r/containergardening

Hi everyone, i have a rooftop garden and i am worried that the heat is going to bake my peppers and tomatillos to nothing. Can anyone suggest a shade cloth that will keep them growing well?

We have relatively small balcony facing SW.

This year I decided to grow vegetables from seeds. I have 3 types of tomato, 4 types of peppers (habanero, jalapeño, unknown pepper from Mexico from friend, and sweet snack pepper), cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, grean peas and some herbs…
And some fruits - small strawberries, redcurrant, raspberry and kiwi.
Oh and cat grass, some flowers and one very sad bamboo fargesia (we had 4, but mealy bug infestation killed the rest last year - it’s pest magnet and I hate that plant 😂)…

I hope for success this year! It ended badly last three years - spidermites, aphids, too hot weather, small containers, almost no fertilizer and not enough watering…we all learning, right?

This year I mixed soil with vermicompost, coco fibre, perlite, kelp, get bigger pots and bags, using ollas, and finally we have awning for shade so the plants don’t get cooked and got liquid fertilizer.
I treated kiwi and bamboo with neem oil ( these plants were always starting point for pests) and I check them every day.

i didn’t know they had to be separated and grew 3 in one (small) pot, should i repot into different pots or just put them in the ground directly

I started my very first garden this year and I have just run with it. There are 40 or so “pots” in my garden and a lot of the bigger ones are companion planted. I’m not sure if you can overdo it but right now I don’t feel overwhelmed and I just keep planting. Some things are starts and some things are from seed. Some of my most exciting moments were seeing my corn sprout, eating exactly one strawberry, watching my bell pepper grow, picking a caterpillar off of my sunflowers and buying my blueberries! I will list what I have planted and the dates below!

/5
Chamomile-deceased
Red bell pepper

4/12
Heirloom stripey tomato
Basil
Strawberry

4/22
Purple pot-Marigolds
Spearmint
Sweet banana pepper

4/23
Cosmos
African Daisy

4/28
Lavender
Yellow cherry tomatoes

5/1
Begonia
Marigold
Zucchini
Rosemary
Radish
Beefsteak tomato
Pineapple strawberry
Anemone
Onion
Edamame
Alpine strawberry
Sweet william
Love in a mist
Alyssum
Sensation cosmos
Zinnias
Wildflower mix

5/6
sweet corn
Marigolds

5/7
Rainbow Sherbet Icebox watermelon
Anemones
True Lavender
Zinnia’s

5/11
Sunflowers
Cosmos-thinned

5/18
Mignotte strawberries
Alyssum
Sweet william
Rainbow sherbet icebox watermelon
Edamame start moved outside

5/19
Straight yellow necked squash
Watermelon
Tomato suckers
Watermelon radishes
Nasturtium
Edamame
Tomato
Purple bell pepper
Okra

5/20
Citronella
Blueberry!
Black krim
Purple cherokee
White squash
Tomato suckers
Yellow sunset tomato

Harvested the very first thing I ever planted. The carrots are tiny but I know what I did wrong! I need to thin them better. Also going to have a looser soil in the next batch.

Growing on 2nd floor apt balcony in zone 7a. Jalapenos, bell peppers, roma tomatoes, mint, lemon grass, flowers, and random greens started from seed poorly (I still struggle with seed starting lol)

1st photo is around 1pm, 2nd photo is around 9am, close ups are around 7pm. Taken on span of 2 days after I observed the sun movement and moved around the pots.

We've stayed here for a couple of years and each growing season has been different. We get a decent amount of sun throughout the day but the weather here can be quite bipolar. A lot of challenges growing in containers with limited space but I'm very optimistic this year since I have switched to mostly grow bags which will help with the space and watering issues we've had in the past. I even have a mini green house and bought strong seedlings locally to combat the temp swings and short growing season. We are moving out of this apartment next year however, so I do feel a little sad now that I feel like I've "cracked" the code.

Some challenges over the years:
- budget - we were broke college students when we moved in so I was being extra stingy with supplies. Eg. getting properly sized pots or pots with good drainage. Things are better now that we're married (yay!) and a DINK (yay! x2)

- growing space & roof - the balcony is decently spacious and the roof provided shade for the plants during hot days but there is only limited amount of usable space the corner and my plants lose time in the sun (around 10a-12p). This improved once we got a little extra cash to get better set ups and try to grow vertically.

- watering & drainage - there's a downstair neighbor so we want to be extra careful with watering while dealing with budget constraints during early years. This was such an issue that at one point that I didn't drill proper drainage in some of my pots.

- nature - self-explanatory things that every growers go through. Some seasons were rough (cold for too long/short growing season, smog from wildfires, spotted lantern fly infestations, extra dry & hot summer to name a few)

My tomato plant especially!! All of these were grown from seed starting in mid March from only 50 cent dollar tree seeds lol. Tomato (I don’t remember the variety, sorry!), marigold, parsley, and oregano :) growing outside of my 1bed apartment lol

Was slightly droopy when i transplanted it 2 days ago then yesterday when i check on it was a little better but today starting to look like this. My guess is either overwatering cause i watered it this morning since it’s pretty hot outside and someone mentioned pot soil drys out quicker or the sun itself might be too much but im really new to this so I’d just like some insight from some more experienced people. Im also growing strawberries, basil, tomatos, chives, marigolds, lavender, and chia so any extra advice appreciated! Also not sure if it matters but a cute little skink has also decided to make it his home, returns everyday to lay in the shade behind it.

I genuinely thought I was doing everything right.

I had tomatoes growing on my balcony and for the first few weeks everything looked fine. Then slowly things started getting weird. Growth slowed down, leaves started yellowing, plants looked stressed all the time.

Naturally I blamed everything except myself 😅 Weather. Seeds. Fertilizer. Maybe I got unlucky.

Turns out I made a bunch of beginner mistakes without realizing it. Looking back, some of them feel ridiculously obvious now.

I started writing them down because I kept repeating the same mistakes and figured maybe other people were doing the same thing: https://barksecret.com/container-gardening-mistakes-balcony-garden/

Now I'm curious, what's the one container gardening mistake that took you way too long to figure out?

Mine was thinking "a pot is a pot" and not realizing container size actually mattered.

I planted these in October. It’s my first time growing garlic, so I’m not sure when they ready.

Can you tell it’s my first time?

How much soil do I put in? No judgement, please.

I received compost from a local gardening group this year and I've noticed that every time I go outside there are these tiny little two-leaf things sprouting. I using Google lens to identify them but it basically says their seedlings and two young to determine what they are.

Are they weeds blown over by the wind? Sprouting seeds from the compost somehow? Will they make it harder for the plants I'm trying to grow to grow. I purchased a few herbs, tomato plants, and cucumber plants from a local nursery so I wasn't starting from seeds.

Thanks for any identification or information on these random sprouts I'm finding.

Its small, perhaps ¼ inch long, if that, green, cylindrical, and is covered by a dome of web-like material. Just appeared this afternoon. The plant has had some aphids but no other real pest pressures so far.

The plant seems healthy and continues to grow more flowers and tomatoes, but the first bunch have looked the same for a couple weeks now. Have been fertilizing with tomatone every 7-10 days. Watering daily. Is this normal?

Hi guys, I’m looking for some tips on how to help my seedlings. They were standing tall and now they are laying low. I am currently in Chicago Illinois, and they are outside in containers. I will be bringing them inside today because of the temperature drop.

Appreciate any advice!!!

It’s been six months since I moved in with my partner and his place has a balcony. Complete takeover. 😂