New here! :)

[jasie]

Hi! I'm new here to the forum and also to the world of gardening. I'm near portland, OR.. think its hardiness zone 8/9 and sunset zone 6. I'm totally clueless to how to even start a garden as I have never had one! I don't have a garden now as I stay in an apartment, but am planning to grow some stuff in containers on my balcony. Any tips for me (esp regarding growing vegs like lettuce, carrots, peppers and tomatos in the PNW) would be greatly appreciated. I've been browsing the forum and devouring all the awesome information you guys have here. Thanks!~

[landarc]

Welcome Jasie, you'll certainly find a bunch of info around here.

[bluelytes]

Good to have another newbie like me!! WELCOME!! Hope you have FUN here.

Regards;
bluelytes

[Spider]

Hi Jasie
Greetings from the "Bluegrass" country: you may be a newbie for now but will soon become an old pro with the information available at Tomatoville; I would be lost without all the wonderful members and there expertise!
Spider

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by jasie

Hi! I'm new here to the forum and also to the world of gardening. I'm near portland, OR.. think its hardiness zone 8/9 and sunset zone 6. I'm totally clueless to how to even start a garden as I have never had one! I don't have a garden now as I stay in an apartment, but am planning to grow some stuff in containers on my balcony. Any tips for me (esp regarding growing vegs like lettuce, carrots, peppers and tomatos in the PNW)

Run, not walk, to the store or online and buy the following books:

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Edward C. Smith -- A crash course in gardening and a bit of information about each vegetable.

100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden -- by our very own Carolyn Male (who posts as carolyn137). That is a great course in starting tomatoes from seed and a field guide to 100 interesting, tasty heirloom tomatoes.

You're in the Pacific North West (PNW) and PNWers stick together, or so they say. Carrots, Lettuce, Brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts), Greens (spinach, Kale, etc.) should be a cakewalk for you. Tomatoes and Peppers, the issue you run into is long periods of cool overcast days with little sunshine. It can take a long time for tomatoes to ripen when they are "sun starved". That said, there are varieties like San Francisco Fog and some Eastern European and Russian varieties like Stupice, Silvery Fir Tree, Siletz, etc. which might be worth considering. Your best bet is to contact local gardeners in the PNW area on here and in real life .

[PaulF]

Welcome! As an old mossback from Forest Grove, I get homesick every time an Oregonian posts, so post often so I can dream of being home again. You will find most everyone to be pretty nice and a few of us are just nice.

[Rena]

welcome

[jasie]

Wow. Everyone's so welcoming here. Actually... I errr... pulled the trigger a little too early and bought seeds already. (haven't received them yet though) Let me see what I got... lol. I was reading about zone 8s and 9s without realising that the portland zone 8 was a little different from the other zone 8.... so I went and got varieties that had shorter days to mature? Not sure if that was the right thing to do... but here they are! Don't think I'm going to plant ALL of them, but I got all these seeds anyway. Yeah.. I jumped into the deep end of the ocean without a life jacket.

Tomatos (from trade wind fruit before I found this forum)
-----------
Black Cherry Tomato
Gold Nugget Tomato
Sweet 100 Tomato
Momotaro Tomato
Siberia Tomato

Others (after I signed up and went looking at links )
-------------
Little finger carrots
Shin Kuroda 5 inch carrots
Thai chilli peppers
White wonder cukes
(some random mesclun mixes... lol)

How do you guys think these would do? Would I kill them with my total inexperience? Its all going to be Balcony container gardening... (I have nooooo idea what direction my balcony faces either. ) I can't rig up permenant fixtures and stuff because I rent.... Heehee. was gonna go with either 5-10 gallon containers or those 5 gallon growit bags I read about on here. Opinions?

[jasie]

Originally Posted by feldon27

Run, not walk, to the store or online and buy the following books:

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Edward C. Smith -- A crash course in gardening and a bit of information about each vegetable.

100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden -- by our very own Carolyn Male (who posts as carolyn137). That is a great course in starting tomatoes from seed and a field guide to 100 interesting, tasty heirloom tomatoes.

I'm just a poor college student but am looking for those books at the library! Just checked, Carolyn's book isn't available and the other one is checked out until march 7th! Will try looking at other sources though, maybe my school's library will have them *crosses fingers*

[feldon30]

For tomatoes, I almost never find seeds locally that I want.

I think you're selling yourself short by having primarily small-fruited tomato vars. From TomatoGrowers.com I might try Gregori's Altai. Again I hope folks from the PNW chime in, because advice from Houston is not very beneficial even though we are the same zone.


For peppers and everything else, there's usually something that I want in the Burpee or Ferry-Morse racks.

You are really past time to start tomato and pepper seeds, at least according to your zone, but in Houston, we have to get tomatoes in the ground as soon as the risk of frost is low, so that we can get fruit set and ripe before July. In the PNW, depending on the year, you can grow tomatoes all season long so there's not that "rush".

I would find a local nursery (not Home Depot, Lowe's, Wal-Mart) that knows what tomato vars do well in your area. The Big Three that I mentioned carry the same tomato plants (Beefmaster, Celebrity, etc.) from Alaska to Florida to New Hampshire to Houston because they all buy from 1 company -- Bonnie's Plants.


Nantes and Red Cored Chantenay carrots are great tasting to me and grow reasonably well. They're 4-6" baby carrots at full maturity and you can find seeds in the racks I mentioned. Carrots and lettuce, I believe you can seed immediately if your soil is ready.


I am growing both Straight Eight and Lemon Cucumber and I got those seeds off the rack. Some people grow Diva cucumbers because they doesn't attract cucumber beetles. Cucumbers get planted just after your last frost date and usually need a trellis or arbor to climb for best results.

I would grow some French filet type beans. Either bush (self-supporting 18" plants) or pole (6-8 foot tall, like to climb bamboo, arbors, etc.) since they are very easy and rewarding very quickly. Tomatoes are an investment in time.


Tomato containers should be closer to 20 gallons than 5 gallons. A mixture of potting soil, sand, peat moss, and compost would be best, but I know you may not have that option.

Maybe you can pick up a used copy of Ed Smith's book at Half Price Books or something.

[velikipop]

Jasmine,

The Black Cherry is fantastic, but it will grow huge in a container, so you should get at least a 7 gallon one if you can and a nice sturdy stake.Steve Solomon's Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades is an excellent reference. Try Powell's in Portland for used or new copies. You might even find Carolyn Male's, 100Heirlooms Tomatoes for the American Garden there at a discount

[jasie]

Thanks feldon. I chose the smaller varieties because I don't really have that much space on the balcony. Of course, after buying the seeds, I realised that there were 2 types... And 3/5 of what I got were indeterminates. Haha. I have zero land to work with here, so its all gonna be containers and more containers. Yeah. Will probably look for something bigger than 5 gallon containers but probably can't go bigger than 10. (I can't really lift anything heavier! plus I'm paranoid that the balcony can't support that much weigh. )

Velikipop: Thanks, I forgot all about Powells! I'll probably head down there tomorrow and see what I can find. I saw pictures of some humongous sweet 100 plants towering over people... I hope mine doesn't turn out like that, but since I'm growing them in containers, their growth is going to be kind of restricted anyway. You're pretty near me (same part of the world anyway.. heehee)! How do your tomatos grow? *grin* Tips! I want tips!

[mresseguie]

Hello, Jasie.

I'm just a hop, skip, and a jump south of you. I'm in Corvallis. You've found a fantastic site IMHO.

Take a gander at Nichols Garden Nursery in Albany. Here's a link:

http://www.nicholsgardennursery.com/

Marie is an OSU master gardener who really loves gardening.

Have you considered renting a garden at any of the community gardens in P town? There are several.

Let's see what I can google........

http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/index.cfm?c=djieg

That one looks promising.

Good luck to you.

Regards,

Michael

Enjoy life today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[bluelytes]

JASIE,
Ya might check victoryseeds, I think they are within driving distance of you. IMHO, I would not go over 5 gal, depending on whats going in them. There is several that would work in medium sized hanging baskets, you could hang them from the deck above you, NO weight on your deck, . Are you a Duck or a Beaver??? hehehe If you looked out your deck door in the morning, are you looking directly at the sun?? Where is the sun when you go out onto your deck in the early AM?? Not that you can SEE the sun here in the Pacific Northwet, lol

PAUL,
Arnt mossbacks from WASHINGTON state?? Oregonians are webfoots........I think. But I am prolly wrong.....again,

[jwr6404]

Jasie
I have an extra copy of Dr Carolyn Males 100 Heirloom Tomatos that I had previously offered to someone who did not need it. PM me your address and I'll send it to you. Don't worry about the postage and enjoy/use the book.