Gardening Pros

[Taylor]

(It's just a coincidence that I'm creating this thread shortly after changing my avatar to Carrot Anderson.)

My wife really wants to get into gardening, but we live in a one-bedroom apartment (ground floor) with a decent-sized porch. Our anniversary is coming up, and the traditional fourth anniversary gift is fruit/flowers, so I thought I'd get my wife some kind of starter kit that would allow her to grow herbs (the non-hallucinogenic kind), flowers, and possibly fruits or vegetables on our porch.

I don't know where to start, though. I see things like this on Amazon but am not sure what would be sufficient and needed. Any pro tips?

Edited June 24, 2019 by Taylor

[tdawg87]

30 minutes ago, Taylor said:

that would allow her to grow herbs

[Taylor]

Don't get too excited, T. I don't think you can smoke oregano.

[Angel Dog and Beer]

If you're short on space, look into vertical gardens. Some are just fabric pouches, others are hard plastic modules. Could look cool on a blank wall. 

I just randomly chose one sold on Amazon, but research 'em out to see what works best, and what sizes are available. Cannabis takes up a lot of space, so you may need a larger planter to help it grow. 

[mp170.6]

Does your porch have direct sun or shade throughout the day? 

[Lhalo]

20 hours ago, mp170.6 said:

Does your porch have direct sun or shade throughout the day? 

This is huge. Some herbs are sensitive to sun while vegetables like peppers love sun.

[NJHalo]

I'm the only person ever to screw up a Chia Pet, so you don't want my help. 

[eaterfan]

If you get sun then let me suggest dwarf tomatoes. 

https://www.victoryseeds.com/dwarf-tomato-project.html

The plants grow at half the rate of normal tomato plants but they grow normal sized fruits and lots of them. They were developed for patio gardeners. You can plant them in 5 gallon buckets and it's more than enough space. It's a little late in the season to grow from seed, but you can try in the future. 

I'm growing 3 varieties this year with good results. 

[Tank]

6 hours ago, NJHalo said:

I'm the only person ever to screw up a Chia Pet, so you don't want my help. 

no, you're not.

[halomatt]

I'd also pay attention to rodent populations.  Might be easy source of food for them if you grow vegetables and/or fruits.

[Taylor]

On 6/24/2019 at 12:38 PM, mp170.6 said:

Does your porch have direct sun or shade throughout the day? 

The sun never goes directly over our apartment. This is awesome for keeping the place cool, but I'm guessing it would be tricky for any kind of gardening?

[mp170.6]

56 minutes ago, Taylor said:

The sun never goes directly over our apartment. This is awesome for keeping the place cool, but I'm guessing it would be tricky for any kind of gardening?

So you're saying the leaves of a plant would never get direct sunlight on your patio?  Not even for an hour or two per day?

[Taylor]

On 6/27/2019 at 1:02 PM, mp170.6 said:

So you're saying the leaves of a plant would never get direct sunlight on your patio?  Not even for an hour or two per day?

Our patio does get direct sunlight during the afternoon for a couple hours.

Bumping this because our anniversary is in a couple weeks. I'm hoping to buy the supplies by the end of the week.

[Brandon]

I learned a bunch owning a large scale marijuana grow op, it translates here.

You're main research components are going to be light, aeration, water/ nutrients for food source. Aeration will be the least of concerns for an outdoor grow.....but you’ll want to check for things like bugs and any type of growth or bacteria’s growing on the plants. If she wants to garden, she’ll dig this part.

Your main components are how much sun do they get and either adjust where you put the grow on the porch or select plants based on the environment and lack of sun. Water is going to be your main food supply and you may need to add nutrients, but don’t get the shit you would at Home Depot or Lowe’s garden department. Your regular tap water will work but will already come with magnesium and calcium in the water, you’ll just want to supplement for better growth.

Figure out your environment first, then select your plants based on what will work, then select the proper food regiment based off that.

[notherhalo]

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

I learned a bunch owning a large scale marijuana grow op, it translates here.

You're main research components are going to be light, aeration, water/ nutrients for food source. Aeration will be the least of concerns for an outdoor grow.....but you’ll want to check for things like bugs and any type of growth or bacteria’s growing on the plants. If she wants to garden, she’ll dig this part.

Your main components are how much sun do they get and either adjust where you put the grow on the porch or select plants based on the environment and lack of sun. Water is going to be your main food supply and you may need to add nutrients, but don’t get the shit you would at Home Depot or Lowe’s garden department. Your regular tap water will work but will already come with magnesium and calcium in the water, you’ll just want to supplement for better growth.

Figure out your environment first, then select your plants based on what will work, then select the proper food regiment based off that.

I applied my weed growing skills to the backyard (not-wee)d grow.  I hit the soil (not cubes) with half my advanced nutrients stack, some overdrive at the end and p-load in the beginning.   Everything came out weird.  That soil yielded mutant sunflowers the next season.  It was great

[gotbeer]

Never tried.  But you could try hanging baskets if space is limited.  

https://www.amazon.com/Hanging-Planter-Tomato-Growing-Included/dp/B07SKT7JT9/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=hanging+tomatoes&qid=1567644051&s=gateway&sr=8-3

 

[Blarg]

On 6/24/2019 at 11:18 AM, Taylor said:

Any pro tips?

Move to Montana and raise a crop of dental floss. 

[Hot Damn!]

Any updates on this garden? Did you go vertical? Any mutant sunflowers? Any rodent issues? Fill us in. 

[Taylor]

Our anniversary is next Friday. Here's what I bought:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0056QXOA6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've been watching our patio, and we barely get any sun on it. So I'm going to buy her some seeds for plants that need very little sun to grow. I also bought her a gardening kit with gloves and all the tools.

[Tank]

24 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Our anniversary is next Friday. Here's what I bought:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0056QXOA6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've been watching our patio, and we barely get any sun on it. So I'm going to buy her some seeds for plants that need very little sun to grow. I also bought her a gardening kit with gloves and all the tools.

i had no idea you were in your 70s. congratulations!

[Hot Damn!]

7 hours ago, Taylor said:

Our anniversary is next Friday. Here's what I bought:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0056QXOA6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've been watching our patio, and we barely get any sun on it. So I'm going to buy her some seeds for plants that need very little sun to grow. I also bought her a gardening kit with gloves and all the tools.

Used, like new?