Urban in my Herbin Garden

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Urban in my Herbin Garden

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

I've got 2 questions.

I am getting a place in Boston with a fair amount of indoor space. I want to grow herbs over the winter.

I can do this in a basement area with artificial lights with a maximum of around a 4' x 8' area total which can be either some sort of bed or in pots / planters (preferred).

1. What advice can you give about an indoor artificial light setup regarding lights / duration, and also what sort of herbs would do best in this situation? Basement temp will hover between 52-65F.

2. Only partially related, what sort of plants do best in New England for spring / summer? I will have a large amount of outdoor space behind the house and it is already growing a 20yr grapevine (Niagra I think) and a large trellis. I'll be pruning that back this winter as it seems to have been growing unchecked for years. I will have a ton of space for this and I'd love to grow zuchinni, tomatoes, herbs from inside and some sort of green(s), arugula if possible, then kale and/or collard greens. Any advice here?

# ¿ Aug 17, 2013 14:31

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# ¿ May 18, 2024 03:11

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

Squashy Nipples posted:

1. Go to HydroFarm, they have several Boston area locations. While they primarily cater to the indoor pot market, they have everything you need to grow indoors.

2. Trellis makes me think of cukes and climbing peas. Kale and collards are hearty, they can take the cold and can be sown early. Tomatoes really like a long season (ie, longer then we have here), so you can start them indoors and them move them outside.

Thanks! Just the kind of advice I was looking for.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2013 15:06

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

I've got a backyard garden I want to start this spring and was going to go ahead and tarp off a section of it soon and let it sit a while over winter.

I live in USDA zone 6 (just outside downtown Boston) and want to grow a lot of stuff like collard greens, kale, squashes, broccoli, tomatoes, garlic, carrots, various herbs and maybe a few other things depending on what works out.

I have a basement and growlight setup and will at least try to start many things from seed.

My biggest question right now is what would be a suitable size garden to start with? I don't want to be too ambitious but I have a decent amount of space to work with. Largest possible garden size being something like 15'x30'. I don't want to actually make one this massive, but what would be a realistic size to shoot for? It would just be myself and my fiancee working it and eating from it.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2013 14:17

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

Cpt.Wacky posted:

On the contrary, for a beginner I would not recommend going larger than 100 sqft. With 15x30 to work with I would do a 4x30 plot. 4 feet is narrow enough that you can reach the middle easily from the sides. It would also leave room for 2 more plots the same size in the future with 1.5-2' paths between each of them.

If you have a lot of prepared ground then you're going to have to keep it weeded. A beginner is also going to dream big and plant more and more stuff without realizing how much work it's going to end up being to maintain. Even the experienced gardeners have trouble resisting this urge. You'll be better off keeping things small and simple so that you can give each type of plant the attention it needs to do well and not get overwhelmed with the work.

Thanks to both of you. So do you think 100 sq ft is good yield wise? Will I be able to plant diversely enough in that room to get things in the summer and fall and actually get enough to eat off of for a good bit?

Just wanting to avoid going through all the work of it and then get a couple vegetables here and there and not much else to show for it. (Am prepared for whatever pests / blight / etc if that comes, but barring that want to actually eat out of this thing for a lot of the year if I can!)

# ¿ Oct 17, 2013 18:51

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

Cpt.Wacky posted:

Everything you want to grow in that list will do well in a small plot except broccoli and squash (if it's winter squash). Broccoli is just really space inefficient. As an alternative you might want to try purple sprouting broccoli. Bush-type summer squash like zucchini will yield really well, rule of thumb is no more than 1 plant per person. Winter squash usually needs a lot more space to spread out but in some cases it can still work in a small plot. Last year I helped my mother build a sturdy A-frame trellis in a 2x9' section of her garden and she grew 3 spaghetti squash plants that yielded over 30 squash. Peas and beans are another thing to consider. Good yield, small footprint, low maintenance and usually works in the spring or fall for peas.

I'd try to find someone local with experience growing in your area that can fill you in on when to plant each thing. If there's a local Master Gardener group that's the place to start asking. Around here garlic planting time is mid-October (like now) so you might want to check on that too instead of waiting for spring.

Thanks! Just the kind of info I needed. Am gonna go over to the local nursery this weekend and ask around a bit about some of these things / see what they have to say about varieties that grow best.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2013 23:07

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

I started 6 cells of peppers in my indoor heating pad / grow light setup and all of them have germinated now after only 1 week. I had 4 cells of bell pepper and 2 cells of lipstick peppers.

I uh, thought they would take longer and am a little worried about how long these will have to sit indoors. I can transfer them to slightly larger pots but will not be able to keep them right on the heating pad as much. My guess is the soil temp will range from 65-75, right now it's sitting pretty even around 75-80F. I haven't even started tomatoes yet as I had read that starting them early and not being able to transfer them to larger pots in a timely fashion is bad for the plants. Is that true?

Anyway, zone 5B boston area, still lots of snow on the ground and below freezing for a while longer. Good to know I can germinate the gently caress out of pepper seeds at least!

Here's the setup so far:

And here's the little guys :3:

# ¿ Feb 23, 2014 15:41

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

luloo123 posted:

Seedlings don't have to stay as warm as germinating seeds, so you're probably safe to remove them from the heating pad now. Once they start to overgrow your growing flats, go ahead and put them into the pots. Peppers are really tolerant to potting and planting.

This is really good to know. Thanks for the advice and compliments!

# ¿ Feb 23, 2014 16:45

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

pr0k posted:

RISE! THREAD! RISE FROM THE ASHES, I COMMAND YOUUUUUU

I have grabbed two trays that hold 50 peat pots apiece. In those there is potting soil. On/in that there are planted the folowing:

thyme
oregano
chives
parsley
cilantro
cherry tomato
celery
fennel
green onion
lettuce
kale

uh probably one or two other things too.

Anyway, I'm in a townhouse, the front door faces east and I have like no southern exposure. The corner of my back deck that gets sun will grow decent tomatoes and herbs. I'm thinking about getting a bunch of five-gallon buckets and loading up that corner with stuff.

Thoughts? My wife wants expensive specialized plastic buckets. I don't know why.

Not sure where you're living but if you've got plastic buckets outside right on concrete you might want to consider putting them up on spacers (like a cargo pallet) during the hottest months so your soil temp doesn't go nuts? When I lived in TX I had to do this. The concrete temps would get way up there and cook anything on them that wasn't shaded all day.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2014 21:58

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

Why not raised beds over some thick plastic? At least that way you get to use the ground as a heatsink.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2014 01:54

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# ¿ May 18, 2024 03:11

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

Squashy Nipples posted:

I built one last spring, a yard of dirt for a foundation, a plastic liner, and yard of dirt for the planter. But it suffers from lack of direct sunlight, and when it rains super hard the gutters drill a slot down the middle. This year I'm just doing peas (because the wall does get some good direct sun) and a few mounds of zucchini there.

The saw horse garden was supposed to be a half bag each of: swiss chard, rainbow chard, arugula, lettuce, collards, and spinach.

Speaking of zucchini, at Home Depot my girlfriend picked out a Martha Stewart Organic variety of zukes, Black Beauty. The seed yield has been HORRIBLE, maybe 1/3 sprouted, and half of those were weaklings that I had to cull. Took me 3 plantings to get my mounds properly populated.

That's a bummer.

Im growing everything in your sawhorse garden right now except for the chard.

I started them way early though and honestly I think they grew better from Apr-May than they do now. The spinach and romaine lettuce all grew up great but ultimately bolted about 2 weeks ago so I've got new stuff sprouting up now. I've got them in a bed to the side that only gets about 4-5 hours of direct sunlight. The arugula is just indestructible and grows constantly. Maybe you can get away with a little more shaded location for your greens?

# ¿ Jul 16, 2014 13:14

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Urban in my Herbin Garden