Apartment Vegetable Gardening

[Apartmentgardenguide]

Hi everyone,

I’m interested in hearing what vegetables other apartment or small-space gardeners have had the best luck growing. I have limited outdoor space, so I am focusing on containers and varieties that do not need a large garden bed.

I am considering tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, radishes, green beans, and herbs. I know sunlight, container size, drainage, and regular watering can make a big difference, especially during hot weather.

Which vegetables have been your easiest or most productive choices for a balcony, patio, or sunny windowsill? Are there any varieties you would recommend—or vegetables you would avoid because they need too much space?

I would appreciate any tips on container sizes, soil mixes, or watering routines that have worked for you.
Thanks!

 

[Meadowlark]

Welcome @Apartmentgardenguide . Good post.

Here is a recent thread still active that might be of interest.

H K style containers.

There are a few of us who do it, putting a layer of wood in the bottom of our containers, and I am always wondering what is the most favourable way of doing it? Mostly I lay larger pieces across the bottom and fill in with smaller ones, there seem to be advantages and disadvantages to both types...

www.gardening-forums.com

Several members here have had success with what we have called HK containers. The above thread discusses that. I would encourage you to use the "search" function...upper right.

I have posted spread sheets here in the past regarding testing I have done on the productivity of HK container vs in ground planting. Some veggies do very well in the HK containers, even better than soil but others do not...in the tests I conducted.

Let me know if you can't find the data and I will happily repeat it to you. Many other members here have posted on your topic, so you should find some interesting reading.

Feel free to ask anything...we love discussing gardening.

 

[Martin Mikulcik]

My sister grew the best fennel I've ever seen one year in an apartment

 

[Sluggy]

If you planting on the sunny side tomatoes in grow bags do well speaking from experience the only problem is staking them so the stems do not fall over and break with the weight of tomatoes. Herbs is another one but not mint in the ground as it spreads rapidly. You can also buy miniature fruit trees in pots but I never had any luck with them.

 

[dirty hands]

Tomatos, bell peppers and basil would be a good combo. The fragrance alone would be worth it.
Add some other peppers, rosemary, some other things you like and flowers you should have a nice patio garden thats attractive smells good and produces food for the table.

Some plants like rosemary dont like direct sun but you can tuck it in behind or under other larger plants.

Pot sizes will vary depending on what you plant and how much room you have. I like to go a little bigger than recomended when I can but you can get away with overfilling too with good soil and care on some things.

You might need or want to figure out a sunscreen if the sun beats on the walls and glass heating up the patio to much. You cant water enough if it gets really hot.

 

[dirty hands]

I just pulled 3 tomato plants i grew from seed. They were in a 21 gallon container together. They got to be about 7 foot tall and produced a lot. There is still a lot on them but the cold has messed things up so im just cleaning all the tomatoes out.
One taproot is about 18 inches long maybe more.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Do you have a source for containers?One I have not pursued yet is food containers, they use big ones for people cooking in quantity and you know the plastic is food compatible. Must get round to asking the local school, they have had tomato plants from me for their garden for three years so...
PS, I notice that's your first post, welcome to the forum.