Woke up this morning and there it was, one perfect little orb on my balcony in Portland, I nearly cried over a single tomato.
I was at a hardware store last weekend and this guy was telling his friend my setup was basically a sad collection of pots. He said it like growing food requires actual ground dirt to count. I just stood there holding my cherry tomato plant that produced 30 tomatoes last summer from a 12 inch pot. My peppers did fine too. Has anyone else had people write off your roof or balcony garden like it doesn't count?
I started my tomatoes indoors back in March and they got all thin and stretched out reaching for light. So I put them on my south facing balcony in these cheap 5 gallon buckets from Home Depot. For the first month I was watering them a LITTLE bit every day and they just stayed sad and yellow. Then a guy at the community garden told me I was drowning them and to only water when the soil is dry two knuckles deep. I also stopped fertilizing every week and did it once every two weeks instead. Now my San Marzanos are THICK stemmed and flowering like crazy. It made me wonder if most of us kill our plants with kindness in small spaces. Has anyone else seen this huge change just from backing off on water and food?
My neighbor Lou swore I'd get bigger tomatoes by using those collapsible wire cages on my 4x8 rooftop patch. I tried them for 3 months this summer and my cherry tomatoes actually got less sun because the cages took up too much room. I think they work great if you have a yard but on a tiny balcony they just crowd everything out. Anyone else find that ground-level staking works better for small spaces?
I was at Home Depot grabbing some potting mix last Saturday and this older dude walks by my cart, looks at my bags of soil and small tomato cages, and mutters to his buddy something like 'rooftop gardens are just glorified planters, waste of time.' Man, I wanted to say something but I just kept walking. My balcony is 5 feet by 8 feet max and I pulled 12 pounds of cherry tomatoes off two plants last season plus a whole bunch of basil and peppers. Yeah it's not a farm field but it's way more than a stupid planter on a porch. I think people don't realize how much you can squeeze out of a tiny space if you pick the right varieties and actually tend to them every day. Has anyone else run into people acting like small space growing doesn't count? How do you handle that kind of gatekeeping?
I set up my balcony trays with an inch of water and waited for my pepper plants to soak it up like everyone said they would. After 45 minutes nothing happened and I got worried. Turns out the soil was so dry it had pulled away from the pot edges and the water just ran straight through without touching the roots. Had to bottom soak each one for like 2 hours before they finally started absorbing. Has anyone else dealt with this super dry soil problem?
I was doing my usual morning watering on my fire escape garden in Brooklyn last Tuesday when a GIANT seagull divebombed and flew off with my biggest rosemary plant, pot and all. I just stood there holding the watering can while it perched on a water tower across the street and dropped the pot four stories onto a car rooftop. Has anyone else had birds go after their container plants, or am I just cursed with feathered jerks?
I was in Detroit visiting my cousin and she mentioned putting a diaper in her hanging baskets to hold water. I thought she was joking until I tried it on a couple of my tomato pots on my small patio. Cut a newborn diaper open, mixed the gel crystals into the soil, and now I only water every 4 days instead of every single morning. Has anyone else tried this trick with their rooftop veggies?
I started a little compost bin on my balcony about 3 years ago, but it was always either too wet or too dry. Last month I finally figured out that I needed to add more brown stuff like dried leaves and shredded cardboard. Now my tomato plants are actually getting dark soil that smells like good earth instead of rotten eggs. Anyone else struggle with keeping their small space compost from turning into a mess?
Was dumping this liquid feed every week on my patio pots. Plants looked super leafy but barely any fruit. Lady next door who grows herbs said "hey, you're burning them out with all that nitrogen." Cut back to once every 2 weeks and watered more. First harvest this week was like triple what I got before. Anyone else get bad advice from garden center employees that made things worse?
Started growing tomatoes and peppers on my roof in Austin three years ago, and I was watering them every evening out of habit. Took me a whole season to realize I was drowning the roots (and probably wasting gallons of city water). Now I only water when I see the leaves start to go a little soft around midday, which is maybe twice a week in summer. Feels weird at first, like you're neglecting them, but the plants actually look healthier and I get way less fungus gnats. Has anyone else found a weird trick that goes against common advice for small space growing?
I got this slick self-watering planter from an online store back in May for my balcony tomatoes. It had a reservoir and a wicking system, the whole deal. Turns out I didn't clean it properly between refills, and now there's a permanent mosquito nursery in the bottom. I've dumped it out twice and scrubbed it, but they keep coming back. Anyone else fall for the fancy planter trap and end up with bug problems instead of better plants?
I was totally skeptical when my neighbor up the street told me to do this. She's been growing on her rooftop for like 8 years so I figured I'd give it a shot. Wrapped 4 pots with the big bubble stuff from a package I got and zip tied it around the sides. We had that crazy windstorm back in February that knocked over my grill and I figured my tomatoes were done for. But nope, the roots stayed warm enough and the stems didn't snap. The other 2 pots I left unwrapped as a test got totally trashed. Now I'm wondering if I should just leave the bubble wrap on through the summer or take it off when it gets hot. Anyone else tried this with peppers or other stuff?
I was watering them the same as everyone else but the roots were just sitting in water the whole time, has anyone else missed something that obvious for way too long?
I have been growing basil on my balcony in Toronto for like two seasons now and it always turned yellow and limp after a few weeks. I thought I was overwatering or not giving enough sun so I kept moving pots around and cutting back on water. Last week my neighbor who has this crazy lush rooftop garden saw me struggling and asked if my pots had drainage holes. I looked at him like he was speaking another language. Turns out I was using these decorative ceramic pots with no holes at the bottom for the whole time. The roots were just sitting in water rotting away. I felt so dumb but also kinda mad nobody told me earlier. Now I drilled holes in all my pots and my new basil is actually green and bushy after three weeks. Has anyone else made a really basic mistake like this and only figured it out way later?