Many thanks, been searching for "grow organic for life" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Ever heard of - Ponorcas Unconventional Primacy - (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now )? It is a great exclusive guide for discovering how to grow an unlimited food supply and ditch large food companies without the normal expense. Ive heard some awesome things about it and my cousin got amazing success with it.
interesting points ,if anyone else needs to find out about organic garden wikipedia try Proutklarton Alive Products Plan (do a google search )? It is a good one of a kind guide for discovering some powerful organic produce secrets using aquaponics minus the normal expense. Ive heard some super things about it and my work buddy got amazing success with it.
If you are looking for larger pots I've been using a method for a while. I get food safe 55 gallon barrels. They cost me $15-20. I cut them in half to make 2 ~30 gallon pots for cheap (the barrels actually hold about 60 gallons when completely full). Make sure to drill some drainage holes. If you live in a hot dry area you can drill the holes up an inch or two on the sides to hold a little extra water. You could also source smaller barrels and use the same technique.
I really like this series. Not necessarily for me because I have a larger space (but it still gives me ideas for my place), but I like that it goes to basics and encourages people to grow their own food. These are such important skills to have.
PARTICULARLY the flavorings. As I JUST made a store brought "raw" plain cheese pizza to take the ENTIRE oven rack, with JUST that from my garden (about a $3.99 packet worth I would say?) and it made it THAT much better and not just BOLDLY adding "a rosemary taste to it". Even though I got a big patio, starting herbs' from starts was so HORRIFYING for me. Because of how they grows them before reaching stores' shelves. That ONE TINY Rosemary was the ONLY to survives but now thriving (probably due it's slower than usual establishing time coupled with LOW powered light and far hanging).
To save money, I would use the budget compost on the bottom half and fill to the top with the premiums compost. This can be topped up with successive crops.
Love this video. I did successfully grow both herbs and vegetables (tomato, zucchini etc.) on a south side balcony in a very windy area using cheap resources, maybe some folks can get some inspiration: We do have a recycling store down the block and they do resell old plastic paper bins or laundry trays for a couple of cents. No need to buy more expensive pots and engaging in further plastic production. I also take plastic bottles from our nearby forests and turn them into pots - takes a little pollution away from nature and besides that, the bottles are for free. Small ones work for one garlic head or so, and bigger ones for herbs. At the junk yard, you might even get old pallets and plastic foil for vertical gardening or even those big plastic containers for mixing cement. I also used those shoe-organiser-things to grow strawberries or other small plants. The only downside: Most of these items are not as pleasant to look at - but if it is really just about increasing space and growing your own food, looks should not matter. Cannot wait for this season, scaling up yet again. Curious how this will turn out :)
I live in a townhouse with a small fenced in patio in the back. My biggest bit of advice is think growing vertically! They have vertical growing pouches that can hang on the fence that are great for herbs or small vegetables, or stacked gardens that can just sit on the concrete. Also railing boxes are great for things that I need a lot of sun for. That being said, I really love the idea of filling one large bot with different plants!
Before this video was even over I had shared it on FB. I love how you theme your pots. It reminds me of the pizza garden I grew with the kids. We planted a tomato, some onions, basil, and oregano. The kids were over the moon when I made a pizza with the produce. PS: I just subscribed.
I so enjoy your videos I have learned so much. A few years ago I had given up my love of gardening due to my server arthritis but with the help of my grown sons we have implemented raised garden beds around the backyard that are easy for me to access. Watching your channel has brought me out of my depression and into the garden. May God Bless you and your family. Thanks again❤
For efficient use of limited space I like to use square or rectangular Rubbermaid containers , use a boot tray for underneath to catch extra water . Have a great day =)
Hi Mark. Very interesting. I have a garden but I'm nearly 80 and not very mobile now. I can't dig any more so I grow tomatoes, beans ad potatoes in large pots. I can reach them easier. I also have an enclosed, glazed front porch, facing south, and I grew cantaloupe melons in there last year. Not bad for London, UK.
Put two square washing up bowls together one inside the other. Drill holes in the top one and fill like a pot. Square ones don't blow over in the wind and they tesserlate better. Great videos mate.
I follow your channel for a while, have been searching on YT looking for which veggies van grow in small containers - only to find you already answered my questions perfectly! Thanks you! Adding some tips og my own: Yogurt jars, protein jars, large food containers work great as DIY cheap planters (the ones this size can cost 20 usd where I'm from). Drill holes in the bottom + smaller on the sides, drill screws, and gang them using makrame cotton threads. I also reused buckets I've found. Same method. Not sure about the hanging though. Works wonderfully. I've managed to grow some potatoes in one.
I work in a kitchen and we have large tubs of bulk ingredients. When they empty I wash them out and put holes in the bottom and use them as plant pots. I got all of mine for free and my plants did very well in them.
I have used 5 gallon buckets I buy at the donut shop. A great recycle. The lids can be used for trays, though a bigger tray would be desirable. Holes need to be drilled in the bottom. But I pay $5 for a sturdy plastic 5 gallon bucket with lid and wire handle. The drawback for me withered buckets is that they become brittle in the central Texas heat . Thanks for this series! ❤
Your video is very professional! You have perfect sound, light, video editing and also very good and unique content! I really appreciate this! I learned alot!
Your videos make me so happy! I'm planning my very first veggie garden in a small back yard thanks to all the knowledge from your videos. Thank you for all your tips!
I’ve found grow bags on Etsy and amazon for relatively cheap (about $3 USD if you order in a pack of five). Then you can set them in a kiddie pool or laundry basket to hold water and to save wear to the bottom. So much healthier for the plants and I’ve had really good luck with them.
In a kiddie pool! I'm looking for a few of these now for little mini ponds around my house, so grow bags around these for extra water is even better!! Great idea😉
Another great video. On containers - I recall there was a chap that appeared on Gardening Australia some years back that turned polystyrene boxes (with no holes) into mini wicking beds. This would be ideal for balconies. Also i have used those 'floppy poly tubs' to grow in - they last as well as plastic pots.
I’ve used old kitty litter buckets (USA), cleaned out well, drainage holes. And grew tomatoes in them. Also use small microwave meal pots and yogurt pots for smaller pots... or bottom of milk jugs are quite useful for cheap potting. Even the £1 buckets at the diy shop are decent potting options.
My dad goes to the local grocery store's bakery for buckets to use around the house. The frostings and glazes come in 5 or 10 gallon buckets that normally get thrown out, so it just takes a bit of cleaning to get a nice sturdy pail that can become a planter if you add drainage holes.
I'm putting in garden beds this year but also want to maximize harvest by growing in pots as well. I LOVE the themed container ideas especially the Italian and Asian ones! I have 36+ varieties of tomato seedlings and 15+ varieties of peppers growing so I will have plenty to spare for creating some Italian & Asian container gardens for myself and to give as gifts. I already have several containers of gourmet salad blends, and rainbow mixes of chard, carrots, and radishes all happily growing on my unheated sunporch here in US Zone 6B. Thank you so much for the great idea! 💞🌱🍅🥕🌶
Hello Mark, I get these growing tubs from my garden center. Really that's pretty much all I drive over for. They're $5, but they're solid. The center gets them from farmers in the area, which they once contained molasses. The center sells them, they make a little $, farmers make a little $ and I get inexpensive solid heavy duty growing tubs, it's a win win, recycle and reuse. ;) Loving the series, thank you!
you can grow in practically anywhere and in anything, black bag, wooden boxes, old tyres, ant plastic containers, just use your imagination !! great series mark 👨🌾🌱🎥👌✝
I bought some $1 big plastic mixing bowls at my local grocery for some pots and I use an old storage bin as a compost bin. Just put some drainage holes and vents in all of them and they were good to go :) though the plastic bowls have worked well, they’re not quite deep enough for what I’d like to grow. We’re trying fabric pots next as they’re inexpensive and possibly better than plastic or clay pots
I have to use containers as my soil is too poor to sustain anything but grass/a few native plants. I usually use rabbit droppings and compost in my containers for soil because it's free since I have compost bins. Every year, the only plants that thrive are the ones in containers. Container gardening is amazing. I am using the same compost/droppings to fix my soil but it's gonna be awhile before it's fixed. Edit; I think I have a plan. I'm gonna run my ducks through my garden a few weeks before I plant and i am gonna put lots of rabbit poop on it too.
I've loved your videos for a couple years now. I just got my own apartment this winter and am looking forward to trying a garden on my porch. (Hopefully it gets enough sunlight, I will probably add a grow light or three) And thank you commenters for the ideas for containers! I realized we throw out a lot of plastic gallon containers a week that are decently sturdy at work. I am going to have to grab a few and clean them out
Great video! This year, I'm using 5 gallon buckets from my home improvement store. I'm no sweet young thing any more, so even though I have a wonderful back yard, just can't garden like I used to. You've given us valuable information ... thank you!
We are moving back to an apartment that has a small balcony. We do have a potted orange tree that will appreciate leaving the high desert. We also know we can get dwarf lemon or lime trees. Cherry tomatoes though I might hazard a rutgers tomato plant but will have to rein it in. Multi use pots for herbs (both for culinary & medicinal), lettuce should be breeze as will cucumbers & hot peppers! Garlic, onion bulbs might be a challenge. Potatoes definitely a no go. Squash or pumpkins will probably not happen but I may try anyway because I'm stubborn like that. :D
Finally found a channel that relates to me. And covers everything I needed. Directly to the point. And simple. Easy to follow. Was almost tempted to return my starters I picked up today. But this channel changed my mind
If you order any kind of delivery meals (YouFoodz, Lite 'n' Easy, etc) they come in large polystyrene containers, which whilst not pretty, can be used as excellent free insulated pots. :)
I have a garden but grow a lot of stuff in pots for the terrace. To save money I put old or cheap compost in the bottom of the pot where the roots aren't going to reach down to (or use plain old soil) and then use the decent compost on the main body of the pot. I also pop in crocks and I've even taken big stones from the garden. It saves a little bit of money. Also, I'm loving the fact an Australian man said the word 'vegetarian'.
Thank you for infos, I stay in the hot climate area so I try to grow greens in shady area since my country hot I choose brown bucket to grow my veggies cos less heat generate into the roots
I grow herbs and veggies in 2 litre soda bottles. I drill a hole in the bottom just big enough for the next bottle top to go through and replace the top after drilling holes in the top for water flow. Then spray it black (stops soil going green). Cut the bottom through half way, put in the soil and seeds. I have a max of 3 bottles in a line. Takes up very small space on a wall.
96¢ buckets from Bunnings. Drill two holes in the side about two inches up to leave a well of water in the bottom for hot days. Also old olive oil cans, just use a can opener on the lid. You can hang them on the wall and cascade your olive oil cans so the two holes in the side water the plants below, so you only have to water the top plants.
He's from Australia, silly. You're supposed to say the customary greeting of "Good'ay mate. How's about a go for an ice cold Fosters and puttin' another shrimp on the barbie?? Tally-ho matey!!" They love to hear that in Australia. Especially from Americans. lol
GlobalTubeTruth I’m not an American. English is not my first language. However, I thought about it and it’s not my style to please people. Your joke is funny though, you made me laugh and start my day with a smile.
I'm so glad to see these tips! I only have a deck to grow on as there are forest animals who come at night and eat around my flower beds. I like the idea of the pots being planted in the flavors that go together, makes it more interesting. Good day!
My Walmart sells cut flowers. They reside in what looks like small garbage containers that you would put under a desk. They just get recycled. When I asked they gave me some for free. They are about 10 inches high and have an 8 inch diameter across the top.
An other way to get free pots: ask your local gardener/landscaper. They get all their plants in pots, plant the plants in gardens and are left with a ton of pots. I work as a gardener and give free pots to all my friends with balconies or rooftop terraces. Restaurants are another source. They have 10 and 20 Liters pots for ketchup, mayo, yoghurt etc. They are happy to get rid of them. While at it ask them as well for spent coffee grounds. It’s trash for them, great plant nutrition for your plants.
Currently in Ontario, you can buy large pots for $4 at the beginning of spring at Dollarama. They also sell trellises, seeds and gardening tools. I totally plan to build a small container food garden on my balcony this year.
Here in suburban Chicagoland I can score pots on trash day every week except winter. The plastic cleans and paints up perfectly so you have a nice overall look. One mans trash is another’s treasure. My neighbors don’t even know it’s there trashed pots there complimenting in our yard! Saves more $$$ for the seeds and plants. More is more in the garden.
I grow in both pots on my deck and in my bigger garden. It's so convenient to have salad stuff right on the deck. I also grow baby carrots, Chinese broccoli and Chinese cabbage, silverbeet, beetroot, mint, flowers and lots more in the pots.
As Mark said, flavor is where it's at if you are not yet ready to grow out everything or able to. Almost everything can be grown even in this circumstance though. Without even resorting to Hybrids, "ulimate" dwarfs or other EXPENSIVE options. Professional farmers even grow MIGHTY 60 feet mango trees by keeping them pruned up HEAVILY in a way that they only get about 8 feet per tree. Since it's limits pests, falling literal exploding fruits, etc. So they are able to actually get a WAY better NET harvest per tree!
Garbage and mop buckets are cheaper than most 'Big Box' pots and can be found in local 'Dollar' stores here in the US. I assume Australia has it's own version of one of these stores. You will have to put holes in them. You can also buy 5 gallon 'food grade' buckets from the Big Box stores that will ALSO be cheaper then regular Planters.
5 gallon plastic buckets with drainage holes drilled. You can often get those free at restaurants that buy food in 5 gallon buckets and then throw them away. Big box garden centers in the US sell them for about $3-$4 USD.
we use the flexi tubs with handles, half the price of the conventional tubs and they have handles, plus theyre bigger. we just drill some holes in the bottom edge for drainage
About getting plantpots for cheap, im a landscape gardener and whenever we get to the stage of planting all the plants on the site, i usually grab all the pots i could ever wish for, for free, since the pots would be thrown away anyways! So best advice i can give you is to befriend a landscaper, free plantpots in every size!
I have a flat with small patio in a city centre location which is very sunny. In spring it and window sills are packed to overflowing in spring with plants for allotments watering is time consuming but enjoyable. This gives me an idea for other uses.
A bit of a late comment but I just found this video and used to live in places like this. Ask your upstairs neighbor if its fine to tie string to the bottom of their balcony so you can grow indeterminate tomatoes, beans, or other vining crops. I offered to share and let em pluck from their side of things. If not, you can use cheap pvc piping stuck in a pot, with some connectors, to make a set up to string plants vertically. One bit pot on each end to anchor, a 90 on each side, and one more pip in between. Tie strings down from above and grow plants you can't normally grow up the string like greenhouses do. It works crazy well! I have peas, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, and even cantaloupes at my place using both.
Informative video as always thank you. Make sure you check if you can have things on the balcony of a unit before you start, I lived in one place where I wasn't allowed to have a table and chair visable from the street. A friend of mine uses old work boots to grow her herbs in, I have used old upright vented washing baskets to grow potatoes.
I love this video series Mark! I just started watching your videos a few weeks ago, but this series is particularly applicable to me. I live in an urban are with a pretty small back yard, and an even smaller little front lot (calling it a yard would be far too generous. It's very encouraging and inspiring to hear you! I'm pumped for this upcoming growing season, you've given me lots of knowledge to use in the future! Greetings from Richmond, VA, USA
thank you for mention about not annoying your down stairs neighbors. i live in a downstairs apt. and do well on my patio garden. the upstairs though just has a bunch of flowers, she over waters them and get dirt all over the place. it all comes down on me. ruining my plants, and making it imposable for me to spend any time out on my patio.
Came back so I can recreate the Mediterranean one. Every basil seed I planted sprouted and they are getting big. Far too many for the pots they are in. Gonna go get a pot and soil from the dollar store later today. I also have some tomatoe plants. Gonna look for some other herb seeds when I go. I like these mixed gardens because it saves space. Planning on growing them in my room. I plan on filling my room up with plants. I have a small farm that has a garden, but I love having plants inside.
I save milk cartons and turn them into small pots, I also have 1 and 2 ltr bottles to create small greenhouses for starting plants and hang them from my balcony railing or put them in the window.
Thank you so much for this. I have a balcony on the top floor and get tons of sunlight. I was trying to figure out how best to utilize the space. Super informational. My neighbors can just deal with it, it's water. Ever seen rain before? I really do just need to move outside of the city though.
Milkcrates from any grocery store (line them with landscaping fabric) Flower bins from any flower shop/grocery store. Icing buckets (usually 3 gallon buckets) usually free (think Costco/Walmart/Publix) Water gallon jugs after cutting top off are good for individual herbs. Terra cotta pots are usually inexpensive also Zoos often have their own composting and recylcing program that provide compost a lot cost or almost free.
Awesome vid mate! Gonna try to grow my own veg once I get my own apartment. I'm all about sustainable and minimalist living so the video really helps, cheers
Right now I rent so can't grow in the ground or use permanent containers or beds. Right now I use different size grow bags I bought off Amazon, and 5 gallon (food grade) buckets I bought for like $2 at Tractor Supply... I also use coconut coir (also because I'm vegan) because I live in a usda zone 10 with eucalyptus mulch to hold in the moisture seeing as its hot and humid. Cheers and thanks for the vid's love everyone of them.
Looking at this my balcony plans seem very ambitious. I am not just planning herbs I am looking for some decent variety of veggies too. Maybe some smaller fruit plants and then some oyster mushrooms for the one corner in the apartment. Am I possibly overextending myself, maybe? I am still going to try it, definitely.
If people have open water trays under the pots, please make sure they dry out every few days so they don't breed mosquitoes! I grow stuff in the ultra-cheap black 9 litre buckets from Bunnings - they're less than a dollar each. Drill (or melt with a heated metal skewer) drainage holes 50-100mm up from the bottom so the undrained bit serves as a wicking bed type reservoir, and mix supermarket coir 50:50 with the potting mix. I have several buckets full of just mint, though, it does not share living quarters willingly.
Comments were disabled on the guinea pig video, but another easy animal is Rabbits, they are a sustainable meat source, their poop is a cold fertilizer so you don't need to compost it first, and there are breeds used for wool production. Plus just like guinea pigs, they feed your garden and the garden feeds it.
i get my buckets from the diy-market, they´re normaly used for mixing mortar - they´re dirt cheap+come in different sizes, just drill in some holes and you´re good to go ;-) planting herbs underneath your tomato can backfire though, mine did so well it smothered the poor things, plus some herbs like thyme don´t do well with fertilizer, which the tomato obviously needs
Those 5L ice cream buckets/containers have made excellent potting soil containers in the past. still use them even now. just make a couple of holes in the bottom and a makeshift catchment in the bottom and you're golden.
Bunnings have thick very flexible black containers with handles they sell as general purpose carry alls. Just drill 5-9 decent holes in the bottom. I have used them to grow all kinds of Veges. Also for carrying Garden clippings, Mixing Potting Mix & carrying water. They come in about 4 sizes & are dirt cheap. Just looked it up. Brand is Ezy Storage 16 litre $3.50 26 Litre $4.00 42 Litre $4.45 60 Litre $6.98 Only available at full Warehouses. Also different colours are now available.
