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First off: NOT THAT KIND OF GARDENING. Although I suppose that would be an interesting lifestyle post on its own. (In fact, HEY, if that's what you guys want to talk about anonymously in the comments, take it away.)
But seriously, while commenters often joke about “gardening activities” as a euphemism for sex, I am guessing I'm not the only person thinking about growing my own vegetables, herbs, and fruits this summer — so let's talk about actual gardening. With dirt and plants and sunshine.
Have you tried to grow your own food in the past, ladies? What veggies, herbs, and fruits have you had the most success with? Are you loyal to any particular strains or brands of tomatoes or zucchini? How much space are you working with? For those of you who do some or all gardening indoors, have you had problems with bugs?
I thought it might be fun to round up some of the many versions of gardening I've seen over the past few years, especially for those of you who may not realize how little space you need to grow your own food…
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Gardening in a Dark Apartment: How to Grow Vegetables Without Any Sun
Indoor hydroponic systems abound, from this $99 LED lighted kit for lettuce and herbs, to this cool $55 corner planter, to this crazy system that apparently looks like an end table with veggies growing beneath it. (And it's Bluetooth connected!)
AeroGarden (pictured above) is the name I've seen the most, but there are obviously a lot of options.
How to Grow Vegetables in a Sunny Window
If you only have a sunny window, Windowfarms has instructions on how to make your own DIY vertical garden out of plastic water bottles… There are also a TON of vegetables and herbs you can regrow inside only from scraps, sometimes even without dirt. (We tried it as part of a science experiment, and while the romaine-in-water-glass looked really promising in the first 14 days or so, it got SUPER funky after that, so eat the smaller leaves while you can!) This pretty “hydropod” from Crate & Barrel (pictured above) looks small but cute.
How to Grow Vegetables on a Balcony or Very Small Outdoor Space
If you only have a small balcony or very small outdoor space, as long as it's sunny you could experiment with a vertical planter like a pocket system, or a stacked planter like these. (Oooh, or this is pretty for a wall…) LettuceGrow's farmstand, pictured above, is pretty large (and a bit on the pricey side) but was beautiful enough that I noticed it at the pool of a chic Austin hotel I stayed in last May. (Ah, travel! Remember that?). They're apparently $348–$649 at LettuceGrow, BestBuy, Amazon, or others.
Beginner Gardening: How to Start a Veggie Garden
If you've got a backyard or outdoor space, there are a lot of affordable raised beds available for purchase, or if you or a loved one is feeling crafty, there are a lot of DIY tutorials. (And of course Pinterest and spots like The Spruce can help you out with lots of inspiration.)
I'd love to hear from those of you who are more experienced gardeners/vegetable growers — what are your best tips on how to get started? What resources are your favorite? What are your best tips on how to grow vegetables?
Abby
laughed seeing the all caps disclaimer for this one.
I have herbs in a planter, and jalapenos, cherry tomatoes, tomatillos, and zucchini in pots. I got 3 seedlings of zucchini and planted them all in the same pot before realizing they’re going to get huge, so today after work I’ll be repotting them and getting cages for all of the veggies. I don’t trust my dog enough to plant anything in the ground
Any suggestions on accounts or blogs that you guys follow for tips on plants, both indoor and outdoor? I started following epic gardening, and would love to know other good ones to look for!
anon
The Beginner’s Garden podcast/blog is a fantastic resource if you’re into veggie gardening!
Jill
What’s the link for this blog? Can you share the website address?
anonypotamus
houseplantjournal on instagram is one of my favorite resources. he breaks things down very simply, but also does things from a methodical/scientific approach, which i appreciate. i also like verdealcove on instagram for the same reason. plus pretty pictures!
Anti-rabbit gardening
I live in a Clarendon-VA type area of my city. Urban houses. My front yard faces west and has ample sun. And wild bunnies. They eat tomatoes. They don’t eat rosemary. What else don’t they eat? Something each year chews on peppers but doesn’t eat them, just leaves them on the ground :( No HOA or anything to keep me from urban farming. Rosemary is great b/c it thrives on my not bothering to water it — anything else this tolerant of abuse? But we have more than we can ever need and neighbors regularly just come and cut some (which is fine with me).
Senior Attorney
Thyme and sage are very forgiving and also reasonably decorative. Also oregano. We have a few bunnies and they haven’t bothered them. Mint is also good but it needs to be in a pot (and make sure it can’t get out the drain hole) or it will take over your whole yard.
BB
Does this also mean I have to be careful having mint in a large pot with other herbs in it? Will it take over? Trying to figure out the set of herbs I want to grow in a long planter.
ELS
Yes, mint will absolutely take over your whole planter. Put it in its own pot if you want to grow it.
BB
Thanks! Really glad you warned me! I got a selection of herb seeds and mint was high on my list because it’s one of those “when you need it you really need it and probably not in large amounts” herbs. I know everyone grows basil, but I use that by the fistful, so I likely can’t grow enough. Probably going to do thyme, rosemary…and something else.
Senior Attorney
Basil is a little needy — you have to constantly pinch off the blossoms or it gets weedy and useless.
Gail the Goldfish
Sage and thyme will also grow with benign neglect. And mint (important for cocktails). Do not plant mint in the ground, though, because it will take over–container only. I also have a lavender plant that has held up well.
lsw
Chives will thrive despite your best efforts to kill them.
Ms B
My potted chives reliably return every spring. The blooms look nice in skinny vases a couple times a year.
Anon
I wish I had this luck with chives. I have to replant them every year. I do go through them (they’re my favorite) so maybe I’m cutting too much. They seem to disappear in winter and not return in spring.
Anon
I could talk for hours about my gardening (not the other kind). I’ve always had some herbs and veg growing, mostly in the summer, but I traveled a lot before now and always ended up unable to plant and maintain my garden to the degree I would have liked. But not this year!
My main obstacle this year has been that I really don’t want to visit nurseries in person. I did get some tomato starts and cages using curbside pickup, but when I called they didn’t have any herbs or cucumbers or other starts i would have liked. So now I’m doing everything else from seed. I even had a hard time getting seeds but have recently had great luck with eBay.
anon
YMMV, but I have been visiting nurseries. At least in my area, they seem to attract a crowd that is OK with social distancing and wearing masks. I can’t say the same for the big-box stores I’ve been to. If you go during the weekday, not the weekend, you may be surprised how sparse the crowds are!
ELS
My local nursery is this way. I’ve avoided big box stores and gone there, and everyone has left me with plenty of space, and most of the clientele (like me!) was wearing a mask.
lsw
Yes! My fave nursery was chaos last weekend but everyone was super respectful and they wouldn’t let people in without masks. I was so nervous because the parking lot was packed but it was really a totally fine experience.
Anon
Thanks all. I’m a chronic cougher, probably allergy related so it would be worse at a nursery. I stay home so as not to freak everybody out.
SC
DH and I have been putting off planting a real garden for a while. But DH finally got tired of buying those little herb packets at the grocery store and went to the nursery and bought herbs. He planted them in pots and arranged them in the flour bed in our front yard. Nice to have fresh parsley, chives, rosemary, basil, mint, oregano, and thyme whenever we need it. Kiddo also picked out chocolate mint–not sure how to use it, but it tastes good on its own.
Kristen
+1 to the note about making sure mint is in a pot by itself. We bought our house 14 years ago and I’m still pulling mint out of the flower beds because the previous owner had let it go nuts. Leave even 1/2″ of the root in the grown and you can be guaranteed it will come back. I like mojitos, so I’m not viewing this as a hardship.
I’ve had mixed success with veggie gardening in the past and resigned myself to being a champion peony and zinnia grower, but I’m trying again this year. Tomatoes, bush beans, yellow squash, zucchini, three colors of carrots…and later this fall I’ll put in cabbage and beets. I had very good success buying seeds from Etsy.
Kristen
*ground, not grown
Samantha
I want to start with this – WHY? Why do we garden? If it is to save money on groceries, well I have spent tons of money on plants through the years and it has certainly reduced not one iota of my grocery consumption, so that’s a misnomer. My one success has been a citrus tree so I haven’t bought oranges, but it’s taken years to get to this stage. I am also successful with jasmine and roses but again, doesn’t save me a ton of money except I can put roses in vases inside the house during the season.
But tomatoes, basil, cilantro, chillies have seen varying levels of success but never ever to the extent that the money I’ve spent on pots, soil, seeds, plants and fertilizer over the years has ever been worth it.
I’ve been tempted by the aerogarden (don’t know why, I have a sunny yard in climate 9) but the Amazon reviews come right out and say it does not grow as well as a large planter under artificial light.
So. I see gardening as somewhat similar to having a pet. You do it because you love it, and it makes you happy, and you should look at the money as a sunk cost for your hobby activity rather than as a return on capital analysis.
Anybody care to disagree or have counter examples? Maybe I have just not done this right or found the right combination of vegetables that makes it all financially worth it?
Anon
Tomatoes grown at home are so worth it to me. They’re absolutely delicious when fully ripened on the vine, which can’t be said of any of the tomatoes in the stores, even the expensive heirlooms. It’s one of the great joys of summer to me to pick a ripe tomato and eat it still warm in a tomato sandwich.
I hear corn is the same – no commercially available corn can compare to an ear picked minutes before you eat it – but I wouldn’t know because we don’t have corn-growing heat here in the Bay Area unless you get pretty far away from the bay.
On the other hand, a homegrown carrot tastes like a carrot. My herbs, while lovely, taste pretty much the same as grocery store herbs. The reason I grow those is convenience. I don’t have to not have thyme in something because I forgot to buy it, or because I let the last batch go bad in the refrigerator. I can step out my backdoor and pluck a spear of thyme or rosemary or sage or a bay leaf year-round (this makes up for not being able to grow corn!)
Anonymous
If I had the room and sufficient sunlight, I would grow corn and heirloom tomatoes. They are the best freshly picked. I do not. So for now, I have pots of herbs for convenience and a few grape tomatoes that can survive in pots. Gardening is a hobby for me, so I spend the rest of my energy (and budget) on landscaping as it is a generally yields better results.
Jill
I agree with your view about gardening out of love and not for financial reasons. For me it’s an experiment to see how things grow each year. Now that I have a kid, I also want him to see things grow. For example, we have sugar snap peas right now and they produce just enough for a snack for my child every day. We go out and pick them and he eats them right away!
Ymanon
First – I absolutely agree. Unless you have a proper garden, doing a little gardening is a hobby. Just like knitting will not get you cheap knitwear, and sewing will not get you cheap clothes. Beautiful, fun projects yes, saving money no.
That being said, the things I think I can do somewhat successfully in terms of “profit” are herbs like mint, rosemary, basil, chives and curly parsley. The cost of fresh herbs (and the cost of wilted and thrown away herbs) can add up. I can also get more leafy greens (salad, spinach, pea shoots) from seeds and a little soil than the cost to buy them where I live. A successfull plum tree will (in a plum year) give more plums in season than I’d be able to eat, but not every year. Two really good harvests will have paid off the cost of the tree, though.
One of my current projects that I think will pay for itself fairly quickly, is rhubarb. Where I live that is a specialty item to buy, and an established rhubarb plant will only need one season to be “profitable”.
What is never, ever, ever, ever a good idea in terms of economics where I live? Tomatoes. It’s too cold, and the season is too short. It’s a fun project, but in terms of money, always a loss.