Hi all, I just stumbled into this forum as I'm thinking about trying to grow some veg and flowers this summer. I've not got access to a garden; but will be growing in pots on my balcony. Thing is, I'm really new to gardening of any sort. Every year I try to have a few plants outside; but nearly every year they end up dying. So I'm looking for ideas of things that would flourish and thrive in the environment that I (and Mother Nature) can provide. Starting about this time of year, the area I have for plants, is pretty sun-intensive (when the sun is out). There's not much shade (only what shade is provided by the balcony wall), so the plants need to be able to survive the sun's scorching summery rays. I'm looking for any tips, including what can be grown in pots. For instance, I love sunflowers; but would these even thrive in a pot of any size? Or do they need deep soil in order to grow? Also what sort of veg works well in pots? It'd be great to be able to grow some of my own veg to be a bit more self-sufficient, such as corgettes (zuchinni), onions, potatoes, peppers, etc. But again, i'm not sure which of those would thrive well or when I'd need to plant them for a decent harvest. Thanks in advance for any tips/tricks.
Tomatoes and chilli's are your best bet. Start them off in small pots then as they get bigger repot them in to bigger pots. Chilli's will survive well in 15-18 cm pots and for the tomatoes go for a 5 litre pot I had mine germinating under the combi boiler and they germinated in 2-3 weeks. when they pop their heads thru what I did was get some plastic cups from pound land and put them over the pot to act as a green house and pop them on the windowsill where you get a fair bit of sunlight. When they get bigger and you pot them in like a 10cm pot, put them outside with a garden cane to suport the plant, only do this after the last frost has gone, normally the first to the middle week of april. I'd suggest to get your pots, cups and compost from poundland, cheap and cheerfull, mine are comming along quite well. If you need any other help just P.M me
You can easily find sunflowers of *every* size. The bigger they are, the bigger the pot should be or they'll fall. You can cultivate nearly every vegetable, even potatoes! For them, you can look here. Zucchini tend to grow a lot, but you can try. Tomatoes and peppers (but tomatoes more) grow tall. If you have enough space, you can try this method for tomatoes (maybe for peppers too), or this one. Generally, most vegetables don't need a lot of depth, but more soil they have, better they'll grow. Remember that you can also cultivate in vertically! Lettuce grow very well in pot. You can also try aromatic herbs. Garlic probably will grow, but won't make flower. I think onion can grow, but try to cultivate the smaller. If you like onions, maybe you can grow leeks or shallots too! As a rule of thumb, consider this: if they grow tall, they'll need soil to anchor with roots; if you need the root (carrots, turnips, topinamburs (topinamburs make pretty flowers too), etc), you'll need depth. Don't worry about the sun, every vegetable loves it. Worry about the temperature, though: if, in summer, you have very high temperatures in your balcony (42+°C) they can suffer. Hope it helps! If you have more specific questions, ask!
It all depends on what variety you are growing not on the temp it'self, they might be a very slight difference but not that noticeable realy To get the chillis optimum heat, only water once a week when they get biger or twice if it is realy sunny. Only water them when the leaves begin to curl slightly and give them a drenchng
Thanks for the info! Now to save some pennies to buy pots/soil/etc. But at least now I have a bit more knowledge to know where to start. I've got two pots on the balcony at the moment (only small ones), that have 'wildflowers' growing in them. Just things that randomly were brought by the birds really. Tiny little green leaves as well, that seem to cover any bit of soil that is nearby (including tiny clumps that have fallen from the pots nearby). I'd like to make it look more inviting out there, however. So more green and various other colours. I'm not sure how hot it actually gets out there, I should probably invest in an outdoor thermometer so I can keep a better eye on things. Someone I know mentioned growing strawberries in hanging baskets? Is this possible?
Yeah thats totaly viable, make sure you get the right veriety tho, I don't think they are the normal kind. as I said earlier go to £ land you can get 20 pots, 30 plastic cups and a big bag of compost that will be plenty enough for £3 and just go to homebase. The seeds are about £2 give or take. I have some spare Rocotto chilli seeds I could post to you if you would like ??
Sure it mostly depends on the variety you choose (you can't grow a jalapeño like a habanero) but I can assure you that temperature and sun greatly affect the hotness of a chili pepper. The same variety grown here where I live and grown in Calabria (far south from here) will certainly have a different hotness!
Thanks! Once me car is running again, I'll go investigate at the local £-land. And, well, if I'd been around for awhile, I'd take you up on the seed offer; but seeing as we've just met, I don't really fancy giving out my address. Hope you can understand. But, thanks for all the advice. It's very appreciated.
Tomato and chili are a must but you should really start a small herb garden ( in pots of course). The beauty of pots is that if you keep an eye on them they can be moved about during the day as the sun moves round. It won't take too long to find out which ones like a bit of shade and vice versa. Good luck!
