Tips for a first time apartment patio garden

[jtorrice]

I live in an apartment with a small patio that faces west. I'd like to plant some herbs and maybe vegetables this spring/summer for the first time, nothing huge. Apparently I'm in zone 6A (I live in Massachusetts). Just looking for some ideas on what to plant and when to start. Thanks!

[hendi_alex]

For herbs it really depends on your use. Some folks are into teas primarily, others into culinary. My wife and I use a large amount of parsley, cilantro, and basil, so those are basic herbs grown each year. I would suggest initially buying herb plants, but also buy and experiment with starting a variety of herbs from seed. I tend to plant a succession of these three, to always have some plants in the most vigorous stage of growth.

Also, the perennials like oregano, rosemary, and thyme can be very useful/rewarding and will live for years even when grown in containers.

My experience with container vegetables is limited but most years grow sweet peppers, egg plant, and a few strawberries in containers.

[rainbowgardener]

Good suggestions from Alex, but note the thyme and oregano should be hardy, the rosemary is not, would have to come in for the winter. Other perennial herb choices that will tolerate not having all day sun are tarragon and sage for culinary and lemon balm for a lovely light lemony tea. Mints of course are very easy to grow and do well in containers. Also think about anise hyssop, in the mint family but more aromatic and a little anisy. It's perennial, grows well in containers, doesn't mind part sun, makes a nice tea, and bees and butterflies love the flowers....

[jtorrice]

To be a bit more specific, I'm mostly looking for edibles, either easy vegetables or the culinary herbs.

Thanks for the info I've received so far, I really appreciate it! (and any more to come)

[eldridgea9]

jtorrice - I'm also from mass (somerville) and I was able to successfully grow tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, leeks, basil, cilantro, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and spearmint on my second floor porch. The onions didn't really work out too well in a container, and I had mixed results with the peppers (one plant good, the other bad). Tomatoes (beefmaster) grew very well, you need a good sized container for those, unless you opt for "porch tomatoes" (aka cherry tomatoes), which grew very well in a regular pot. The lettuce grew quick and we harvested it a lot quicker than I expected, so maybe start to grow that later. The leeks also were a nice treat as they seem to require not that much attention and grew at a fairly fast pace. The herbs have a mind of their own, especially the spearmint which will overtake whatever pot you have in what seemed like a matter of seconds. I also had a small dwarf lemon tree that is still producing lemons and is an extremely healthy and tough plant.

This year I'm going to try strawberries, green beans (onto a lattice), and a few others. I think they key to growing up here is to plant your seedlings around early to mid April, and have them in a pot by early to mid May. I'm no expert, but that seemed to work last year.