Gardening challenges.

[FountainMan]

It's been a while since I've posted here. My mom and I recently got approved for an apartment which I'm excited about. The apartment has an outdoor patio but unfortunately the patio doesn't seem very gardening friendly even with container gardening. The patio faces the north and is enclosed which limits the sunlight drastically. I'm not sure if the patio gets any direct sunlight. Here's a picture of the patio.

So what are my options for vegetable gardening? I'm particularly interested in herbs but wanted to also raise tomatoes and peppers. I'm looking for expert advice on what can be done in a space like this with limited sunlight? Like what plants or varieties might thrive here?

I'm going to be doing container gardening but also wanted to include a small container pond which will also be used for irrigation.

Thanks.

 

[alp]

By patio, do you mean the strip of grass outside the lovely fence and wall please?

 

[FountainMan]

By patio, do you mean the strip of grass outside the lovely fence and wall please?

Inside the fence. I don't think tenants are allowed to do anything in thst bed outside.

 

[alp]

You could have a shelf and crease some tin foil to reflect night. The wall may give out retained heat at night. Worth a try. Probably just try salad leaves as they are easy to grow and give you a quick turnover. I would try them all but they might need to be elevated to above the fence to get more sunlight which is key to success if you want tomatoes or pepper.

 

[Gardening Girl]

It looks like the area is pretty well protected. Maybe you could use some fluorescent lighting. I would be sure to set it up somehow so that rain can't get to it. In the proper season you could probably grow root vegetables such as carrots, radishes. beets. etc without supplemental lighting. Leafy greens are an excellent choice. You may even want to try to give peas a go.

 

[FountainMan]

It looks like the area is pretty well protected. Maybe you could use some fluorescent lighting. I would be sure to set it up somehow so that rain can't get to it. In the proper season you could probably grow root vegetables such as carrots, radishes. beets. etc without supplemental lighting. Leafy greens are an excellent choice. You may even want to try to give peas a go.

Looking at several artificial lighting options and there are a lot of them. There are florescent lamps and LED lamps and they range anywhere from 50 watts to over 1000 watts. Many of those units have good reviews so they must work well. I'm confused on what would be best. I'm probably going to wait until I have the planter boxes set up so I know what dimensions would be appropriate. What's the recommended wattage per square foot for supplemental lighting to get ideal results?

Thanks.

 

[FountainMan]

My plans are to have a few rectangular beds along the inside of the fence and some that hang on the top rail. I'm thinking about having one bed with artificial lighting for the herbs that require supplemental lighting and the other bed without a grow light for those that do better in shade.

 

[FountainMan]

Getting everything set up. I'm going to buy potting soil soon at the local hardware store. Still looking at lighting for this. The aquatic plants are shade lovers so I'm not worried about them. I'm also going to get one of those roll-a-fence things from the hardware store as well to make this presentable.

The bug zapper will be removed! Lol.

 

[lamontpeterson]

I always accept the challenge. I really love this. I can make a different kind of lawn garden. Does anyone participate with me?

 

[FountainMan]

Here's an update. So far the garden is coming along fine. Vegetables and herbs are planted and growing. I found a Parrot Flower Power sensor that I used several years ago when I turned half my bedroom at the house into a winter grow room. (had mixed results). The sensor is helping me evaluate sunlight exposure among other things.

Anyways, I decided to get creative on the irrigation system. The pond filter has a backwash cleaning function that uses the input feed to flush and rinse out accumulated pond sludge. I have the dirty water output piped into an 8 gallon plastic waste bin that is used as an irrigation reservoir. A 4500 gph pump then pushes that water through a drip manifold to micro-irrigation emitters in each bed. The pond wastewater contains natural nutrients so this should reduce the need for fertilizer.

 

[FountainMan]

Some pictures of the irrigation system.

8 gallon waste bin purchased at Wal-Mart serves as an irrigation reservoir. This holds about 2 weeks worth of water.

4500 GPH pump pushes the water through a 4 port drip manifold fitted at the top of the PVC riser.

Water is supplied to the reservoir from the pond filter's manual backwash output. Pond water lacks the chlorine and heavy metals that regular tap water does and the nutrients and organic material in this serve as natural fertilizer.

Pump and manifold distributor system sitting in the reservoir.

Backwash input tube ziptied to the riser and all drip lines are connected.

Reservoir all filled up!

All micro-irrigation emitters/sprayers have been tested and adjusted.

Not pictured, but I added a small circulator pump to the reservoir to help discourage mosquito breeding and help keep the organic particles from settling at the bottom.

 

[FountainMan]

An update on the garden, it's been 2 weeks since I've planted everything and everything seems to love the patio despite the limited sunlight. The tomato plant has almost doubled in size and is beginning to flower which means I might soon see tomatoes. The sweet potato vines and coleus are taking off like weeds. I'm training the sweet potato vines to boarder the water feature.

 

[FountainMan]

Bought some rail hanging planters at Crate and Barrel today to expand the garden. Got a long one and a short one to complement the ground planters. In these I'm going to plant cascading foliage to create a waterfall effect of foliage to the planters below. The long one is situated over the filter and irrigation reservoir so that will help hide that. I've already began to run the drip line to the hanging planters and hope to get them hooked up today or sometime this week.

 

[Tjohn]

Quite a creative use of limited space! Everything looks healthy and happy, I'm wishing you continued success!

 

[FountainMan]

Here's another update. Everything is thriving and growing explosively. My tomato plant has already tripled in size since I purchased and planted it. Have the sweet potato vines growing along the edge of the pond. The Coleus plants have doubled in size.

In the hanging rail planters I'm going to plant some Zebra Wondering Jews. The metallic green and purple will look amazing as a background to the garden and that cascading foliage will help hide the filter and irrigation reservoir.