Secrets of the City

I have never had much luck starting plants from seed.

I plan a major rehab of my various gardens (wildflower, butterfly, raised bed) at Stately Moffitt Manor once Spring has truely sprung anew.

I have just a small sunny patch, and that’s where I grow small plants, like basil, sage, thai peppers. I’ve never grown from seed, so I have no advice there.

If your garden gets a lot of shade, I don’t know if there’s a lot of food you can grow, but there are tons of options for pretty plants that thrive on less sun.

You can get plants (tomato and pepper) at Menards like 6 for $1. Thus, it alleviates the pain of starting from seeds which you have to plant in like February. I have had great success with them.

I enjoyed gardening for the few years I did it. Loved to grow peas and beans. Didn’t have much luck, though, with brussels sprouts or broccoli. Also grew sunflowers, and had a patch of wildflowers growing around my rock garden. (Rocks are especially tempermental things to grow.) Eventually added some raspberry and blueberry plants.

The first year I gardened, we discovered we had a woodchuck in the neighborhood. He’d come over and rape my sunflowers and beans; that’s when I learned of the benefits of fox urine and cayenne pepper.

I never did anything special with the soil. Never tested it, and never added any fertilizer.

I am surprised how well cayenne pepper works to keep the rabbits away. I chased a rabbit away from my peppers, put some cayenne down, and the little bugger left the peppers alone.

I think we need to hear more about Jane’s small sunny patch.

We’re going big time recession garden this year, with a newly purchased canner for tomatoes

I’m trying to grow salad greens in an aerogarden in my attic right now. looks like the batch of seeds that came with it are dead though (my mother gave this to me for christmas two years ago and I forgot I had it). Waiting for my amazon gift card to show so I can buy a new set

I’m super cheap

I have a pretty good container garden growing right now…I’m wishing and hoping for a balcony some day to actually grow food.

Well! Since you asked, it is a nice sunny patch with rich dark soil.

Thank you for your interest in my sunny patch!

I plan on throwing down some stuff, too. I need to stick something in the front of the house by the windows because it’s really bare without the bushes we used to have. There’s also a garden in the back that is over run by some damn rose bush that won’t die so I need to kill it and put something cooler there.

I would consider taking that rosebush off your hands, sandburg. I like free stuff.

This is how to start seeds!

Can’t wait to grow as much food as possible!!

Screw worthless lawns. Mowing them with polluting mowers, fertilizing them with polluting chemicals, etc…

All organic gardening too!

I built that contraption myself btw!

That’s cool vlado.

It totally looks like you are growing weed, btw

“Screw worthless lawns. Mowing them with polluting mowers, fertilizing them with polluting chemicals, etc.”

I’ll put my fert-free outdoor summer/fall harvest up against that little science experiment any day, Vlado;)

Are you burning coal to keep those grow lights glowing, vlado?

Earth hater! (grin)

@vlado4: Hmmmmm. I wonder what the neighbors think. Good thing you keep the blinds closed.

I really don’t start anything from seeds except beans, peas, beets, radishes, carrots, turnips and lettuces. For most everything else our growing season requires the purchase of either vlado’s setup or already started plants.

Well I know I am sorta wasting electricity but I buy wind from Excel for whatever that is worth.

Also if I didn’t have a horribly not sunny apartment I would not do this….

Last year I tried it by just putting the lights by the window and the plants were bad.

Anyhoo, yeah, once I get a house I am building a greenhouse!

Gardening FTW!

We plant vegetable gardens every year. ~~meh~~ Like fresh vegetables. Use Miracle Gro, and fertilizer in moderate doses because, you know, they work.

Didn’t have much need to boast about it, like vlado.

removed the previous owners garden last summer, re-sodded the whole yard. way better for wiffle ball.

lunds has good vegetables.

Has anyone tried fertilizing with egg shells? I just did it last weekend and was wondering if anyone had anything good to say about it other than it’s a big fat mess.

Traditionally, a great Minnesota fertilizer is fish guts. The Rat knows a fly fisherman who used to catch carp for the sole purpose of throwing them in his garden.

Not saying it’s right. The Rat wouldn’t do it.

But if you catching fish and cleaning them, no point in wasting the entrails.

Well, I’m not much of a fisherman, and I don’t think the smell of fish guts is a very good apartment air freshener, so I’ll pass on that one, too.

My cats would love it though.

You can buy some bone meal. That’s like flour.

How much are cigarettes, now Allie?

Just over $5 now. I’m not quitting yet, though. It’s the principle, now.

Fussbudgets like Roland Martin like to tell people about their principles:

“If I’m walking down the street, and the person in front of me is leaving their trail of smoke, I’ll happily speed up to get past them or publicly wave the smoke out of the way when walking by them to show my disapproval.”

link

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/01/martin.smoking/index.html

What’s the price of smokes have to do with gardening rat?

Regardless, get the fuck over it rat. You’re a buggy whip retailer in an age of horseless carriages.

Ooh, that would so hurt my feelings.

As for the link: It’s not like the rat is beneath tut-tutting his disapproval of activities he doesn’t like.

It’s not about my post, it’s about ME, eh, Dave?

Believe, me, I’m not that interesting. Find another subject.

I believe you, Rat.

Going to the opener, Kurtis?

Yep. It was practically impossible to get tickets this year, but I managed.

I am blessed (cursed?) with just a small patch of sun in an otherwise shady year in Saint Paul.

This has been turned into a small, but productive, herb garden. In season, it is used as a “kitchen garden,” a plentiful source for fresh herbs while cooking. In the autumn, remaining herbs are dried and used throughout the winter. (Beats the heck out of store-bought dried herbs I’ve had for well over a decade and still haven’t finished!)

Those winter provisions are nearly finished, and once again it is time to prepare for this next growing season.

If your gardening space is limited, I strong encourage this approach.