Self Sustaining Gardening

[patandchickens]

Yup, fluorescents from fishtank hoods should work just fine! The wattage does not matter -- unless they were the expensive hi-intensity lamps, and you'd know if that's what you had , then the wattage of fluorescent lamps just depends on the length of the bulb. Which only affects how many plants you can fit under the light -- it does not have meaningful influence on how much light a plant is getting under there. Just fix it so the top leaves are 2" below the lights, and you'll be good

Have fun,

Pat

 

[SoyBean]

Got some new plants today. I decided to go ahead and get some already grown plants or plants that had been started so that I wouldn't have to sprout them this season. I'll try that next year maybe.

This is what I bought....

4 small tomato plants
Society Garlic
Blue Spire Rosemary
German Chamomile
Spearmint
Lemon Balm

We got some decent pots and containers to plant them in with some Promix. Our backyard is pretty sunny right now. We noticed that around 9:30am we start getting bright sun in one corner, and now its a little after 2pm and we have about 80% of the backyard covered in sunlight. We shall see how long the sun stays. I might try and get some pictures of our yard taken tonight.

 

[papadekaitlyn]

I see that this is a bit of an old thread, but I was just reading through and thought I might tell you about my grandmother's solution to container gardening...

If you have, or have access to old cinder blocks (the gray cement blocks with the two holes in them that are roughly 4"x4") they can be used for great container gardens. She has grown peas, carrots, corn, okra, peppers, collards and many other vegetables that surprisingly do not require a large amount of space for the roots. I have a largish (yeah -ish) garden that measures approximately 400' X 115' that I plant every year and I have noted that a lot of the plants she grows in cinder blocks have roots that expand over quite a bit of area. Surprisingly though, hers do just fine within the confines of the cement blocks.

She just turns them on the side with the openings facing up and fills them with soil, then plants the seed directly into the potting soil. She says that the lime from the bricks assists the plants and allows them to grow in a more confined space.

I haven't tried this myself, but she always has a decent harvest with it.

She also plants squash and tomatos in old wash tubs and they produce quite well too. She doesn't have any special irrigation set up, she just waters her plants with a hose every day.

I believe she uses a slow release fertilize and puts about a table spoon to each cell of the blocks before planting.

 

[Beekissed]

I live in a 2bdr townhome with a very small backyard.

Hey, Soybean, you really need to read a book called Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew! Very explanatory with pics and detailed instructions on how to get the most out of a small space. Why waste time on containers and transplanting and such? He shows you how to garden in 4 ft. x 4 ft. spaces which could be started as a cold frame. He breaks it down to family size and how much can be grown, what kinds of veggies, the time frame involved, etc. I LOVE this book and I have an enormous garden, so I don't really need to use this method. I still am interested in maximizing space and getting the most veggies in the space I have. I checked it out of my local library! Hope you find it helpful!

 

[Texas Fluffy Feet]

This is an awesome thread y'all! I keep a notebook for gardening notes and I filled 2 pages from this thread today!

Oakland~ your container setups rock! I don't have tons of sun so therefore pretty much container garden everything. I have never grown corn because of the room it takes. Now, I think next year I will try a couple of your 18x18 boxes! I will even add a few marigolds to pretty them up and with the lovely cucumber blooms I bet they will be pretty enough to sit out front on either side of my garage doors!

I also have to try that cinder block thing papadekaitlyn! I have a section of privacy fencing that for about 1' from it gets plenty of light. I have never done more than set a window box of herbs in that area. Now I gotta see what will grow there in a line of cinder blocks.

You guys will have me growing more next year than I ever have with all these wonderful tips. Thanks!