Need advice on growing FOOD without a yard!

If I had plenty of spending money, I wouldn’t need to ask this question. But since I can’t go out and buy lots of equipment, I thought I’d ask.

I do have a flower garden but I have everything from deer to groundhogs and I have only a 6x6 critter protected area, which is full of tomatoes.

Can anyone recommend ways to get lots of bang from that small area? Or maybe you can link me to a source.

And I’m in zone 5. Can anyone recommend ways to accomplish edibles in the house over the winter? Herbs count. Veggies would be a blessing!

Nilly, I can make a couple of suggestions. I don't know how many people you are feeding, but I feed mostly just me and I like to grow veggies that I can get long term production over the season. By picking the outside leaves of loose leaf lettuce a few plants keep me in salads most of the season. Flat leaf parsley is cool and you don't end up buying a bunch for 75 cents when you only need a few stems. Ditto with chives and green (bunching) onions. A row of climbing peas (I like the sugar pod varieties) doesn't take up much space and when it is done producing you can take it out and put in something else. Carrots keep well in the ground and don't take up lots of room and radishes grow quickly and early.

One of my favorite herbs is rosemary and the critters don't seem to bother it at all. If you have a spot outside your protected area you might want to give it a try (assuming you like it.) If nothing else, it smells good.

Tomatoes are great, but the do take up space and resources. You might think about growing just one or two plants of very productive varieties like mortgage buster. And you might try them in containers or even those odd topsy turvy things. I have no idea if they really work or not.

You might want to take a look at "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew. I haven't read it but a lot of people seem to be interested in it. There are lots of references to it on the net, and probably here as well. You can probably find the book in your library or used at Amazon.com.

I hope these ideas are useful and give you things to think about. You have all winter to plan. :-)

Nilly,

check out my post Fall garden 2009 in the Self Contained Box gradens

BocaBob

Save your money on the topsy turvey thing it is a joke

All of the above are good ideas. I don't know anything about gardening in your zone but ....

You might could extend your outdoor season on both ends by using some bubble wrap or clear plastic doubled. It's commonly available for free at places like freecycle and craigslist. You can tape it together easily. It would probably need to be vented in the daytime so the sun wouldn't cook the plants. Old windows might help for windbreaks on your deck.

Around here, lots of people have small tropicals or citrus and they keep some large cardboard boxes that fold flat to use on freezing nights which are not the norm. Even something like that might get you through indian summer.

I suspect this will become a much more discussed subject next month.

I grow chard, pak choi, lettuce, and tom thumb peas on my window sills year 'round. They like to cool temps in the windows and the bright sun. If we have a dark, dreary spell, I will hook up a grow light to help them, but mostly I'm lazy and forgetful, so they are on their own.

Last year I started several tomatoes early on (January) and the seedlings were so big my early March that I ended up putting them in pots in the basement with growlights. Then, as soon as it warmed enough, I was able to bring them in and out as the temps allowed. (I also use plastic and glass to protect them while they are outside when they get too bit to drag in.) I had evry early early tomatoes from those 3 plants and will be doing a larger batch earlier this year.

I also run around collecting windows, etc. when people have them out for bulk pick-up. I use them on my raised beds to jump-start the season.

And, definitely pick up Square Foot Gardening and/or cubed foot gardening. They contain excellent info.

And best of all, remember one very important thing - we ae limited only by our imaginations!

Thanks all!

I also found a book called "Square INCH Gardening" in the library catalog and requested that.

Michael and Sequee - thanks for the lists of your successful plantings. I never met a veggie I didn't like. I'm also only feeding myself, but I like to cook big batches of things to go in the freezer over winter. I just spent $35 on a big batch of tomato based stew at the farmer's market, and I'd much rather pay for seeds. And besides, I'd be really happy to have more than I can use so I could share with people who need it!

BocaBob - Already been there! Joy from the self contained box gardens sent me. Love the vertical things!

Twiggy thanks for the bubblewrap and cardboard suggestions

Has ANYBODY had success with those upside down tomato pots?

You might want to try some kale. It can go in the ground early and makes a great soup ingredient. You might even get lucky by planting in the fall and covering with mulch. Google sopa verde or portuguese green soup.

Thanks!

The upside down planters are lousy at growing tomatoes.In general plants in the ground produce 3 times as many tomatoes as the hanging ones.

I've had great luck with the Topsy Turvy's, as have others, as well as DIY upside down planters. if you do a search, you will should be able to easily access numerous threads on same.

(However, whatever the packaging says, no more than 1 plant per TT, and determinates do best.)

How about a cold frame on one side of your 6X6? If it's ground, anyway. A little way in the ground, with a window for a lid, hinged, and lots of greens for you!

Molamola - yeah, it's a deck, though....

Sequee - thanks. Maybe that's what was giving other people such problems with them.

I used to do Horticulture Therapy via The Green Gardens Club at an Adult Day Care Center and we had one hanging from either end of the Veranda Overhang. They grew beautifully and were very easy for us to tend to. I certainly wouldn't use them exclusively, and I certainly agree that NOTHING grows more productively than in God's green earth, but when you have to be creative, I try to leave no stone unturned!

Janice I have been playing with upside down tomatoes for 10 years. Best results come from those made with 5 gallon pails. Cherry tomatoes seemed to be about par with those in the ground. This year I bought two of the TT planters ha ha what a joke they were. I think they may work better for peppers . I also made two out of the cloth grocery bags they hold twice the dirt the tts do and they did better but the ground still beat them.

I grew my cukes in ahnging pots and was very happy with the results. I did National Pickling and Lemon varieties. In a larger hanging pot I still have a Sikkum cuke blooming and producing even after a move.

I currently am enjoying cucumbers ~ 3 plants in a 12" sq pot. I chose a small variety (Spacemaster) suited for a container and started them from seed. Just remember when you grow in containers, you will need to fertilize on a regular basis and some plants like cukes take lots of water. Lots of food can be grown in containers if you search out smaller cultivars.

New questions:

It's not so much about the containers (although you've given me some new scavenging ideas!) as it is about the yield. When I got my 6x6x6 critter proofing "cage", I also got some containers to fill it up. I'm just not getting enough FOOD out of the effort! Which brings me to my new questions:

Square foot gardening.
I've watched all 3 of Mel Bartholomew's video tapes about it, and perused some books. There's lots of time spent doing the math, and I totally get the concept. They never discuss DRAINAGE though. It looks like I can just slap together a shallow 4x4 (or 3x3 to fit better inside my cage) frame and plant it. Even when they show them on decks they are only supported by cinder blocks and things like that. So here are a coupla questions:

Won't I rot my deck?
How can I translate this yield process indoors?

Anybody know?

We don't like the Topsy Turvy planters either! All the tomatoes split and the plants are in terrible shape. The one cherry tomato we planted in the built up planter in the yard is taking over the territory! We had had a very strange year, lot's of wind and cold. We expect a killing frost any week now.

O.T. Does anyone know when a large Banana squash should be harvested? It is hanging by it's stem and I'm afraid it will fall or rot if we don't pick it soon. It is now 18" long!

Banana Squash ~

Edited to change name of squash. I admit, I'm a dummy! ^_^

This message was edited Feb 6, 2010 9:16 AM

Husky Cherry Red tomato ~

Happy jack Mom you can tie in up in a pair or two of old panty hose to relieve the stem pressure. Don't know about your zone we just harvest ours when the vine dies.Ernie