce was easy. Spinach was too. My bush beans (not pole beans) were incredibly productive.

My heirloom tomatoes died. Roots twisted tightly around each other, they obviously hated to be confined. My attempt to grow cukes in a pot was a total flop.

Peppers have been my biggest surprise. They don’t grow as big as other members of the nightshade family (tomatoes and potatoes) and seem to like living in medium-sized pots. They also love full sun.

So, what sorts of edibles have you successfully grown in a patio pot? What advice do you have for gardeners with small growing spaces?

This entry was posted on Monday, May 7th, 2007 at 11:58 am and is filed under Container gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

10 Responses to "Gardeners with small growing spaces"

lorika says:

May 7th, 2007 at 12:38 pm

I actually did have luck growing a cucumber in a pot, back when all I had was an upper level porch. It was doing great that is, until a squirrel chewed almost all the way through the stem right at the bottom. I actually cried. I was so proud of my little cucumber!

But then, I dried my tears, and got out a bandaid and some aloe. I figured if it works on a human wound, why not try it? Plus, I had nothing to lose.

Well, it totally worked! I ended up with 2 cukes from that plant! Less than I would have had if the varmint hadn’t gotten to it, but much better than if I hadn’t tried what seemed kinda like a dumb idea at the time.

debw says:

May 7th, 2007 at 1:58 pm

Back when I was a newly wed and all we had was our third floor balcony I thought I should show my hubby that not all food comes from the store. I planted a window box with cucumbers, lettuce and green onions. Then just to show that I was daring I planted three peppers in a short window box and a tomato in a five gallon pail. The cucumbers fed the neighbors down stairs who were decent enough to bring some back upstairs. The leaf lettuce and green onions went crazy and we ate lettuce all summer by cutting it back with a scissors. The peppers each gave a couple decent offerings and the tomato (staked and tied to the railing) gave a half a dozen mediuim ‘maters. The challenge: watering everything morning, noon and night.
I guess I was lucky that I was too high up (and probably too far from any trees) for the squirrels to pay any notice to me. Come to think of it that was the ONLY year I haven’t had to curse at those varmits.
Sometimes ideas that seem kinda daffy work out pretty good. I have been known to take the paper bandage tape to peppers that got dinged by hail and that worked too. Tomatoes that have broken off branches with tomatoes already growing on them have been stuck in the ground and they sprout new roots. Go figure! The only way it is a total loss is nothing ventured, nothing gained.

shruti says:

May 7th, 2007 at 2:01 pm

I hope this gets a lot of suggestions as I am (literally) hungry to have my own deck garden

Patty says:

May 7th, 2007 at 2:08 pm

It’s been a few years since I’ve had the gardening bug - and even then it was strickly flowers. However, something that looks completely intriguing to me is the idea of planting a potato barrel. I’ve seen a “modern” version on websites in the UK (click here for an example) that would make cultivating and harvesting new potatoes a cinch! Has anyone found anything around here similar to what’s available in the UK?

Patty

Liz says:

May 7th, 2007 at 5:13 pm

I have had a lot of sucess growing herbs in containers such as dill, rosemary, sage, thyme, basil, lemon grass and I am sure that there are much more possiblities!

Heather says:

May 7th, 2007 at 8:07 pm

As with DebW, when we were newlyweds we lived in a townhouse where we were not allowed to mess with the boring plants in the beds. I gardened in big pots on the back balcony (south facing). We had the best tomatoes, the zucchini never produced anything but flowers, green peppers, peas, some flowers and lots of herbs. I even composted in a bucket with a lid that I would roll around the deck to mix. To solve the watering problem (I sometimes had to water twice a day), we tapped into the water spout and added a rain barrel.
Now with a house and a garden with more beds than I can keep up with, I only have herbs in pots on the patio. The squirrels and chipmunks eat anything else edible!
Heather

Annie E says:

May 9th, 2007 at 6:17 pm

Hey Patty, I have heard about growing potatoes in old whiskey barrels. From what I hear, the potatoes really enjoy sandy soil.

debw says:

May 10th, 2007 at 6:39 am

Potatoes also grow quite well in a circle of chicken wire or fencing. I have grown them this way for several years: make a circle of the wire that is 2 to 3 feet in diameter, place where you want it and lay down a layer of old leaves, straw, soil or compost two to three in ches deep. Place seed potatoes on this layer staying away from the sides and cover with another layer of whatever that is 4 to 6 inches deep. The potatoes will sprout and as they come out of the bin cover again until the bin is full or the foilage starts to yellow. When you lift the bin there will be potatoes all along the stems that were searching for the light. I use shredded leaves and they compost down making the ‘taters easy to find but others swear by straw as it is a lighter color.

Jamie says:

May 13th, 2007 at 4:18 pm

I live in a townhouse, and have only my deck for gardening. Most of my efforts are veggies and herbs. I grow two tomato plants each year, and get between 30 to fifty tomatoes from each. I’ve grown peppers, onions, lettuce, and radishes successfully. One year we had enough tomatoes and peppers to can 12 pints of salsa. Carrots haven’t been successful. Peas and beans have been spotty. Strawberries worked great the one year I attempted them.

My “secret” to getting the tomatoes to produce is to go out every morning while they are flowering and tap each stem. This ensures that as many blossoms as possible pollinate.

Water is a constant issue. The deck faces west and everything has to be watered, often twice a day. This year I’m going to get one of those coiled hoses and connect it to the kitchen sink, so I can quit lugging the watering can around.

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