I’m going to take some space and plants some food plants this spring.
Any opinions on what I should grow?
Note: I live at about 1000 feet altitude in a valley northwest of Washington DC. Pleasant in the spring and brutally hot and humid in the summer. The land I want to plant is on the NorthEast side of the mountain and would get medium to good sunlight for the summer. Should be plenty of rainfall as well through June and July.
So what should it be?
Side issue: Lady Chance doesn’t want me taking up space in her flower garden so she’s insisting that I grow them in pots. Is that fascist or what?
Chili peppers. Hang them up when they’re a color you like and either cook with them or use them for decorations. Or, you could borrow a food dryer from somebody.
hmm…
fascist:
1 : blah blah politics blah
2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control
I’ve been thinking about this lately too. I live in an apartment, but during the summer I get fantastic afternoon sunlight on the balcony.
The person underneath me grows tomatoes…they looked so good when I moved in back in August. I’m thinking about giving them a shot on the balcony this year.
I think I may have to go to Home Depot this weekend just to see what they have.
You can start strawberry plants in that climate, although you won’t reap the benefits for a couple years yet. Then you’ll have 'em coming outta your ears!
I grew chili peppers on my balcony last year, we had far more than we could eat (because they were so spicy!) so we put them in a jar with white vinegar and now we have really spicy white vinegar to season things with. Yum !
This was in Toronto which has a shorter summer than you probably do but it’s just as hot and humid.
My friend grew strawberries for shade (which she got) and berries (which she didn’t).
This year I plan on a few tomato plants, a squash, and maybe zucchini …
Herbs are also always good, basil for one grows like a weed. It would go nicely with your tomatoes.
Strawberries would do great in your climate, and if you’re doing them in pots you can start now which means you should get at least a small harvest this summer. Your best bet would be to start with baby plants from a nursury and not seeds. The great thing about strawberries is that they have very shallow roots, so you can plant a whole bunch of them in a single “strawberry pot” that has little windows all over the sides. Here’s a basic get-started page for potted strawberries if you’re interested.
Tomatoes also do quite well in containers, as do radishes, leaf lettuce, green onions and cucumbers (if you’ve got enough patience to deal with their vines). Have fun and good luck!
Dwarf french beans will do fine in a pot, as will courgettes (zucchini). It’s almost impossible to go wrong with chillies and you can get dwarf bush-type tomato plants that will even grow in a hanging basket.
Fresh herbs are very worthwhile too; I’d recommend Parsley Sage, Rosemary and Thyme [resists the urge to break into song]- if you get a large strawberry planter (the kind with holes around the side), you could grow all your herbs in one pot - in which case I’d also recommend Basil, Savory and Chives. Coriander too, if you like the stuff.
There’s nothing quite like tasting the first of your perfectly -ripened sun-warmed cherry tomatoes, wrapped in a freshly picked basil leaf.
Check out Johnny’s Seeds catalog for some cool veggies. They’ve got a little of every kind of vegetable it seems. Tried and true varieties plus weird stuff like blue potatoes to keep gardening fun. Homegrown carrots are great, get a stubby variety that’ll fit in your containers. See if your wife will let you have some space for corn though, ya gotta have fresh sweet corn come summertime.