My husband thinks he wants a garden. I think he likes the idea of it more than actually having one. Before we dig up the yard, I wanted to do a "practice" garden. For Father's day I wanted to put one together for him. Wondering what people in aparments, etc. do. I would like to put something together that we can just keep on our deck. Can you have a garden in a box? I would think he'd really only be interested in growing peppers, baby carrots and maybe lettuce. I was given a suggestion of using coffee cans - maybe 1 plant in each can... would that work?? Is there a such thing as a "portable garden"?
Any ideas I'd appreciate (and where to find the stuff - I don't know much about growing veggies!)
Thanks for all your help! I ended up putting a container garden together for him & he really liked it. I was only able to find seeds, so we'll see how that goes, but we went out on Father's day for him to pick up some additional plants that he wanted. Hopefully we have some success and can continue this idea for a couple years. Thanks again!!
Yes, a garden box, would be perfect.
A garden store, will help you buy what you need.
They are very helpful.
Lettuce is easy.
Beans are easy.
Radishes are easy.
A coffee can, will quickly be outgrown.
A plant needs more room than that.
Peppers are fairly easy to grow.
I got a planter box from home depot, has wheels on it and a reservoir under it to hold water so you don't have to water it all the time. you just refill the reservoir. The kids have grown bell peppers and Tabasco peppers in it.
Just go to your local store and check it out the people that work in the garden center do really know what they are doing.
It's too late to start seeds. you'll need to buy already sprouted plants
I think you probably just need to explore Home Depot's gardening dept.! You can easily make a "portable" type garden, but I agree that a coffee can would be too small. They have various options. Tomatoes are pretty easy, so are peppers, don't know about carrots or lettuce, but I thought that lettuce took up a lot of space??? not sure on that. i would suggest buying starter plants as opposed to planting from seed. I'm not much of a gardener, but this I figured out quickly! ;)
Google "container garden"...the options are endless. I have my veggies in 5 gallon buckets I bought at home depot (only 3 bucks, the bright orange ones:), and I drilled drain holes into the bottom. I put a sheet of newspaper in the bottom of the bucket to keep dirt from spilling out when I first filled the bucket with dirt/compost. Then I put the bucket with the drain holes into another undrilled 5 gallon bucket to collect what drains out, so I can reuse it to water the plant the next day (I am all about conserving resources:) I have sugar pumpkins in one and lettuce in another so far, with more to come. Coffee cans are great for starting plants, and they will hold small varieties of veggies too, like one head of cabbage or lettuce works well. But make sure to create drainage holes in the bottom with a can opener (the triangle side). I love container gardening. Only plant what you know you will eat, and good luck!
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You've gotten a lot of good tips, but I just wanted to add; lettuce is a cooler weather veggie plant, so either fall or spring depending on where you live. Make sure you go by the plant hardiness zone chart when choosing fruits and veggies for the garden. Have fun!
http://www.tulsamastergardeners.org/blackbox/hardzone.htm
You can get a large tupperware type bin and fill it with dirt and plant your plants in there. Starting small is a great idea - your first year or two you'll usually make mistakes that you will learn from in the future, so you can keep getting bigger and bigger as you learn.
Berthold's Nursury on Devon in Elk Grove Village is doing a seminar on container gardening at 11 am this Saturday (May 28th). You might want to call first to find out the details. That's not too far from Roselle and you might get more "seasoned" advice than from the kids at Home Depot/Lowes (Depending on who's working when I've gone in at those types of places I either get sound advice or kids who shrug and tell me I have good ideas.)
Come see my garden :)
We did square foot gardening last year with a couple of raised beds and LOVED it so much that we added some this year. I bought some deck rail "window boxes" that sit right on the rail too for this year.
My grandfather used to use plastic barrels like rain barrels and cut them in half and grow all kinds of things in them.
Containers are easier to weed, you can control what goes into your soil MUCH better than if you till up the ground, and I think they are far less work than trying to dig out the clumps of clay and rock, etc. too.
Herbs are fun to grow- my kids like to pick them and sniff or taste them- and you can grow them just about anywhere- even inside, and start them from seed now. Chives are great too, and hardy- mine are in part shade UNDER the deck in poor soil and still come back each year and look great with big purple flowers on top too.
I'm going to put some cucumbers on my deck in pots this year too and let them vine around the rails since they like to climb. Have fun with it and experiment! It's addictive!
container gardening is uber fun and easy!
window boxes are relatively low maintenance and add delight to any house (as long as you keep up with 'em anyway, and they don't take much time.)
:) khairete
S.
It absolutely can be done with containers on your deck, however, I've run into issues with the containers getting too warm in the summer months and therefore the dirt getting too warm and killing the plants! Think of it this way, dirt is a great insulator when there is LOTS of it going deep--that helps regulate the temperature...like a deep pool of water is able to stay cooler vs a cup of water out in the sun. Totally dried/burned the tomato plants I had on my deck last year (since I decided not to plant my big garden for one year) as my house faces west, so the morning sun reflected off the house onto the deck, burning the plants I had there and the afternoon sun reflected off the front of the house and dried up what I had on my front porch!! However, my garden (when planted) does just fine since it's at the back of my yard.
They do have available at Depot, Lowe's and even Costco & Sam's these raised garden kits that are only about 4'x4' and go in the yard. Yes, you'd still have to de-sod that area, but it's a small area and there's no real digging involved or other landscaping then besides just assembling the garden kit and filling it with dirt. No tilling, etc, necessary! Then it's small enough to maintain and if your husband does a good job with the single, you can always add another one or two next year--or pull the whole thing up and make a full garden next year!
Good luck with your garden! I love mine and I'm personally very excited to be back at it this year after my hiatus last year!
since you live in IL, you need to get going on this!
go to your local garden center or Lowes/Home Depot. They'll be able to help.
