Organic Gardeners
How do I start growing organic green beans, Tomatoes, or lettuce in my kitchen?
I want to learn to grow food in my home (food that I can move with me in a few months). I have been searching online for simple step by step instructions for starting to grow just one or two vegetables inside and I can’t come up with anything. Please share your knowledge kitchen gardeners!
P.S. I live in Colorado. It is very sunny here so that won’t be an issue. It is dry here also though.
Doc Bill sort of has a point about it being impractical but maybe a little confused on organic being “meaningless”. It’s only meaningless if you’re buying your “organic” produce from the average grocery store. It can be grown organically, for sure, but once it gets shipped in a refer truck it’s absorbed the chemicals used to keep the truck refrigerated.
You’d have to have a pretty large kitchen for starters. But it is not impossible. You’ll also have to have the proper growing lights such as cool white flourescents or whatever it is that grow-ops to grow their pot plants.
Pick up some 5 or 10 gallon pots, organic soil (it’s always better if you make it yourself but something tells me you’re not in a position to do so or you wouldn’t be wanting an indoor garden). You will also need some 4″ deep trays to put your pots into and platforms under each pot so the water can drain freely. This tray MAY have to be emptied on occasion if too much water builds up & is remaining stagnant. Bacteria formed in stagnant water can cause diseases in your plants.
5-gallon pots for your tomatoes will be more than enough if you stagger the planting time & choose a dwarf variety. You’d likely do best with one of the cherry tomatoes. These will have to be pollinated by hand once they flower, as there are supposedly no flying insects in your home to do the job nature takes care of outdoors. Same with your beans.
Beans will need the 10 gallon pots. They have a wide spreading root base and do not like being restricted in a pot. I’ve never known anyone having too much success in container-growing with beans.
Use the 10 gallon pots for your lettuce as well. You can get about 4 plants of the leaf variety to one of those. I grew a really nice trout’s back romaine lettuce this way. Tender & beautiful. No sense in waiting for it form a head. Just pick the leaves as you need them.
I don’t know what your water source is. If it is municipal water with chlorine & flouride in it, don’t use it directly from the tap. Let it sit in a bucket or jug for at least 24 hours to allow the chemicals to dissipate. Yes, they do that, or so one organic gardener assured me. Once exposed to air they evaporate for the most part.
They will also need fertilizer. There are a number of organic ones out there. I use what’s called effective micro-organisms. Really inexpensive as you mix it 100 parts water to 1 part of solution. You can look it up on line. organicgardenerspantry.
Organic Gardeners
What’s your opinion of gorilla gardeners(illicit cultivators)?
http://www.guerrillagardening.org/
http://www.mnn.com/food/organic-farming/blogs/international-sunflower-guerilla-gardening-day
http://foodfreedom.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/guerilla_gardening_vb.jpg
http://amerasiaorg.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/guerilla_gardening_2.jpg
Seemingly certain local councils are opposed to the gorilla gardening movement,but where’s the harm?
Fair point Prop,all the drivers I know would consider it a game to run over the pothole flowers so they wouldn’t last long anyway.
Wonderful!
Except, “pothole guerrilla gardening?”
That might be going a little too far as the roots could possibly damage the pavement further,
and make it more difficult and costly to repair.
That would be a valid point coming from local councils.
And was that a sewage drain in the picture?
That would be a no-no also.
Otherwise, brilliant!
How to Raise Organic Vegetables : Organic Gardening Resources