gardening tips for apartment dwellers (growing, cilantro, cats, containers)
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i don't have an enclosed space on my "porch", only a small wall and floor space, but i do want to try some wall/small pot gardening for herbs. i'd like to grow basil, chives, thyme, cilantro, recycle green onion roots, maybe even rosemary. those are the ones that we tend to use intermittently
i have an east facing porch. by 2pm, it gets some indirect sun. i don't have the porch measurements right now, but i'll put some more details later.
what would be best to use for wall gardening? compact floor pots? will those herbs thrive in companion planting? i know there are books on such, but i'd like some experience input from people who live in small apartments/housing.
I would start with individual young-ish plants that are already grown; you can get from a nursery or even Home Depot etc. Like Basil - a good learning plant. They even sell them at Publix in FL.
You need quite a bit of sun, like 6 hours direct, so you'll see if you even have enough before going to all the trouble of planting and germinating seeds etc. Plus it's the almost the end of summer now.
Watering, nutrients and pruning can be tricky, too.
I have a SOUTHERN exposure porch in FL and NOTHING thrives. And I have experience, too so it's really bad LOL.
If you mean planting a long container on top of your wall then you can put them in individually so they APPEAR to be all together but they are in their own little pots.
They also sell those herb container garden things with a UVA UVB grow light but I never tried them. Lots of creative solutions for people without the right outdoor environment.
other challenges i have with my apartment are that i have 3 furbabies with me (2 juvenile cats, 1 old, medium-sized dog), and that my apartment has wall to wall carpeting except for the kitchen and bathrooms. if i try indoor/window pottery, my cats will just knock them down unto the carpeting.
green onions can be grown indefinitely in a glass of water. Just keep the water fresh. Never buy green onions again.
Cats can be trained to stay away from furniture and plants. It takes some patience and commitment. Get a spray bottle and spritz them every time you see them there.
But it is very late to grow anything( herbs) now. If you want to garden now on your porch, try a planter with some bulbs-daffodils or even evergreens like azaleas can grow year round in containers. Get as good book on container gardening-there are too many to name and yes you can grow all sorts of herbs together in one big pot.
I'll put my $.02 in about growing green onions. It is an amazing thing. Just cut the root end off the store-bought onions and pop them in a container with basic potting mix and presto. You'll see new growth overnight. Mine have reached over 3' tall during the course of the summer, with 3" bulbs, and just one will fill an entire gallon freezer bag with green onions. I haven't tried green onions in a glass of water, but I don't know why that wouldn't work just as well.
Celery can be re-grown in the same fashion, as I would imagine other vegetables could. I put the root end of a celery plant in a bowl of water for a few weeks, then transplanted it in a 2-gallon container with basic MG potting mix when the weather warmed up a bit in April. It's an interesting experiment and celery grows quite slowly, but we should have some great stalks in another month or so. Even if the stalks aren't as thick as I'd like, I do plan to dry the leaves and store with my herbs.
In general, herbs are super simple to grow and don't require a lot of space in a pot. Parsley, cilantro, rosemary and basil (my 4 necessities) did fine in 1/2-gallon containers all summer long last year. This year, I used 2-gallon containers because I put 4-6 plants in each container. Most herbs are quite forgiving when it comes to water, especially if you forget a day. Many actually appreciate a little drying out before being watered again.
well i do live in texas where fall can still be summery.
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