The Croft’s Urban Garden
May 22, 2009 § 7 Comments
Regular readers will know I like my food.
Over the last few months I’ve been getting more and more fleeked off with not being able to get hold of the herbs I need from my local shops n supermarkets.
So why not grow my own? I have a couple of pots of basil and a pot of parsley in the window but that’s about as far as my garden grows. My Pops has the green fingers gene and has had greenhouses and gardens on the go, but me? I haven’t so much as pulled a weed since Bob-A-Job week sometime in the 80′s…
What better time of year than to have a crack at getting my own herbs on the go, a few lettuces and maybe the odd bit of veg than now. And to do it in public so everyone can see what an arse I make of it!
My garden, unfortunately, happens to be about 5m x 1m in size and four stories up by a rather windy stretch of the Clyde. It has a little shelter in one corner and faces due south so getting a bit of sun will not be a problem. Getting too much wind and rain, however, may be.
I have two large Miracle Grow Organic growbags at my disposal and a few bags of Miracle Grow Organic multi-purpose compost to fill the four largish containers I have assigned to grow my grub in. Not quite sure how Miracle Grow, subsidiary of ICI and one of the biggest chemical manufacturers on the planet can class their products as organic but hey…
I am going to try and grow the following, all from seedlings:
Dwarf French Green Beans
Mixed lettuces
Rocket
Mizuna
Spinach
Golden streak mustard
Spring onions
Basil
Parsley
Chives
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Parsley
Mint
Oregano
Marjoram
Ambitious? Maybe. Foolish? Probably. Excited. Definitely!
Those in the know PLEASE feel free to profer any advice along the way as this is gonna be a pretty steep learning curve…
That looks like an impressive list!
I grew strawbs, chillies and bell peppers up here in a cold frame last year – it doesn’t have to be big, glass can be slanted so it’ll still get the sun, but it’ll protect your plants from the wind and rain.
My strawberry plants survived over the winter in it with no watering (I’d forgotten all about them, some greenfingerd blone I am
)
You won’t be short of manure now will you.
If I am I’ll know where to find you BM
From a whole 2 years of balcony gardening experience (even if it is antipodean)
1. Don’t think that being 4 flights up (TM Lloyd Cole & The Commotions) will stop horrid insects, aphids &etc decimating your crops seemingly overnight. Caterpillars are absolutely evil incarnate, not at all cute as The Very Hungry Caterpillar would have you believe. I’ve had more pests up in the lofty heights than when I had a proper garden.
2. Your herbs will become pot-bound before you know it – if they are Failing To Thrive that will undoubtedly be the cause (that or lawn grubs, which I’m not sure that you have in the Northern Hemisphere – but which are evil bastards).
3. You will never, for a second, regret growing your own herbs. Fresh-picked from your garden is so much better than bought fresh from the shops.
4. We’re having a great deal of success with our worm farm as a composty-type thing.
5. Good luck!
Hmmmm not sure what happened I left a message last night but it doesn’t seem to be here today. Anyway I was suggesting a Grow Bag Greenhouse as a solution to your wind problem. I got one from Lakeland and have tomatoes in mine. If you put bamboo canes through the loops ment for the pegs which ancor it to the ground then place the grow bag on top of the cane that should make it wind proof and provide shelter for your plants.
I wouldn’t worry about you herbs becoming pot bound in the grow bag at least not in the first year, any of the plants that over winter and I would think several of the herbs that you are growing will, might need to be divided in a couple of years.
Happy gardening.
Dale
I am planning to have a go at carrots this year…..will watch for more photos of lovely looking herbs as they perk up Croft
Thanks for advice all!