Hey all,
I've been interested in starting to grow a few things for myself, but my one problem has always been space. I am an urban apartment dweller so space for me is at a premium. I have a very small patio and a couple of small plots next to my exterior windows (7x4 and 2x 3x2 respectively). What would be some easy low maintenance high yield things I could plant in that limited space? This would be my first time trying to grow anything and am thinking of using small planter boxes. Any suggestions on books, videos, and other resources, as well as examples, and knowledge you all would like to share would be greatly appreciated.

regards,
Joe

Hey Joe. There are some good books on container gardening. I used to have some but I have no idea where they got to. I used to grow cherry tomatos in pots when I lived in an apartment but you can grow just about anything as long as you get the right amount of sun.

there are lots of medicinal and culinary herbs you can grow with a small amount of space. cherry tomatoes as hobbes mentioned are also great. hot peppers or banana peppers are good. green onion or chives.

even viney/crawling veggies can be done with trellises. but its good to start off simple with mainstay varieties and as your thumb gets greener, get more ambitious.

personally i would focus on what exactly you want to grow first, a lot can be accomplished with some ingenuity. for instance, pallet gardens are ideal for small areas. there is a wealth of knowledge on the web with regards to this topic.

i grow quite a lot at my place, over 50 varieties of herbs and veggies.

Big Joe, cut the bottom out of a 2 or 3 liter soda bottle. Shove a tomato plant in the bottle (from the cap end) and fill the bottle up with dirt from the open cut off bottom. Water as required and you will have tomatoes.

I like this idea. I have been thinking of starting a small garden over at my folks house since I'm also in an apartment. I have a huge window with plenty of sun that would be a great place to grow peppers and herbs.

Skunk's suggestion definitely looks like it will increase your growing area past your limited plots.

Hell, why not burn the candle on both ends?

Impressive JJ. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

Nice thanks for the ideas guys. JJ thanks for the pics. What is that rig in the first pic of the second post? That looks pretty nifty.

regards,
Joe

Skunk will that technique work with other types of plants as well, or is that a strictly tomato thing? I think I'm going to give that one a try.

regards,
Joe

example of a pallet garden <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

Winter Wolf that is cool. Did you custom build the pallet? I love the idea. I'm definitely going to do some more research into it. Thanks for the ideas.

regards,
Joe