I decided this week that I’m going to retry my garden experiment. It sort of failed last year, but I blame that on a couple things. One, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I did no research, I just thought I could pop some seeds into a jar and suddenly have herbs. Doesn’t work for me very well. Two, I used much to small of pots and stuck different herbs in the same pot. I think the competition was a bit much. Three, I kept having to close my shades to keep my apartment from reaching 95 degrees during the summer.
So how am I going to remedy these? First, I’m limiting myself to only a few plants. I’m going to grow basil, oregano, and maybe some sage or thyme. By keeping it simple I can research my needs quickly and keep them in seperate pots. Second, I purchased an old roll top desk that is going to act as my garden plant stand. It has three levels I can utilize and when I put it where I plan on locating it, I can leave my shades angled a bit and get some sun without doing getting quite such a green house effect as where they are located now.
I’m also going to try growing some tomatoes. I’ve never tried doing this inside, but I bought the pot for them today. I’m going to pick up the plants sometime this weekend. I haven’t quite decided where I’ll get them, but I have all weekend for that.
So here are some questions for my readers. First, any other herbs or vegetables I should try growing inside that don’t take a ton of work? Second, do you know of any great composting tutorials for doing the composting in an apartment with no outdoor access? Third, have you ever had success growing tomatoes indoors? Thanks for any feedback you might leave.
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For composting in an apartment, get worms! Vermicomposting is the technical term.
http://angbabbling.blogspot.com/2010/01/promote-global-worming.html
The basil shouldn’t give you much problem at all. You can also grow garlic. It’s a bit boring and takes a good amount of time to actually produce a bulb, but it’s easy to just plop a clove or two in an extra pot if you’ve got the room.
BTW, The Wedge has great plants right now. Or at least they did a few days ago.
As far as indoor composting goes, just don’t try and do too much too fast. Some people get overzealous and put every. little. scrap. into their small compost bin and end up with a stinking mess. Start with a little dirt, grab some worms if you can, and add your scraps a little at a time. The smaller your scraps are the faster they’ll break down, so remember to crush up your eggshells and chop things up as much as possible.
It’s my first year with an apartment garden, and luckily (for the plants, anyway), I have a west-facing living room window, so they’ll get plenty of sun whether the shades are up or down.
I’m glad to see that @PikaPikaChick says basil should be no problem – we started with a bag of year-old seeds from my roommate’s garden last summer, and basil’s been the only thing that’s taken.
The last time I had my hair cut, I heard tell of a woman who did some minor composting in her kitchen in just a paper bag – she’d throw the refuse (mainly shells of eggs and fruit) into the bag and shake it up every day or so to keep it going. I’ve heard the trick it to just make sure there’s air in the compost, because no air = mold. The Fratallone’s Ace has some small kitchen compost bins you might want to check out – they’re more of the “put junk here before taking it outside” variety, but if you want to start small, it could work!
Thanks everyone! If things are a success I’ll be blogging about them for sure.