Growing your own food, even a little bit is an excellent way to shake up your life and give it a little bit more meaning. There is nothing quite like the satisfaction of being able to turn to your friends at dinner and say: “Yeah, those tomatoes you’re eating… I grew ‘em. No big deal.” Think about this: all of human civilization, as we now know it, was brought about because of agriculture. There was a time where most of spent at least some time harvesting our own food, to some degree. Start with one tomato plant- see what happens, take a risk.
Growing your own food is actually pretty easy. You’ll need sunshine, dirt, a edible plant of some kind and probably some water at some point. Empty olive oil cans or other clean, re-used pots can be used to hold your “crops.”
Things you can grow in containers
Corn
Tomatoes
Beans
Cucumbers
Squash
Herbs
Even with a small balcony you can grow vegetables. The key is having a large amount of sunlight. If you’re someone who can’t remember to water everyday in the summer, then home agriculture may not be the best option for you.
How to get started:
1. Buy some seeds. Any seeds will do and their are multitudes of heirloom and organic varieties available.
2. Buy some dirt. Dirt comes in bags. *shrugs*
3. Buy or find some pots or containers. Know that from seeds, plants will need to be raised in small, shallow containers and then transplanted later into much larger pots.
4. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS! Read the back of the seed packets carefully and follow them to the rule.
5. Too much to remember? Go to a garden centre, buy a bunch of vegetable starters, take them home, stick them in pots and water them regularly. Go have a cup of tea, stand over your garden and look proud.
If only seed companies sold multiple-season seeds! All retail sold seeds are genetically modified to terminate after only one season, compared to the re-sowing of seeds season after season. It forces the purchasing of seeds year after year!
There are seeds available in stores and online from small farms and seed companies that are not “terminator” genetic variations as @precaution warns. Terminators are produced by large agrobiz companies like monsanto who have been controlling large amounts of our food systems for decades now. They invented many pesticides and herbicides, and then genetic variations of plants like corn, soy, tomatoes etc that have a gene code making it tolerant to the chemicals and to have other “desirable qualities”. The idea of coaching certain qualities within crops is timeless, it is how humans created agriculture, by finding plants and beasts in the wild and then over years and years of picking the seeds from the favorites, with the biggest fruit, the hardiest to drought etc they developed domesticated varieties. GM crops have taken this practice to warp speed by modifying genetic codes, sometimes even by introducing traits of other species.
To find seeds that you can plant, grow, harvest the seeds from at the end of it’s season, and grow again next year, look for heritage, organic seeds like it says in step 1 above. Finding plant varieties that are hardened to climate conditions in your region is also helpful, this is a natural evolution that plants develop through acclimatization.
Oh and about soil, bags are a good way to start out, that is if you don’t have access to compost. You can make soil as good or better than what comes in a bag with some red wriggler worms in a rubbermaid under your sink, or a pit/fenced/barrel type thing outside, or using microbes like bokashi and your kitchen scraps!
Hi Nick! My balcony doesn’t get a lot of light (it’s north-facing). What are some veggies and such I can grow that don’t require too much light?
Well the short answer is… not much. Beans, maybe? Unfortunately, for most veggies to blossom (ie, bare fruit) they need quite a bit of sun.
Hi, Emily,
Greens are a great choice and don’t actually like tons of sun. I love kale because it’s super-hardy and full of nutrients, but you can try some of the smaller gourmet lettuces as well. If you’re worried about having enough sun to sprout things, you can get starter plants from farmers’ markets.
For vegetables, try radishes and peas, neither of which need full sun. And for herbs, mint in particular loves cool northwest weather, although it’s pretty aggressive and you’ll have to keep an eye on it. I’ve also found chives do well in partial shade.
Good advice, Kaitlin!