Newbie living in a flat needing some help

Helsieboo

Hi all

I love veggies, herbs and all sorts of things and you definately can't beat home-grown. However, I live in a third floor flat with no garden space. I have no hanging baskets, or balcony so that's not an option either.

So, I'd really like some advice on things I can grow inside in small pots and containers. I only really realistically have my window sill in the kitchen as space, though the whole kitchen does get a good lot of sunlight and I could have some things on the kitchen side.

At the moment, I am growing chillis I don't actually like them, but the seeds and the pot were free, so I thought I would give them a try and they're doing really well. And although I'm not a huge fan of hot food, I can use a small amount in my home made chillis and stir-fries and give them to my friends, so not a complete loss.

I suppose garlic and herbs would be the obvious, but is there anything else I could try?

morg_monster

I grew tumbling tom tomatoes on the (east facing) windowsill in our flat and had a good crop a couple of years running although they weren't in huge pots (6" max). Also I tried rocket successfully and loose-leaf type lettuce (like "salad bowl") should work well. I would plant things you are actually going to use as they do start to take over the place once you get into it!! I also grew a ton of basil one year, just kept potting up cuttings, I must have had 16 plants in the end, a bit crazy really, but the pesto I made at the end of it was spectacular!

Do think about if you are going on holiday at all over the summer - in small containers plants will need watering every day pretty much (if not twice a day), so if you're away for a week during the summer you'll need someone to come in and water them. I remember taking 6 tomato plants round to my brother's up the road, for him to look after when we went away... he was so pleased...

emilyka

Ooh, you can grow most of the plants that would grow successfully in a greenhouse and that dont grow too big for the space you have. E.g:

-dwarf citrus plants
-salad leaves
-sweet peppers
-radishes
-aubergine
-tomatoes

The bonus of growing indoors is no frost or variable temperatures (unless you play hokey cokey with the thermostat :rotfl:) the problem is that the heat can get too much for plants and they can dry out very quickly. I find that if you sit individual pots in 1/2 inch water in a tray it drinks what it needs (useful if you're away over night or for a few days max)

Em

confusedroast

I am currently growing dill, basil, rocket, salad leaves, chilli's, parsley, mint etc which you can continue to grow on the windowsill inthe kitchen and bathroom - I put mine behind the blinds and if its been a hot day let them soak in the sink

Have you thought about putting a hanging basket into the corner of the kitchen cuiling and have tumbling tomatoes from that? Do you have window ledges outside? You coudl get up on a ladder and put some wire along the ledges in order to put window boxes in...?

Helsieboo

Never thought of the bathroom! What a fabby idea.

Can't hang anything outside windows unfortunately, and don't think my kitchen is laid out, but thank you all for the ideas.

Mmmmmm dill.

midnightraven3

i was browsing and found these
http://www.poundland.co.uk/product-range/a-z/large-pot-planter/
they may be an answer for herbs if you are short on space:D

Helsieboo

Ooh! I have a poundland near me. Thank you.