Grow Your Own Garden

Posted by Nadine Bells

I live in an apartment. This means that I'm yardless, unless you count that little patch of land by the building's back door where the trash cans hang out. Which I don't.

This doesn't stop me from dreaming of the day when I'll be blessed with both land and a magical green thumb, growing my famous salads instead of just consuming them.

Over at Today, they have some great tips for planning easy container gardens. This takes the fuss (and hoeing) out of growing your own edible garden. No wide open spaces required. Just pots and sunshine.

Head on over for ideas on planting an herb garden and a cutting garden. And below, you'll find their tips on growing that salad garden I'm dreaming of. I probably eat more lettuce than most vegetarian families of five.

A potted salad garden You don’t need a full-out vegetable patch to grow vine-ripened tomatoes or even romaine or arugula. Just six hours of sun a day will yield a robust — and delicious — crop.
What to plant: Maximize your growing space by planting varieties that are bred to be compact. Look for words like bush, baby, dwarf, tiny, midget, and patio in the plant names and descriptions. Throw in nasturtiums for color. The edible, peppery flowers and leaves are great in salads.

Which pots to use: You’ll need relatively large containers for vegetables like tomatoes, which require at least five gallons of soil to develop a root system large enough to support a productive plant. Galvanized metal tubs and buckets make terrific planters — just drill holes in the bottom for drainage.

How to maintain: Stake and tie tall growers right away, and adjust the stakes as the plants gain height. Never let the soil dry out more than an inch below the surface, and harvest regularly so the plants don’t go to seed.

Tip: To ensure optimal results for all plantings, buy potting soil with compost and organic time-release fertilizer mixed into it.

And then head over to Real Simple for great arrangement ideas for your new container gardens. And plant away....

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Grow Your Own Garden

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