Please forgive me if this has been covered before , but I did do a search over the forum and did not find much information regarding container and or deck gardening.
I was googling for this information when I came across this forum, so I thought I'd join up and see if I can get some ideas and tips for doing my own vegetable, herb and even flower gardening on my deck at my Oregon (Portland area) apartment.
Not wanting to act out of place here, but if there are others also interested in the same types of gardening, maybe a Container Gardening Forum could be started?
Anyway, I look forward to participating here and getting some good information to help me out in my endeavors!
I think this topic would best be covered in the vegetable garden forum seeing that this is what you want to grow.
Anyway, a lot of vegetables and most herbs can be grown and are grown in pots and planters.
Mustard Greens and Lettuces do really well in pots and planters as do peppers, tomatoes, carrots (yes, carrots)
Carrots would be best in a long lanter.
The world is you oyster with herbs. Just about any conventional herb will do well in a pot. Oregano, Rosemary, Thyme, Basil (basil likes it really warm with lots of sun. Also, only water once the soil has just become dry, otherwise the roots can become infected with disease), Parsley, Coriander and so on.
As with all gardening, start off with some good soil. You can buy compost from nursaries or you can make your own in your apartment from your kitchen scraps. Trouble is, that you will need to find some red wriggler worms to put into your indoor composter and they can be a quite pricey.
Yes flowers, once again the world is your oyster. Seeing that you probably only have a deck, hanging baskets would definately be a good idea, fushias are lovely and tomatoes are great grown in hanging baskets. Those wire baskets with moss are really nice, you can plant flowers and other plants along the sides so that you have stuff coming out all over and not just from the top of your hanging basket.
You are correct in that mainly veg/herbs are the main focus, but I really want to put some color out there too, so the flower information is great too.
Unfortunately, we only get morning/early afternoon sun. Would that be a HUGE problem? Or are there some good choices to go with that don't require a whole lot of light?
There is nearly every type of plant represented in containers, not just veggies but perennial, fruit, trees (we do a nice trade in our Bonsai Forum) are all represented and the topic has been getting a good bit of press as well as some authors attention (my friend Sydney Eddison has released a wonderful book on the topic).
That there book looks like it may have quite a bit of good information! Does anyone have any books they might recommend that focus on specific geographic areas?
, but I did do a search over the forum and did not find much information regarding container and or deck gardening.