Grow your own Salad Vegetables

[damaralenoire]

I have mentioned on here before that i live in a ground floor apartment and have started to utilise the window sills of my apartment and currently have windowsill propagators in them growing herbs and the like. At the back of my apartment building myself and a neighbour have cut back some bushes which lead to a trainline but still in the property boundaries and we have each purchased a greenhouse propagator style thing, you know, the ones with a clear plastic covering and zip. They were reduced to £10 at B&M Bargains.

And today I have purchased this little kit of "Grow your own salad vegetables" seeds.
The pack contains Onion Stuttharter giant, Shallot Red Sun, Garlic Cassablanca, Basil, Radish, Tomatoes and mixed salad. I have purchased some deep pots large ones at that for 75p each also at B&M Bargains. me and my neighbours aim is to try and create a mini apartment allotment.

Any advice would be grateful, but i am determined to find a way around living in an apartment with very little garden or space.

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[grenfell]

You could do worse than googling vertical gardening , makes use of your wall space. In effect you use pots on shelves or racks. Climbing plants such as runner beans are also useful for this sort of thing , I've grown them up the fences in my garden for instance.

[montys footman]

Go to a supermarket that sells herb plants (£1 on morrisons) rosemary, thyme or mint can be planted out and left to do their thing. I have two of each in garden and have planted at least six of each on scrub/waste land. Give them six months and you can start to trim them. I have one rosemary that is the size to a good bush and will take some hammer (rosemary and potatoes de-lish!!!). Grow what you use the most and costs the most. Some salad greens a £1 for a large bag where as you don't get much of sage or basil for that. Chillies are great (if you like them) they can be put anywhere in your home and only need a sun spot to finish them off. the concept of 'guerilla gardening' gives you an extensive garden, look it up on the net.

[featherstick]

Ooh, my specialist topic!

Do you have space for containers e.g. large planters? You can grow potatoes, tomatoes, peas, french beans, peppers, chard, courgettes and squash easily in containers and many seed companies will sell plants (that is, not seeds but seedlings ready to plant out) that are smaller varieties adapted for container growing.

Potatoes can go in now, you can buy seed potatoes from e.g. Wilkinsons, or use organic ones from a supermarket that is to say, buy a bag of organic spuds, plant a couple, eat the rest. It won't work with conventional spuds as they have growth inhibitors on them to stop them sprouting. Potatoes are good for guerilla gardening too.

Chard is a wonderful plant - health-giving, robust, no pests to speak of and wonderfully decorative. Can also be used for guerilla gardening.

Cut-and-come-again salads grow in planters but the pigeons love the brassicas in them, they need to be netted.

And of course you can grow bean, chickpea and lots of other sprouts for healthy diet additions.

Let me know about your position if you would like some more specific pointers. Does the site get sun? Which way does it face? Can you get water there easily? How much space do you have?

[ForgeCorvus]

We tried a trailing tomato in a hanging planter last year it was a really good crop, not a huge number at any one time but a decent handful every other day for weeks.

Four plants of a trailing cherry called 'Millions'

[rik_uk3]

Do you have room for this?

[junmist]

you can grow root veg in old plastic milk bottles. Cut the top off the bottle but not the handle put in a drainage hole. Put in 1 seed of choice then put a cane or other piece of wood through a couple of handles and hook or tie to the fence/ hedge

[grenfell]

The plastic bottle idea
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rQfno80fmtE

http://www.recycling.moonfruit.com

[damaralenoire]

Thanks for the tips so far guys... much appreciated.

So here is my efforts so far, 3 x 4 shelf greenhouses £10 each in B&M Bargains

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And i have decided to grow Carrots in large containers 40cm deep, 1metre long 40cm wide, I have 3 grow bags ready for my runner beans when they are ready to sow, i have 5 large pots for tomoatoe plants, unfortunately i cant have anything hanging as i am not allowed to drill holes into the building wall.

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[ForgeCorvus]

Dameral: Put some gaffer (or any other UV opaque) tape on the clear cover anywhere it runs over the metal frame. It'll stop the PVC (or whatever it is) cooking in the sun and going brittle (BTDT, replacing the covers is not easy or cheap).

Wigwams in big planters might be an idea