Fear of Gardening
Jul 16th, 2007 by bornfamous
Thanks for all the great comments, support and suggestions on my little gardening problem. I’ve been pondering this for the last week and I think the key is my realization that, while the balcony is too hot IN SUMMER, it’s just fine the rest of the year. This IS San Diego, after all. And I can still grow salad greens and other shade-loving veggies with the blinds down — plenty of sunshine filters through. Most of us think of the sun-loving plants when we think of veggies but what I really want are the greens [thanks to this book], and they don’t need nearly as much direct sunlight as, say, tomatoes.
The important thing, that I guess I didn’t make clear in my post, is that I WANT to do this. I want to learn how to do something that’s always been a mystery to me, I want to save a little money on food, and I want to face my fears. Yes, there is a certain amount of fear involved here.
Then there’s the laziness factor. I tend to forget to water things when they need it. But I’ve been reading up on Self-Watering Containers [pdf], and it’s clear to me that they are the way to go. I’ll make my own to save $.
So I’m heading for the nursery today, trepidatious but facing my fear. [Update: Well, maybe tomorrow. Too tired today.]
p.s. After much internal debate and internet research, I took the plunge this morning and ordered a vermicomposting system [aka worm bin] that includes everything I need [yes, worms too] to get started composting kitchen scraps in my little apartment. [Highly recommended reading: Worms Eat My Garbage.]
Worms! I can hardly wait!
9 Responses to “Fear of Gardening”
We get no light at all in this apartment. Where we’d lived previously we had first a communal garden and then a nice porch garden (with great tomatoes). When we moved in here I had big plans for transforming the back alley into a garden (however decrepit it was) and put in lots of soil and pots and everything died a bad hard death, not enough light. And there’s not enough light in the apartment. Even little bitty herbs on the inside have it rough. Wonder if I’d have luck with salad greens.
Man, that sounds dark! Salad greens might work. Inside, you could get some grow lights — I think any flourescent light would work. Remember when people grew pot in their closets? Grow lights. Don’t ask me how I know. :o]
Also, check out The Bountiful Container — there’s loads of detailed info, including sunshine needs of individual edibles.
I wish I were able to squeeze any sort of plants into our tiny space. But the two potted plants we do have are not very happy as it is and it just wouldn’t be fair. I ’stole’ one of them off a friend’s strawberry plant and it has consisted of nothing more than three sad little leaves all winter. It has only just managed to multiply to six and one can see how much it strives for the light, poor thing. The other one is a money plant which has found itself host to a load of little fly eggs so it is presently undergoing the rather rough treatment of being sprayed with soapy water and starved of normal water. Good thing those plants are so hard to kill.
Can’t wait to move. I will do my utmost to find somewhere with a small balcony. I owe it to the strawberry plant.
From what I’ve been reading, “fruiting” plants require much more sunlight than leafy greens. I’m doing green smoothies now, so I want to grow all the greens I can, like kale, chard, lettuce, collard, mustard, etc. [though I would love to go out on my balcony to pick my own blueberries and strawberries, yum!]
I’m serious about grow lights, though. You should be able to grow something inside your apartment with a cheap flourescent light setup.
We have several grow lights and so far the only thing that hasworked well with them is bamboo. From what I’ve read, grow lights and fluorescents are fine for starting fruiting seedlings but not for sustaining a fruiting garden. After that you have to get into the high intensity bulbs which are hugely expensive and need to be in a contained area like a closet.
Surprisingly we’ve been able to maintain certain types of cactus under our low light conditions but that’s about it. I tried herbs again this year and almost all of them died except some anemic basil. I am wondering what might happen with lettuce.
Lettuce might work. The Bountiful Container says it prefers cool weather and partial shade:
“To grow lettuce in the cool days of autumn, you need to sow seeds in late summer–which is a problem because the seeds don’t germinate well in hot weather. To get around this, simply prechill the seeds and potting soil… by refrigerating them for seven days in a zip-top bag mixed with a small amount of moist potting soil… When you’re ready to plant, water the potting mix well in the evening… and plant your seeds in that damp, cool soil.”
I’m so glad you mentioned lettuce. I never would have looked up this information, and I was planning to get some seeds and start some salad greens in the next week or so. Thanks!
p.s. Do you grow bamboo indoors? I’d love to grow some in a container on my balcony, just for show.
Bamboo is pretty easy. Slow, but easy I seem to remember. I got a ’stick’ as part of a bouquet from a sprinter at the Bislet Games (very silly story, that), got it to root and stuck it in a pot. After that I pretty much ignored it and it did really well. Sadly I had to leave it in London when I moved. Oh, and that was not a very light flat either, and no balcony.
Hey there. I believe you can grow during any season in San Diego - even on a balcony. I lived in LA for ten years, and managed to grow several things in odd apartments here and there. In the summer, just protect your plants with some shade cloth (the best I’ve found is at Bountiful Gardens).
In seasons when the sun doesn’t hit your balcony, you might be able to reflect light onto your plants if you can find a place where the light hits nearby. Use a piece of wood painted white, for example, and bounce the light toward your plants. Some people use mirrors.
Indoors, I have germinated seeds under a fairly powerful cfl bulb. You could also do hydroponics, probably, though I know nothing about that.
Bamboo: a friend gave me a piece of bamboo in a vase, with sand and marbles in it. That was over a year ago, and it’s still growing. Just make sure it gets moderate light. (I’ve given it a very mild amount of liquid fertilizer twice during that time.)
Hope that helps!