ASK The Experts
,
I d like to start growing my own vegetables, but I live in an
apartment. What types of veggies are going to be the
easiest to start growing on the balcony?
Melissa
If you live in an apartment as I do and want to start growing
your own vegetables, start with tomatoes. They’re a staple of
most diets, they’re versatile and, most importantly, they’re
easy to grow while still providing something of a challenge.
I’m not as lucky as my neighbor, whose balcony looks like a
miniature farm, but I’m happy with what I’ve achieved over
the years. You’ll find your homegrown tomatoes are sweet
and flavorful, even if they’re half the size of the ones you buy
in the store. Here are a few of my favorite tips for growing
tomatoes. Hopefully this will help you avoid my failures and
start you off at a better place than I was my first year.
If you’re just starting out, transplants are the way to go. I
tried growing from seed in my apartment and found it didn’t
work, most likely because I’m lucky to hit 66ºF in my apartment and tomato seeds best germinate at 74ºF. Plant the
transplants deeper then they come in the pots, even as far as
the middle of the plant or beyond. Those little white hairs
on the stems will actually turn into roots when underground.
The deeper the plant, the more roots will grow and the
stronger your plant will be.
Next, water the soil, not the leaves. Overhead watering
is more likely to spread disease and should be avoided.
Fortunately, in many apartment complexes, balconies are built
directly above one another. This means as long as you don’t
live on the top floor, your tomatoes have a surprising amount
of protection from wind and rain, giving you a greater amount
of control over the water your plant receives for optimal
growth. Once your tomato plant is roughly 3-ft. tall and has yet
to fruit, get rid of about a third of the leaves from the bottom
because they are more likely to develop fungus and other
pathogens that can spread to the rest of the plant.
You will need to be aware of suckers. Suckers are those little
stalks that grow in between the intersection of two branches
of your plant. For all intents and purposes, they are weeds.
They will consume energy and resources that could be going to
the actual fruiting portions of your plants. Some argue against
pruning the suckers, and it appears to be dependent on what
kind of plant you have, with it being beneficial for more
upright varieties like Roma, called indeterminate type, and bad
for bushy or determinate types like early girl or cherry.
Tomatoes need their space and it’s better to start off with a
big container rather than move up as the plant grows. It is recommended tomatoes have roughly 2 ft. of space on their own,
or from each other, but I’ve had success with smaller planters.
20
Maximum Yield USA | June 2014
Some argue
it’s best to
grow tomatoes in an
upside down
planter
where the
roots are on top
and
the plant
grows out of
the bottom.
I haven’t
noticed
much of a
difference, but
this
might be because the planter
I used was actually a recycled
yogurt container.
My last piece of advice? Do
not apply fresh compost. You may
think putting food scraps directly on
the soil of your plant along with a
couple of worms is a good idea, but it
isn’t. Tomatoes like a lot of fertilizer,
but it’s best to use well-rotted compost.
I’ve made this silly mistake throughout
the years—please learn from me.
For a guide to growing giant tomatoes,
check out Russell Landry’s article starting
on page 162.
Elizabeth Marsh has begun working on her summer
garden, located on her apartment balcony, and hopes to succeed
in growing all kinds of vegetables, not just tomatoes. She has
written for Monday Magazine and The Escapist Online
and is a founding member of The Marble, a blog dedicated to
the theater scene in British Columbia, Canada.