What to plant in my tiny garden plot?
May 3, 2024 10:39 AM Subscribe
I got a tiny garden plot in my community garden (yay!). What should I plant? Wanna try for some edibles.
I live in Brooklyn and was just granted a very very small (think 2' x 3') raised-bed garden plot in my local community garden. I want to plant some stuff I can eat!
Only in the last few years have I even established any kind of green thumb with houseplants, so outdoor and crop planting is a whole new ballgame.
It's a super small little plot, partially-to-mostly shaded, so at first I was thinking of just looking into growing herbs, but I don't even honestly cook much, so just a pile of herbs won't do me much good. So I'm leaning towards smaller fruits or vegetables. So I'd love to know what I could plant, in the next couple weeks, that would conceivably yield some success, even if it's just 1 or 2 small things. Should I be looking at seeds or little starter plants? Seeds kinda sound like fun to me?
Please consider that I have no experience, so any kind of plant that needs special care probably isn't good with me to start out with.
Also happy to be directed toward some beginner resources/websites if you don't have any specific recommendations.
Thanks!
I live in Brooklyn and was just granted a very very small (think 2' x 3') raised-bed garden plot in my local community garden. I want to plant some stuff I can eat!
Only in the last few years have I even established any kind of green thumb with houseplants, so outdoor and crop planting is a whole new ballgame.
It's a super small little plot, partially-to-mostly shaded, so at first I was thinking of just looking into growing herbs, but I don't even honestly cook much, so just a pile of herbs won't do me much good. So I'm leaning towards smaller fruits or vegetables. So I'd love to know what I could plant, in the next couple weeks, that would conceivably yield some success, even if it's just 1 or 2 small things. Should I be looking at seeds or little starter plants? Seeds kinda sound like fun to me?
Please consider that I have no experience, so any kind of plant that needs special care probably isn't good with me to start out with.
Also happy to be directed toward some beginner resources/websites if you don't have any specific recommendations.
Thanks!
The partially-to-mostly shaded bit will hamper you. Most veggies need 6 to 8 hours of sun to really allow things to grow and mature. I think that leaves mostly greens, although they're not always tolerant of heat. Root vegetables may also work: radish, carrot, beet. Radishes are fun and easy to grow from seed - I'd get seedlings for other things so you'll be successful your first year.
posted by XtineHutch at 10:51 AM on May 3
posted by XtineHutch at 10:51 AM on May 3
Peas! Green beans!
Mostly-shaded means for vegetables your major categories of options are legumes, brassicas, greens, and some root vegetables.
Legumes: peas you can plant now, and they're chonky seeds that should be fun to start. Do you like snow peas or snap peas? Beans will need the soil warmed up, see when your garden neighbors put theirs in. :)
If you like arugula, it's pretty easy, even from seed. Leafy greens -- spinach, tatsoi, chard, mustard greens -- also work from seed and I don't see them sold as plants much. Collards and kale you'll find as plants if you want to try that.
From my own failures I wouldn't start with root vegetables besides radishes if you like radishes to eat or give away.
posted by away for regrooving at 11:27 AM on May 3 [1 favorite]
Mostly-shaded means for vegetables your major categories of options are legumes, brassicas, greens, and some root vegetables.
Legumes: peas you can plant now, and they're chonky seeds that should be fun to start. Do you like snow peas or snap peas? Beans will need the soil warmed up, see when your garden neighbors put theirs in. :)
If you like arugula, it's pretty easy, even from seed. Leafy greens -- spinach, tatsoi, chard, mustard greens -- also work from seed and I don't see them sold as plants much. Collards and kale you'll find as plants if you want to try that.
From my own failures I wouldn't start with root vegetables besides radishes if you like radishes to eat or give away.
posted by away for regrooving at 11:27 AM on May 3 [1 favorite]
Seconding radishes. With a small crop, you can make pickled radishes and they are so great for burgers, salads, falafals. (Get a mandolin for slicing and you are all set. You can also re-use standard jars since you're not canning them, you are just storing them in God's most simple brine. Glorious!)
posted by DarlingBri at 11:28 AM on May 3
posted by DarlingBri at 11:28 AM on May 3
Oh, strawberries! They are okay with some shade. Definitely buy plants do not from seed.
posted by away for regrooving at 11:29 AM on May 3
posted by away for regrooving at 11:29 AM on May 3
Kale is easy to grow and you can spli it up into leaves, flowers and stems (peel if needed) for salads and stir fry. All of it is edible! We have a big garden and kale is a staple all year long.
posted by waving at 11:54 AM on May 3
posted by waving at 11:54 AM on May 3
We are similarly limited in space, and we have grown a single cherry tomato plant every year. We largely just use the tomatoes on salads, but we also roast them and put them in jars, covered in olive oil, in the fridge. Those are great for putting on pasta.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:15 PM on May 3
posted by Thorzdad at 12:15 PM on May 3
Many plants need a certain minimum number of hours before they can put out flowers, and then many more to have their flowers reach the seed stage. This means things like tomatoes and cucumbers and peas, which need to first have flowers and then their flowers turn into the fruit/vegetable/pod, will almost certainly not have enough time to produce a crop if you grow them from seed, but have a much better chance if you buy the started plants.
This is why people are suggesting roots and greens. You don't have to wait until it flowers and produces fruit. Baby lettuce is edible as soon as it actually has leaves. If your carrots only get to be fingerling size, you still get baby carrots. And the usual beginners mistake with radishes is to leave them a bit too long and miss the stage when the little round roots are at their best. Once your radishes have flowered, those plants have passed their peak and need to be pulled up.
When buying plants or seeds, check the packaging. It should give a "days to maturity" and also tell you if the plant requires full sun, or if it can thrive with partial sun. Plants sold in pots should have a little tag stuck into the soil with this information. If you buy seeds, look for instructions that suggest you can do successive sowing. This will indicate the plant grows quickly and can survive in the spring, in scorching summer and cool autumn.
Herbs like dill would sound like a good bet for an area without much light, but a lot of them require full sun and they won't grow at all with out it.. However one thing you can do is sink pots into the soil with your herbs or other plants in them. You just dig a pot sized hole and put the pot into it so that the rim is visible. If you are growing peppermint, for example, this is recommended to prevent the plant from spreading and taking over the entire plot. In your case, if you run out of growing season weather, you can rescue your basil or your summer savoury plant by taking it out of the ground pot and all, cleaning the outside of the pot, and bringing it indoors.
posted by Jane the Brown at 12:37 PM on May 3 [1 favorite]
This is why people are suggesting roots and greens. You don't have to wait until it flowers and produces fruit. Baby lettuce is edible as soon as it actually has leaves. If your carrots only get to be fingerling size, you still get baby carrots. And the usual beginners mistake with radishes is to leave them a bit too long and miss the stage when the little round roots are at their best. Once your radishes have flowered, those plants have passed their peak and need to be pulled up.
When buying plants or seeds, check the packaging. It should give a "days to maturity" and also tell you if the plant requires full sun, or if it can thrive with partial sun. Plants sold in pots should have a little tag stuck into the soil with this information. If you buy seeds, look for instructions that suggest you can do successive sowing. This will indicate the plant grows quickly and can survive in the spring, in scorching summer and cool autumn.
Herbs like dill would sound like a good bet for an area without much light, but a lot of them require full sun and they won't grow at all with out it.. However one thing you can do is sink pots into the soil with your herbs or other plants in them. You just dig a pot sized hole and put the pot into it so that the rim is visible. If you are growing peppermint, for example, this is recommended to prevent the plant from spreading and taking over the entire plot. In your case, if you run out of growing season weather, you can rescue your basil or your summer savoury plant by taking it out of the ground pot and all, cleaning the outside of the pot, and bringing it indoors.
posted by Jane the Brown at 12:37 PM on May 3 [1 favorite]
Salad greens! They grow fast, can be harvested continuously, and live through pretty cold weather.
posted by bug138 at 1:40 PM on May 3
posted by bug138 at 1:40 PM on May 3
I have chives, sage, thyme, lemon balm, mint, and basil growing in pots on a fairly shaded Brooklyn balcony. The chives are by far the happiest and easiest to grow. Lemon balm and mint are very happy but can be invasive so are not a great choice for a bed unless you want to do the work to plant them in a pot in the ground and kill their attempts to escape. The sage and thyme do fine and my basil is pretty unhappy about the shade.
I bought plants instead of seeds and only water them when there’s at least 5 days without rain when it’s hot out. They’ve all done well with that level of benign neglect.
posted by A Blue Moon at 1:57 PM on May 3
I bought plants instead of seeds and only water them when there’s at least 5 days without rain when it’s hot out. They’ve all done well with that level of benign neglect.
posted by A Blue Moon at 1:57 PM on May 3
Nth-ing salad greens. You could grow enough, probably continuously, to keep you in salads all year -- or at least until it gets too cold.
posted by OrangeDisk at 1:57 PM on May 3
posted by OrangeDisk at 1:57 PM on May 3
I’ve had a lot of success with rainbow chard in my tiny plot - it’s stunning to look at, and doesn’t get eaten by pests nearly as much as brassicas like kale. I do have sun, though. I plant from seed in Scotland around this time of year.
posted by penguin pie at 3:04 PM on May 3 [1 favorite]
posted by penguin pie at 3:04 PM on May 3 [1 favorite]
I suggest these specific carrots to anyone who doesn't have perfect soil: Parisian market carrots. They also turn out hilariously short and round. Very tasty and you can turn the greens into pesto. The Merlin, Detroit, and Jupiter beet varieties are all short season beets and you can eat those greens too.
Rat-tail radishes have also worked for me in bad soil, partial shade, a milk jug on my porch, etc. Instead of eating the root, you eat the pods. It says full sun but they worked fine for me everywhere.
I like these specific peas because they are basically bomb-proof, they can absorb cold, heat, shade, disease...and the tendrils will aggressively grab on to any structure. Plus the yield is tasty. Peas in general should work for you.
Chives are awesome and will re-seed themselves. Violas have edible blossoms and will also re-seed themselves. Don't grow any form of mint in the ground if you are in a community garden-- it will send out runners and infest the whole plot if not the whole place. Keep it in a pot if you're going to have it. Mustard greens are tasty but will also aggressively reseed themselves if you don't catch them. It's not a problem like it is with mint, though.
Strawberries (which yes, you should get as plants) can overwinter if you cover them with leaves/hay in the fall to protect from windchill. The yield from strawberries is better the second year they are in the ground.
posted by blnkfrnk at 3:08 PM on May 3
Rat-tail radishes have also worked for me in bad soil, partial shade, a milk jug on my porch, etc. Instead of eating the root, you eat the pods. It says full sun but they worked fine for me everywhere.
I like these specific peas because they are basically bomb-proof, they can absorb cold, heat, shade, disease...and the tendrils will aggressively grab on to any structure. Plus the yield is tasty. Peas in general should work for you.
Chives are awesome and will re-seed themselves. Violas have edible blossoms and will also re-seed themselves. Don't grow any form of mint in the ground if you are in a community garden-- it will send out runners and infest the whole plot if not the whole place. Keep it in a pot if you're going to have it. Mustard greens are tasty but will also aggressively reseed themselves if you don't catch them. It's not a problem like it is with mint, though.
Strawberries (which yes, you should get as plants) can overwinter if you cover them with leaves/hay in the fall to protect from windchill. The yield from strawberries is better the second year they are in the ground.
posted by blnkfrnk at 3:08 PM on May 3
Bok choy -- grows fast, does well in cooler/shadier weather. You could probably do a few rounds of it. I'm partial to bopak bok choy specifically. Plant them tightly together and as you eat / them, you'll create space for the later ones to grow up bigger. You can eat them raw or cook them.
Mokum carrots have been my favorite carrots (sweet, crunchy, such a delight). Carrots require consistently moist soil when they germinate (there are tricks where you put cardboard on top to keep the moisture in until they start to sprout), but otherwise, they are really easy to grow and satisfying to eat.
Basil is also pretty easy to grow (and harvest decently for several weeks) and won't bolt as easily in a shadier spot.
I've found a ton of success with Territorial Seed for high quality seeds with good germination rates.
posted by ellerhodes at 5:30 PM on May 3
Mokum carrots have been my favorite carrots (sweet, crunchy, such a delight). Carrots require consistently moist soil when they germinate (there are tricks where you put cardboard on top to keep the moisture in until they start to sprout), but otherwise, they are really easy to grow and satisfying to eat.
Basil is also pretty easy to grow (and harvest decently for several weeks) and won't bolt as easily in a shadier spot.
I've found a ton of success with Territorial Seed for high quality seeds with good germination rates.
posted by ellerhodes at 5:30 PM on May 3
Swiss chard or rainbow chard! You can fit 4-6 plants in a plot that size. It's wonderfully easy to grow and very low maintenance. Once the leaves start getting large enough to harvest, cut the outer leaves and leave the inner ones intact. The inner leaves will keep growing and become outer leaves for your next harvest. You'll end up with more chard than you can eat until fall!
posted by astapasta24 at 7:11 PM on May 3
posted by astapasta24 at 7:11 PM on May 3
(You've got lots of good advice, but if I may say, sometimes flip off the good advice, or at least don't optimize too hard. No plan guarantees gardening success so you might as well wing it occasionally.
Like if you really want to try tomatoes, what the hell, what's the worst that could happen?)
posted by away for regrooving at 12:17 AM on May 4 [3 favorites]
Like if you really want to try tomatoes, what the hell, what's the worst that could happen?)
posted by away for regrooving at 12:17 AM on May 4 [3 favorites]
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posted by mhoye at 10:48 AM on May 3