I was standing in my kitchen the other day while boiling some pasta and I began to think about how much I would enjoy using homemade pasta rather than store bought. I would enjoy a homemade pasta noodle. It then occurred to me that if I was going to put the effort into making my own pasta, I should make my own sauce as well. I needed tomatoes. At this point I knew my tomatoes would need a great blend of herbs and vegetables. I knew immediately that I did not want to use the junk ingredients and vegetables I found at WalMart. I didn't want to scour the city looking for organic ingredients.
Fuel this with my minor interest (but never realized) interest in gardening and I had the recipe for an adventure. However, renting a studio with no chance of an outside plot of land has led me to the decision of container gardening inside the small confines of my studio.
I've spent just about a week now trying to read as much as I could around the subject of container gardening. Not just container gardening, but organic gardening. I wish to remain 100% organic. I've spent probably the last 6 hours reading the posts on helpfulgardener.com but I am left with a few questions that I really couldn't seem to work out. Which is great considering I came here with about 100 questions and almost all of them answered by reading.
I will be using a herb growing kit [url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000RU21KU/?ie=UTF8&tag=thehelpfulgar-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000RU21KU/[/url] for my herbs...The tomatoes and peppers (among possibly some other vegetables will be put into an upside down planter) As for the rest of my vegetables..read on..
Question 1:
Because I want to keep this 100% organic, I'm a little confused on what my planting medium should be. This goes for both the vegetables and herbs. All compost? Some form of organic potting soil? Soil-less soil? A combination of all of those?
I am looking at Black Gold® Natural & Organic Potting Soil as my main soil, or something similar. Is this what I need to stay organic? If so, do I need to add compost in with this during the initial seeding? Down the road? Is adding compost through time "fertilizing"?
Question 2:
As for the vegetable containers, is it beneficial to use the "self watering" pots that have the little lip on the bottom for watering? Designed to show you how much water is in there, etc? Or should I go with a normal pot with a hole on the bottom?
Example of the self watering:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-Self-Watering-Planter-Set-of-3-Ivory/12511406
I'm very excited about all of this. I plan on documenting all of this as well as I can to aid others and myself and to measure and share progress. Thanks to anyone for any information about my two questions above!
~Kevin