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 Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 5:50 pm
I live in an apartment, and I've tried gardening [herbs, not the best beginner plants] on my balcony before, but it gets almost no direct sunlight.
Please give me some tips on what I can grow that doesn't need a lot of direct sunlight, the best ways to grow organically in extremely small, shady spaces. [Should I get one of those box-cart things I've seen that supposedly grow a million veggies in one box? Should I rig up some kind of hanging baskets to go over the ledge of my balcony? Is there some magic organic fertilizer that will save my perpetually dying basil?]
This is what is tiding me over as I save up [for years to come] to get my massive amounts of Florida land and eventually, one day, start my own small organic farm!
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Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:23 pm
Unfortunately, the vast majority of herbs are full sun loving plants. (basil being one of those herbs) I know there a few that can tolerate shade, but I can't name them offhand. neutral
For vegetables, you might want to try leafy greens - lettuce, spinach, and such. They are cool weather crops and the indirect light will keep the heat of full sun off them. Greens can also be picked at any stage of growth.
I'm not sure what you mean by box-cart things. Lettuces tend to have shallow roots, so I think they would be well suited to hanging baskets or window boxes.
mmmh Farmland. I've been tempted lately to move south (though maybe not as far south as florida) I've heard from several people that land is cheaper in the south. I personally dream of my own homestead.
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Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 1:09 am
onicoe Unfortunately, the vast majority of herbs are full sun loving plants. (basil being one of those herbs) I know there a few that can tolerate shade, but I can't name them offhand. neutral For vegetables, you might want to try leafy greens - lettuce, spinach, and such. They are cool weather crops and the indirect light will keep the heat of full sun off them. Greens can also be picked at any stage of growth. I'm not sure what you mean by box-cart things. Lettuces tend to have shallow roots, so I think they would be well suited to hanging baskets or window boxes. mmmh Farmland. I've been tempted lately to move south (though maybe not as far south as florida) I've heard from several people that land is cheaper in the south. I personally dream of my own homestead. That's wonderful advice thank you!! My problem with buying land is mostly that anything to do with real estate, mortgages, etc. is just SO far over my head. My mother was a realtor and has had to explain all this stuff to me several times, and I still don't get it. I seriously do not have a head for numbers. But it doesn't really matter right now because I won't have enough money to even worry about it for quite a while. Which is sad. But it will happen someday! It's my major life goal.
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Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 5:18 am
Mine too! I have money saved up for a car, but I keep wondering if I should just pack up and head south. Find a place, get a loan, and start living my dream.
Sometimes I feel too bogged down with researching all I want to know. I want to be prepared, but at the same time I want to start doing it NOW.
[:
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Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:39 pm
Two of my organic gardening pals use self-watering Earth Boxes (TM) and seaweed fertilizer with great success -- tomatoes, peppers, mesclun mix and basil. One lives in North Carolina and the other in Maryland. http://www.earthbox.com/I've been growing stuff in 3 gallon nursery pots for several years. Some of the really great results have been peppers, lettuce, beans, and herbs (basil, rosemary, mints, stevia, parsley). A little less successful have been strawberries and tomatoes... small yields. Attempts at growing squash and melon in pots have been disappointing. I agree with everything Onicoe wrote about gardening in the shade. The only thing that grows pretty well for me in the shade is Italian (flat) parsley. Wild garlic will grow anywhere including shade.
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:27 am
Kaiya, you don't have to spend a lot of cash to grow great veggies, even in the winter----a few years ago, I grew Jalapenos in the winter! The plants (2) were just in a standard pot in an east-facing window with a standard growlight bulb. The light was turned on every morning about 6 and turned off in the evenings about 10. I had to hand-pollinate, of course, but that took only minutes with an old paintbrush, and it was great fun to watch those tiny little peppers grow into something that ended up on the table!
So you may just want to supplement the light some way, or move your growing spot to a window. The balcony should be great for all the salad crops, as suggested, and some herbs like mint. There may be a spot where you can hang a pot and get enough sun for a crop, even though it's shady on most of the balcony.
Don't know if you like peas, but those guys will produce in some shade even when it's hot---and they're great in stir-fry, if you can get them to the kitchen!
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Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:43 am
I have grown some stuff in partial shade. Chamomile is good, and it works well in teas, sage is pretty hardy too. I have a list of stuff in my balcony garden, but I live in a full south facing sunny apartment. Right now i am keeping a blog on what I am doing Wolf Den Garden
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