gardening (flowers herbs and veggies) using containers...help!

[beaniebaby25]

i only have limited space to fulfil my ambitious self-sufficiency goal - i'd like to grow potatoes (which I understand can be grown in a dustbin) and I'd also like to grow salad stuff, maybe carrots and corgettes, and herbs for cooking with. And maybe some flowers to look nice .

However. I have no garden and so will be using a combination of planters on the balcony floor and window boxes - is this possible? Really I suppose i need someone who's done this before or knows a really good website?

I've been looking at the links on the earlier thread about 3x3m gardening but they're all geared towards actual gardens. I assume it makes a difference if you're using boxes etc? I'm a virgin gardener, and not very green-fingered at all, and DP thinks i won't be able to grow anything and I want to prove him wrong!

You can grow anything in anything, provided the container has holes poked/drilled in for water escape.

You need sunshine, water, earth and seeds. That's it!

thanks molly

but what about timings etc? what's good to plant now? maybe i should just go to b&q and ask one of their spotty youths gardening experts to advise me?

thats a good idea actually!!

are you in north or south? I'm pretty north so I am waiting til End of march/April to start sowing. Haaving said that, I have spinach and leeks growing now.

You can plant potatoes now, but most things can be starting off in lil pots on windowsill inside now - tomatoes,rocket, beans, courgettes.
If you're going to later put outside you will need to wait a bit as is still too cold/frosty etc.
Most seed packets give good timing advice/info on.
Herbs can be grown inside most of year round. Some herbs are annual some perennial. (ie Mint grows all year round - 'hibernates' in winter but buds agin ins spring. Whereas coriander grows for the summer season, dies and that's it. But you can collect seeds for following year.

Tomatoes will need careful wterfing and feeding.

Wee bit early for carrots, but come May, you can sow some in a deep plant pot and bob's yer uncle.(with carrots, make sure the soil is totally stone free or they will split.)

You can grow strawberries in planters.

You can even get patio-sized apple and pear trees but they will take a year or two before you get fruit.

Blueberries, figs, even raspberries will grow in pots - look in places like Lidl for special offers on fruit plants and seeds.(but you won't get a very high yield of fruit in a planter)

sweet peas are lovely growing round railings or on a bamboo pyramid. If you pput a couple of seeds in a pot of compost now, water well on a sunny windowsill, pinch out top of buds when they start to grow leggy, you can plant them in May and they will flower all summer and smell beautiful and the moe you pick, the more they grow.
Sunflowers are good in deep pots too - look for the miniature versions and protect from slugs.

My favourite is calendula ('Proper' marigolds) which are so cheerful and smell spicy.

oh wow thanks molly, great advice. I'm in london and the weather today has been haywire (glorious sun, rain, hale and gales) so perhaps i should wait a few more weeks before putting anything outside.

thanks!