Need Help

[MasonsAuntie]

Hello! I live in Central Florida, I am looking into starting my own garden, However we have a bad problem with bugs and grasshopers (they are called lotus' or something like that, lol) and such in our yard.:sad:

I don't know if this is a stupid question,:shrug7: but is there a way to grow veggies inside, or on the screened in porch(like in buckets of soil near the light)? If so, what would be the best ones for this?

Or maybe some tips on getting rid of the darsh garn things.

Thanks in advance!

[aimeebee]

Just google container gardening. There is tons of info in internet land. We grow some things in containers...like lettuce in window boxes so the rabbits and bugs don't get more than we do. Herbs, spices and tomatoes (topsy turvey) also do well. I think they showed several different plants in their last commercial, one I remember is green peppers.

[MasonsAuntie]

Thank you!

[leqet]

I rent, so I don't have a yard, just a back patio that gets plenty of light. This summer I grew Tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers in five gallon paint buckets. Half the buckets were "free" to me, found in a construction dumpster. The other half I broke down and bought at the hardware store when I realized I had more seedlings than buckets. I started them out from seed in yogurt containers with holes cut in the bottom.

If you are planning on having them on a screened in porch, your biggest challenges will be light and pollination. Most plants need direct sunlight a certain number of hours per day to grow. Some plants you can hand pollinate once they flower, but most will produce more fruit if bees and other insects are allowed to naturally pollinate them. I hand polinated a couple cucumber flowers with a paint brush when I noticed the flowers were dying without producing fruit (lack of bees in my area), but this was really labor intensive and I had to check the plants for new female flowers every single day. I had more success with pollinating tomatoes and bell peppers by hand because they are self pollinating (one type of flower) whereas cucumbers, squash, etc have male and female flowers.

So I guess to answer your question it can be done, you just have to research the best type of plants to grow inside and how to pollinate them if they need pollinating. This was my first year trying a garden so I don't have all the answers. I had to learn these things by trial and error and a lot of internet searching.

[MasonsAuntie]

Thank you!!


Reps for both of you :)

[WillaD]

i suggest you go to your garden center and ask what you can do about
the bugs,i had great success with my tomatoes and string beans in 5gal
paint containers,next yr i am going to do tomatoes,string beans,cucumbers,bellpeppers,onions and beets in containers,for the beets
and onions i am going to put them in those long planters,i put tomatoes
cages in the pots for the string beans to run up on and they did great,
good luck with the bugs