Keeping Garden Plants Inside Apartment: We Have Photos!

[rodriguezpoultry]

I'm tired of store-bought foods, and seeing as how spring is coming (FAST), I would love to be able to have at least one tomato plant in my apartment.

Is it at ALL possible to have a tomato plant grow and fruit out inside of an apartment? What are the requirements?

What about other veggies? Corn is out of the question...what about potatoes?

Asparagus?

 

[redhen]

Quote:
As long as they have plenty of sunlight..it may work...
Just use buckets.. I put my tomatos in buckets to grow..
AND my potatoes too.(1-2 potato eye sprouts per bucket..DEEP soil..).. then when its time to harvest them..you just dump the bucket out and theres all your taters..
Do you have a little patio you could use?? So you can bring them outside on nice days?..

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

You can grow whatever you want...under a 1000W High Pressure Sodium light.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
hee hee....

 

[imtc]

a patio would work great. Possibly a bright window but never tried it. Asparagus probably not as it takes about 3 years for them to grow large enough to eat.

 

[Goose and Fig]

Are you planning on having bees inside to pollinate?

Sprouts are easy to do in a window- you harvest every week. Get some wide mouth jars, cheesecloth, and big rubberbands. You can buy "seeds" online, or just use the bagged lentils & stuff they have in the soup/bean isle.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

I do have a small patio, and I don't "think" my neighbors would take the tomatoes. But it's covered and offers alot of shade. I wish I could tell you which side it faces, but I have no idea on my cardinal directions.

edit: DBF said it faces west.

 

[Joz]

You can do small tomato plants inside... I've done Silvery Fir Tree (beautiful plants) and ... tom thumb? Itty bitty tomato plants in terra cotta pots on a shelf in a window with a small fluorescent light to boost the light conditions.

Tomatoes don't require bees to pollinate them, just shake (flick) the blossoms so the "perfect" flower pollinates itself.

It's feasible to do these in pots on your patio, I suppose.... since your porch faces west, do you get much afternoon light? How deep is the overhang? Can you paint a wall white to bounce some light around? The light needn't be direct, but it helps.

Asparagus requires a bed to develop over a period of years. http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1603.html

Re Potatoes... a fingerling variety would likely fit better in a container.
http://www.container-gardening-tips...gardening/growing-potatoes-in-containers.html

I used to live in an apartment with a biiiig balcony (covered), and I grew some stuff in pots. The best book I found was "Bountiful Container" by McGee and Stuckey.

Alternatively... is there a Food/Farm Co-Op in your area? Or a community garden? Or someone you could befriend who's got a big backyard garden?

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Unfortunately, I am not allowed to paint anything. It has to remain the color it is now. Afternoon light is bountiful. During the summer it actually gets kind of hot on the porch. The overhang is fairly deep, because there is an apartment above us.

I will go ahead and purchase a growing book, hopefully I can find the one that you suggested!

I was going to get a BIG pot. I saw some that were styrafoam that looked fairly nice. It wouldn't be a huge eye sore.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Oh! Oh! Oh! What about strawberries????

Luckily, potatoes are fairly cheap, so I think I'll skip on the potatoes this time around. As soon as I get my farm, I will be growing any and everything I can think of.

I have a chicken-themed pot that I'm thinking about putting leaf lettuce in? DBF said he's up for anything as long as it's not cabbage related.

I'm super-excited. I thought he'd hate having all the plants around. I just hope I can at least keep them alive!



Thank you all for your help!