High Value Apartment Crops

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. 

MARCUS CICERO

I need to get my mind off things. So I am thinking about seeds today and what to plant this year. I'd like to try growing St. John's Wort and zucchini. We dream of soil and fruit trees. But we live in an apartment on the second floor. It is difficult to grow much on an apartment balcony. As we save for our homestead, we practice on our patio in five gallon buckets. I have experimented throughout the years and had many failures (like tomatoes, unfortunately.)  I grew the most delicious jelly bean tomatoes for three years but stopped because my harvest of 20 tiny tomatoes a season wasn't worth the real estate on our porch. When space is limited, you have to grow what produces the most value. Here are my most successful apartment crops that are easy to grow in zone 8a.

1. Green Onions- Stick the bottoms of your grocery store green onions in a glass of water, and they will grow roots. Then place them into pots. Cut the fresh onion for potatoes and salads. Super easy!

2. Raspberry- If you have period cramps, grow raspberry. One box of raspberry leaf tea in the store is $4.50. So this saves me a ton of money. I ordered a Caroline Raspberry online here. If you live in an apartment. I recommend only growing the plant for the leaves to make tea. One morning when I finally had 8 ripe berries, I saw 30 wasps on my balcony covering all the branches. I have to warn you that wasps love raspberry fruits so cut, cut, cut.

3. Spearmint- It is best to buy this one as a plant. But once you buy one, you can easily propagate a cutting in water. I now have 5 plants, and I grow them indoors and outdoors. It seems the more you cut the more they grow. And they are easy to dry for tea! I drink spearmint tea for balancing hormones.

4. Sweet Peppers- Take a seed from your grocery store pepper, sprout it, and then transplant into a five gallon paint bucket. I typically harvest 13 peppers per plant. You can grow peppers in one gallon mop buckets with holes but the peppers will be smaller.

5. Herbs- Parsley, sage, thyme, cilantro, oregano, basil, tarragon, and nasturtium. I sneak them everywhere I can as companion plants in my pots. Sage, thyme, and basil are easy to root in water from the packs in the grocery store. The other herbs I start from seed.

6. Cayenne- I grow mine from seeds. They grow well in a dollar store mop bucket with holes made in the bottom. You can easily make hot sauce with 20 peppers. (NOTE: Place hot and sweet pepper pots far away from each other. If you don't, they will cross pollinate and hybrid.)

7. Zinnias- When I think of zinnias, I think of joy. A pack of seeds for a quarter will give you months of cut flowers to place in your home. I even place them in containers with other plants like bell peppers. The more plants I have growing the more color options I have. Although I can't eat the flowers, the joy is priceless.

8. Chives- I have a pot of these, and we love them on toasted bagels with vegan cream cheese. They are perennials and come back every year.

9. Echinacea- I started mine from seed this year, and I was able to harvest 10 big leaves for tea. I didn't get any flowers. It is a perennial, so hopefully, it comes back bigger this year. I am drying the leaves and using them in teas for immunity.

10. Lemongrass- I am experimenting with this one. I bought two sorry looking stalks of lemongrass from Kroger for 50 cents. I stuck them in an inch of water, and it had roots within 2 weeks. In three weeks, it had new shoots growing. Of course, I started it in September and it doesn't like the cold. So, I am growing it indoors. It's January, and it seems to be happy, I'll keep you posted. I sent my mother a bought lemongrass ($7.00) 2 years ago, and she said it grows like a weed in Florida. I say for 50 cents try it! I buy lemongrass tea 20 bags for $2.20. We drink it for heart health, and its anti-cancer properties.

11. Winter Bonus: Try Garlic.  In October, I'll stick large garlic cloves from the grocery store into little dishes with water. I put just enough water to cover the bottom. Once the roots get going, I put them into any empty pots. It's hit or miss, but it utilizes wasted space during the winter months. I harvest small garlic bulbs in spring just in time to plant new seedlings. Do not overwater, or the bulbs will rot. I've had the most success with once a week watering.

To all my apartment renting and yard dreaming friends, hang in there. And happy gardening!