I thought I’d better take some time (before it’s time to put up the Christmas tree or whatever) to answer some of your gardening questions from my previous gardening posts. Sorry that by now it’s a little late for some of them to be relevant for this year’s garden. Here are some of your questions, in no particular order:
Where do you buy heirloom seeds?
I order them from Azure Standard. You can also find heirloom seeds in a Gurney’s catalog.
Any tips for a “garden” on an apartment balcony? I’m interested in growing a few veggies in pots — are there particular veggies that work better than others for pot-gardening?
I’ve heard that tomatoes and peppers grow well in pots. And of course, growing potatoes in a container is a blast. Otherwise, I don’t have much experience in this area. I saw a post over at Passionate Homemaking that has great information about growing veggies when you have limited gardening space. Check it out!
Do you have your own tiller?
Yes, but do you mean a working tiller? No. My dad gave us his old one a couple of years ago but it never worked great for us. Then it stopped working at all. This year we borrowed one from our friends. Yay for friends with tillers!
What type of fertilizers do you use?
We’ve done a variety of things through the years. One year we got some from someone who had horses. Thus…horsey fertilizer. Another year, we got some from someone who had chickens. This year, we’re pretty much using our compost pile since we’ve been working on it for a few years now.
Do you use anything for pests?
Yes. I screen my phone calls.
Oh, but for garden pests…no not really. Grasshoppers really like my green beans, but I’d just really rather not use any chemicals in my garden. As I mentioned before, planting marigolds is helpful for some pests. I’m researching other ways to keep away buggies.
Once when I planted a bunch of potatoes with a friend of mine we had a terrible problem with “potato beetles“. We finally just started going from plant to plant finding the bugs, grabbing them off, and squishing them with our fingers. After saying, “Eew…eeew…eeeeeeew” for the first seven or eight bugs, I got over it and started squishing (their guts out) gleefully. When you know they’re ruining your crop, the gross factor isn’t so gross anymore. It’s war.
Do the boys like to help?
Eh, sort of. At first it’s all fun and games, then it gets tiresome for them. They like planting…especially potatoes. And they like digging up potatoes. Asa’s really good about bagging the grass when he mows…then he puts it down as mulch.
How do you work around the boys when they don’t want to be out there?
If they don’t want to be out there, sometimes I make them anyway…because I’m fun like that. Or, I’ll leave them in the house doing some of MY other jobs so that I won’t have to work double time when I come back in.
They are very good at snapping green beans and washing and tearing lettuce…some of the jobs that have to be done after the outside garden work is done.
Do you know if you HAVE to use seed potatoes?
No, you don’t have to. You can use some of your potatoes that you grew last year. You can use regular potatoes from the store…although they have probably been treated with chemicals to keep them from sprouting…and if you’re planting a potato…you want it to sprout. I’ve usually stuck with seed potatoes, or some of my scrawny sprouting potatoes from last year’s garden.
**UPDATE** Did you see Candace’s comment? She said, “FYI- We tried potatoes from the grocery store last year, organic ones. They grew great above ground and flowered and all. But, alas, no potaoes underground!”
So, maybe not potatoes from the store? Anyone else have any experiences with regular potatoes?
How do you store your potatoes and how long do they last?
I put my potatoes in covered boxes in a dark, cool room in my basement. They keep until about March before sprouting.
How much sun/heat can potatoes take? I live in the desert and am not sure where they would best be placed.
They need lots of sun. Bring on the sun.
Any other questions? How’s your garden growing?
Lenetta says
Ah! This reminded me – I put in a at the end of the code for your fruits & veggies button and that way it didn’t make the rest of my post a hot link to you! :>)
Our basement is surprisingly not cool enough for potatoes – the only dark rooms are the furnace room – which is warm – and the little room with the pressure tank from our well, which also apparently creates just enough heat. I tried putting them in our bedroom closet (also in basement) but that didn’t work either. I am SO planning a root cellar when we live on the farm . . .
Lenetta says
Sigh. That’s an (/a) with greater than/less than brackets instead of parentheses.
Donna says
Thanks for answering all of our questions!
Great job!
My garden is going pretty good in spite of “the second flood” that nearly destroyed it! :-) I also was inspired by The Prudent Homemaker to start a mini-orchard! The Lord provided 8 fruit trees and 3 bushes- 2 are well, one is rather brown! I also have planters with lettuce sprouting and a pot of mint- for tea! Yippee! ..I’m excited to watch God work!
uh huh–question: Can we see more pics of your garden areas?…I thought it was neat how you were making the most of your yard!!! Would love to see how your layout worked!
Meyser says
I wanted to add some gardening in a pot – veggies. My garden is really small. I mean REALLY small, and with no good soil. So I do my gardening in pots and follow the principles of squarefoot gardening. My rocket is doing great, my onions and shalots too (you need rather deep pots for them, and not too many, so they can develop well), spinach is coming up and cress too, I have carrots and lettuce in pots. The strawberries are nice firm seedlings now and they should do well in pots, and I even have 4 leeks growing (they look good above the ground, of course I don’t know how they’re doing underneath). I would say: with a bit of imagination everything should be possible. I even know of little fruit trees in pots (olive, citrus-like things). Now my Brussels sprouts are sprouting, maybe those won’t do well in a pot and I might put them just in the garden after a little while. I love the fact that it’s so easy to experiment with things in pots!
Meyser
Mary Ellen ~ Carolina Momma says
I have potato sprouts! Thank you for the wonderful tutorial on growing potatoes in a container.
candace says
FYI- We tried potatoes from the grocery store last year, organic ones. They grew great above ground and flowered and all. But, alas, no potaoes underground!
Tami says
This year we started an organic garden co-op with a couple of our friends who have space in their yards for things that won’t fit in mine. So exciting to be able to share in the work and the produce! We are working on taking care of pests with companion plantings. Check out the book, Carrots Love Tomatoes, or just google companion gardening. Very interesting stuff!
Taryn says
Thanks for all the tips. I am about to plant my plants today!
Meredith says
Last winter we had some of our eating potatoes start sprouting like crazy in a bag that got misplaced in the cold cellar. My husband decided to plant them in pots on the window ledge with my son as a learning experience. The plants grew, and when it was warm enough, we transferred the plants out into the garden where they grew merrily and made lots more potatoes. We had quite a haul.
So grocery store potatoes can work very well.
We had more sprout this year and planted them (skipping the indoor step this time!), both in the garden and in a garbage pail. I hope we get another good crop this year!
karen says
Lots of garden pests can be taken care of with a mix of dish soap and water in a spray bottle. This works really well on white flies.
Our current problem is that the birds are eating all my lovely red tomatos! As soon as they are a little pink, the sparrows are pecking them full of holes. DD and I are going to hang up CDs to try and scare them away. (finally a use for all those ‘sign up for AOL’ CDs)
Karen says
Does anyone have any advice for what to do about grubs? At least that is what I think they are. They are laid or get in to the stem of my squash plants and then suck all the nutrients out of them. Thanks in advance.
Mary says
6 years ago I grow a garden in a kids swimming pool. It work great. This year we are going to try it again. Just this year we are use seeds, I never had any luck. So if anyone can tell me how to make them grow? But I trying to spent as little as have too of vegs. and fruit this summer. My new food budget is $ 250.00 a month for a family of 4. help!
L Nood says
I’ve never heard of Azure Standard so I’ll check it out, but I’ve had great growing luck with Victory Seeds which are heirloom seeds.