How can you have your very own Korean Hornbeam trees or small white cucumbers or striped tomatoes? Start them from seed! Really, it’s the only way, unless you happen to be living close the worlds most exotic nursery.

The best part of all of this is that, when you’re talking about vegetables (and annual flowers) starting from seed is not at all complicated. In fact it’s easy.

So why are so many people convinced that it can’t be done and why are some people not successful. Two reasons I can think of.
1. Failing to follow simple instructions.
2. Failing to pay attention.

So, the flip side is that all you need to do is follow some simple instructions and pay attention.

The seed pack will tell you if you need to cover the seeds or not. Typically, very small seeds won’t be covered because they need light to germinate. They simply get sprinkled on and then pressed into the surface of the starting mix. You’ll notice I said starting mix and not soil. You can make your life a little easier from the get go and use one of the soiless seed starting mixes which have a better texture than most garden soil and are also sterile and that’s important too, because it will help to prevent “damping off”which is a disease that can kill seedlings.

If the pack says not to cover the seeds – don’t cover them. If it says to plant them 1/8th of an inch deep- don’t stick them an inch into the ground and expect them to ever see the light of day.

If it says to keep them warm, keep them warm and ditto for cool. Figure out the not too fine line between bone dry and soaking wet. It might take a little practice, but trust me- it’s quite possible.
So – step one is ready the flippin’ instructions and follow them.

Step 2 is pay attention! Once you’re seeds have sprouted – which for most vegetables will be within a week or so, check them every day. Just look to see that they’re not too wet and they’re not too dry. What you want are chubby, stocky little seedlings as opposed to tall, wobbly, spindly little guys that only grow like that because they don’t have enough light.

If you pay close attention to them, there’s a really good chance that as time goes by it will get easier and easier to look after them because rather than feeling a obligation to see if the little suckers are dead yet, you’ll be grabbed by a wave of curiosity to see what your plants are doing. They will become familiar friends and you’ll find that there is something very rewarding by starting at the beginning.

I was going to talk about growing vegetables that will allow you to get the greatest possible yield from a small amount of space, but maybe if you’re already going with something that is fairly compact we can deal with concepts like multiple crops from the same small planter later.

I’ve seen articles and blog posts that talk about the money that you can save growing vegetables on your balcony. Go fish! In my experience if you’re only growing vegetables in containers on your balcony because you think you’re going to make a noticeable dent in your grocery bill- I’m sorry- you’re going to be dissappointed. Yes, you might harvest a few quarts of tomatoes at the end of the summer, but you’re going to do it at the same time that every store is flooded with cheap local produce and you could have bought your entire crop for $10.00.

But what you can do is

grow something different

– not outlandish- just a variety that you can’t already buy. If you like cucumber, why not try a beautiful little white Dragons Egg Cucumber, or a Chinese Beauty Heart Radish or how about a Green Zebra Tomato?

By taking a vegetable that you already love and growing a unique version of it, you’ll not only have the pleasure of picking your own food right from your planter, you’ll be able to treat yourself to something that you wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to enjoy. Just for the record, your local grocery store will not be filled with produce that was grown because it’s unique or unusually healthy or tasty. In fact, most produce grown commercially is selected because of it’s uniformity of size or shape, its ability to ripen in the box or survive the rigours of being trucked across the continent. You can do so much better than that. Go for something special!

Just imagine for a second what a hoot it would be to invite your friends or family over to dinner and stun them with these awesome cool green striped tomatoes or green radishes with a bright red center. Now that’s something that you can’t find in every grocery store and they taste delicious. Check out some of the wonderful heirloom vegetables at http://www.rareseeds.com

Yes, it means you will start your vegetables from seed, but trust me – it’s not difficult to do and its a ton of fun.

I pulled the beefsteak tomato, green bell pepper, Brandywine tomato and flat leaf parsley – each in their own one gallon pot (which is only 6″x 6.5″high) from the planter they shared with a single gravity feed valve.  Of all the hydroponic designs I played with this summer this simple configuration – 4 pots in a single tray, with a single valve, from a single purposed nutrient reservoir- was the most successful.

when I pulled the plants from the pots, I was gratified to see the kind of solid mass of roots that you’ll be shown in any picture that demonstrates what a root bound plant should never look like.  But since I had no intention of either increasing the pot sizes, planting them into the ground or extending the life beyond a single growing season the solid mass of roots was good news to me becuase the purpose of the exercise was to confirm that – You Can Grow a Full Sized Tomato or Pepper in a Six Inch Pot!

OK,  so neither the beefsteak tomatoes nor the peppers will yield Fall Fair Blue Ribbon sized fruit ( yes they’re fruit!)  but they will yield a steady, generous crop of food – and you can do it in the lowest maintenance container garden that you can imagine.

Since I’m about the worlds worst artist,  I won’t be sketching out the designs but I’m going to create a PDF with photos to show how to make these gardens.  I hope that for anyone who would love to grow their own organic vegetables and herbs, but don’t have the space to plant a garden – these designs will set you along the road to your first harvest.

I’ll post information about the designs here – and probably post the PDF on my ecommerce bonsai site – Zen Garden Bonsai.

Oh – the flat leafed parsley is actually still good until a hard frost takes it out – here’s a shot of what it looks like.

I Love to Garden.  Always have.  I planted my first vegetables when I was about 8.  They all died, but that’s hardly the point.

I’ve tried to do lots of different businesses on my own but in spite of wanting to be objective about what business I’ll go into and evaluating the opportunities based on research, somehow I keep ending up growing something.  But looking at my ideas for outdoor-hydroponic- container-vegetable gardens, that truly are effortless and idiot proof, I’m wondering if there will be any appeal beyond pure gardeners.

And if so, who are my buyers?  Are they organic and natural health types?  I can certainly understand why this group would want to grow their own vegetables, but do they live in high rises? and if so will they pay about $80.00 for a planter that will grow a few tomatoes a herb and some peppers?

This is not about the price of the food or even the quality.  It’s about choice.  Its about going out to a balcony in the middle of Manhattan and being able to pick organic produce for your dinner.  Its about a feeling and bragging rights.

But I just don’t know if anyone will care.

First it was a matter of getting rid of the overly complicated mixing and balancing of nutrients that are an inherent flaw with traditional hydroponic systems.  At least they’re a flaw if you want to get regular consumers interested.  Then it was about ditching the reliance for electricity – and luckily both of the first two problems had the same solution.  I thought the gravity fed valves were my answer but now I’m not so sure.  I think they’re overpriced and I can’t seem to do anything to bring the prices down and they are still a mechanical element that is subject to a few hiccups.

If it doesn’t work flawlessly, it can’t be foolproof and I want foolproof.

The second season is starting and the new lettuce garden is still hydroponic, still small space, still organic – but this time it might also be foolproof, too.  You see, I’ve ditched the valve for now and I’m working on something that is sooooooo simple – if it works – it will take the container and balcony gardening world by storm.  On the other hand – maybe I’m about to find out why this technique hasn’t found broader adoption.

I’ll let you know.

Acorn Squash

I guess that, in a way, gardens are like your children.  They grow a little bit every day, but you’re so close you don’t realize it, until something makes you stand up and take notice.  The garden that I’ve referred to as my summer project is absolutely taking off.  The hydroponic versions have pretty much outstripped the regular soil- in-container versions, with the exception of the Thai hot peppers and I realize that the soil versions are getting about 1 1/2 more hours of sun each day and it’s making a real difference.

If I start thinking now about all the new ways to use acorn squash I might be able to manage what is looking to be the start of a bumper crop.  The snow peas are starting to produce very tender and very tasy pods and I’ve recently added some beefstake and heritage “Brandywine” tomatoes in a newly configured garden that I’m hoping will create “The Tomato Solution” because I cannot possibly bring this to market without a tomato configuration.

But what has truly blown me away beyond my wildest expectations is the cut-and-come-again salad garden.  I’m a big salad eater and so far, from a 4 foot planting of mixed greens I’ve taken at least 6 salads for 3 people in a two week period and it just keeps getting fuller.  And the taste and texture of these greens is like nothing else I’ve ever had- which is I guess what happens when you’re not eating a commercially grown crop that must be a variety that travels well.

Here are some more shots!

Salad Greens

Snow Peas

Like if your starting seeds with an average germination of 7 days, it’s a pretty darned safe bet that in 10 days you’ll need a good way to get them into the light.  And if you’re planting jumbo sucker seeds like squash, you’re probably going to need to move them into their first pot inside of another 7 days.

So first I’ve run around like a madwoman to dig out and set up my little portable greenhouse-type-shelter-thing so my seeds could get some light only to discover that those little 3 inch pots were not to be found anywhere in my garage.  I can’t believe it, for the last 10 years I could have sworn they were practically breeding in the garage I couldn’t even find one.  So now I have a bunch of baby plants starting their life in the bottom half of small plastic coke bottles ( I was appalled at how many I found in my son’s room – gotta talk with that boy!)

On the plus side I found a viable organic fertilizer for my hydroponic vegetables and a good planter I can convert for my cut-and-come-again salad greens.   And if anyone asks about my coke bottle pots I’m going to take the high road and claim it’s a green initiative- actually they make pretty good pots – that stuff is good for something after all. And by the way, these lovely little hot peppers have been planted in coir.

But calendar challenged also explains the 75 tree seedlings that arrived before the garden to hold them exists.  I can’t cut gardens out of the sod any more- well not unless I’m planning to spend the better part of my summer in traction.  So I booked the young strong backs of a few members of the next in line in some gene pools I’ve been hanging around for a couple of weeks- but that won’t happen til next week and the trees got here last week.

The neighbours think I’m wacko since I put 75 tree seedlings into my two front door planters -I had to do something.  Just please don’t let them still be there in a month.

I also couldn’t choose all that many, because like the people I’m doing this for I’m pressed for time and space. Finally I wanted to work with plants that would let me test some different container styles – particularly for the soil less containers where I want to be able to check out larger single plant pots, smaller individual plants set into a pipe garden configuration and also I wanted to check out a “broadcast” planter box.  I want to check into cut and come again salad greens so I wanted the most surface area I could acommodate in the space.

Here’s the list so far- Cherry tomatoes, beans, acorn squash, picking cucumbers, lettuce varieties (loose leaf) and hot peppers.  If the hot peppers seem like a strange addition – all I can say is that they can be dried and held for a long time, I like the taste of hot peppers and I happen to really like the look of them too.

Although I’m kinda late getting off the ground, if I can I’ll try and also get some snow peas added into the mix and that will probably be it.

The seeds are sprouting – I dont’ have any pots and I haven’t built the hydroponic planters yet … got to get this in gear!

Today, I took the first step in setting up my project for the summer and I’m very excited about it. You see, I’ve loved gardening all my life and lately I’ve been really interested in things like small space, urban and container gardens, vegetable gardens, the whole idea of eating as much locally grown food as possible and what are the best ways to make that happen. I put myself in the shoes of someone working outside the home, maybe travelling a lot and maybe living in a condo or simply having only a tiny amount of ground or just a deck to work with.

So, here are the questions my summer project is going to solve:

1. Can I make it easy enough for busy, inexperienced gardeners to successfully grow vegetables in containers on decks, patios and postage stamp yards?

2. What vegetables will give them the best bang for the buck – so to speak?

3. Can they maximize the yield and minimize the work at the same time?

4. How does hydroponics play a role?

5. How can I make it affordable?

I am intrigued at the role that outdoor hydroponic systems can play to solve this problem and when I first started looking into it couldn’t understand why they aren’t used more widely. Now I understand all too well – the currently available systems are too expensive for broad adoption – unless of course your aiming for a far more lucrative cash crop than tomatoes and as far as hydroponics goes right now it’s WAY TOO COMPLICATED.

I want to fix that and that, is the project. I have some tomato seedlings on the way (I hadn’t really thought of my grand plan when I first ordered them) and today I started acorn squash, two types of hot peppers and pickling cucumbers. I have half the seeds started in jiffy pots and the other half in rockwool. I’m going to grow them side by side and compare the results.