Spring is here in full swing and the garden is full of bounty and beauty! I’m so thrilled that I took the time to go out in the cold of fall and winter and throw seeds around here and there, because so many of the babies I planted are coming up now! Many varieties of annual plants can overwinter their seeds in the midwest and then they are the first to come up in the Spring. I threw around lettuce, arugula, marigolds, and morning glory among other things…
lettuce patch next to our patio
lettuce patch #2
lettuce patch #3
We thinned one lettuce patch and all of our little heads of lettuce made it. They did lose some outer leaves, but they are going strong! Notice the weeds growing all over our garden… I like to leave the weeds until I decide to thin or plant something in it’s place because they are there for a reason. Weeds grow to put nutrients into the soil and having something covering the ground is a really good thing. Whenever I pull the weeds, I either lay them down on the ground or turn them under to decompose.
baby cilantro
dry birdhouse gourds
I grew these last year and now it’s time to drill holes so the birds can use them. Then I’ll preserve them with clay, decoupage, or paint… haven’t decided yet.
beautiful soapwort
radishes
Our radishes are growing so fast this year!! Last year it took forever because the soil at our apartment complex was mainly compact clay and rock. We practice no till methods so we just put some manure, straw, and compost on top of the soil. The simple act of building the earth a couple inches and growing things in it (including weeds) has made a fluffy, delightful soil in just a couple years!
Our new neighbor planted zinnias!
kale going to seed
We planted these dwarf kale in late Spring and reaped the bounty of them throughout the Fall and WInter. Now they are going to seed and the little flowering tops taste just like broccoli!!
Although our apartment management is incredibly pretentious and closed minded about many things, I am forever grateful to have the opportunity to grow a beautiful garden here! I truly believe that almost any apartment management would be willing to allow tenants to BEAUTIFY the garden spaces. Without the flowers and plants, this place would be so dull! I recommend that anyone interested in gardening and living in an apartment should ask the management if they can beautify their home. The worst that can happen is a no. Go for it!
Re-Grow Roots 
April 22, 2013 at 8:52 am
Your management is indeed nice to allow you all to do such things. Most don’t as they are ready to spray chemicals to kill weeds and insects and make lawns. I need tips from you – how do you grow cilantro? It’s one of the most difficult thing to grow I find.
April 22, 2013 at 10:13 am
The management here does use chemicals in most of their landscaping areas, mainly to kill the weeds. They start doing this in late Spring, so before that happens I make sure to pull many of the weeds in the garden and plant more beautiful things like veggies and flowers. They don’t spray our space because I keep the weeds under control.
To grow cilantro, this year I started it in a little starter pot instead of in the ground. The soil I use is 1/2 manure, 1/2 topsoil, and a little perlite. I planted it indoors a few weeks ago and they took over a week to sprout. Have patience with cilantro. I’ll be planting more this week!
April 22, 2013 at 9:55 am
Inspiring! Thanks! I didn’t know about planting lettuce seeds in the fall… def will try that. I love baby cilantro in salads.
April 22, 2013 at 10:14 am
We don’t have a very hard freeze in Missouri so planting lettuce seeds in the fall works great! In northern states it might not work out because the ground is frozen for most of the winter.
April 22, 2013 at 9:57 am
What is the mulch?
April 22, 2013 at 10:18 am
The mulch we use is a mixture. The stuff between our garden beds is the landscaping mulch which is just wood chips. In our gardens we use pulled weeds as mulch, coffee grounds, and hay from the wheat that we grew last year. I also clip some of the landscaping grass plants to use as hay and I buy hay from time to time.
April 22, 2013 at 10:01 am
What a gorgeous garden space!
April 22, 2013 at 10:14 am
Thank you!
April 22, 2013 at 11:56 am
this is the perfect appartment garden. http://bransonaquaponics.com/tower_garden.htm no weeds and it grows year round.
April 22, 2013 at 1:25 pm
Vertical gardening, aquaponic and hydroponic gardening are all fabulous techniques to implement especially in a small space!! We have done some vertical gardening at our apartment in the past, but we haven’t begun to dive into hydro or aquaponics yet.
April 22, 2013 at 10:51 pm
Well next Tuesday is the Branson, Mo. City board meeting. We need your voice they are spending tax money to pay for a feasibility study on sports. Rick Davis was quoted in the April 12-13 Independent news paper, stating that the red roof is now obsolete and aquaponics and a library (or did he mean school) don’t meet the expectations of the board.
I hope you will all join me next Tuesday and let your voice be heard. It is time to stand up for what this town needs not what the BOA thinks t…hey want. We need a local food supply. I feel it will be a big ECO tourist attraction too if we build it with the wow of Disney.
What are the boards expectations for the red roof?
Please watch these videos and then explain to me why, When Branson Aquaponics came to the city with FULL private funding and all that was needed was for the Major to allow a conference call to the broker in Chicago, who was waiting with the investors from Toronto for the call that never came. The money was time limited as the investor had made a large profit in 2012 and needed to re-allocate that profit before Dec. 31st or pay 35% tax on that profit. That money is gone along with the trust of the Brokerage firm. I found the money once, and I will find it again but not without a commitment from the city. I sent 36 million to the table on 12/5/2012 and it was refused. ECO tourism is fast growing. They never even gave them a chance.
What is it that does not meet the BOA expectations? The hundreds of jobs, the fresh beyond organic food, the mass ECO and Climate Change conventions, the hundreds of school field trips, The many garden clubs, the transportation cost savings to the food business in and around Branson, or the fact it was going to be done with private funds and the city couldn’t charge it to the tax payers. This was not a place to just buy a book but a school with universality accredited courses. A site to behold one that would revel Disney s Land at Epcot. Besides to most of the people who visit here (50+) gardening is a sport.
Come early and sign in to be heard, the meeting starts at 7 pm, April 23, 2012, Branson City hall Meeting room 2nd floor.
Please share this with everyone you know. Make copies. Pass them out at your church, club meeting, ao door to door. You do not have to live in Branson to be heard. This affects anyone who eats. We need to rally around The Branson Aquaponic Idea for the Red Roof Mall Complex. No city has more than 72 hours worth of food at any given time. Branson would have abundance. Branson would become the first of its kind in the world. The Branson Aquaponic Gardens and Educational Center we grow enough food to feed its entire population and then some. People want to learn this just Google aquaponic/hydroponic gardening and see the number of sites. Every science teacher will want to bring their students here to see and learn this new world farming. What an attraction this could be. We would be able to bring people from around the world here to see and learn this. Now with South West Airlines and our large conventions centers we can bring the world here. How can anyone think it would not fit in Branson?
April 23, City Hall Branson 7 pm Facebook Branson Aquaponics Gardens and Educational Center. Read all about it.
April 22, 2013 at 2:24 pm
Although I don’t think it will work here in way upstate NY, I’m going to try planting some hardy lettuce in the fall – we’ll see what happens. And I love your philosophy about weeds! They do serve a purpose – one of them being to allow me to be lazy about weeding!
April 22, 2013 at 2:50 pm
There are some very hardy plants out there so it might work out for you to grow lettuce! You never know. 🙂 I heard from one farmer that he met someone in Alaska who was growing lettuce through the winter. It was covered in snow and made it all the way until Spring! Plants are amazing. Weeds are amazing too! The native americans did not have a word for weed in their language because to them, every plant is here for a reason. It’s a beautiful thing.
April 22, 2013 at 7:02 pm
Looks beautiful! I’m rolling my apartment garden out slowly but surely…
April 22, 2013 at 7:11 pm
Thank you! What do you grow in your apartment garden and how do you do it? Pots, vertically, or in the ground? Today I got some native fruit trees from my friend that I’ll be planting in 5 gallon pots for now! My parents are hoping to move into a house this year so I’ll plant them at their new house. They’re just wee little things now. Persimmon, wild plum, and mulberry. 🙂
April 22, 2013 at 7:26 pm
I work with containers for now. I recently started some seeds – a couple heirloom tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and eggplants. I’ll be starting more beans, peas, carrots, and radishes outside soon. Oh and the herbs… I have a bunch of those! I also have a dwarf lemon tree that I just love! That will probably need to be put in a slightly bigger container soon. Best of luck with your new fruit trees! I hope to experiment more with fruit trees in the near future.
April 22, 2013 at 7:47 pm
You will have a lot growing in your containers! I’d love to see some pictures of it once it gets growing.. 🙂 You do beans in containers? I’m a novice when it comes to container gardening so I’m very intriqued by your container goodies. My mom ordered me a dwarf lemon tree and I’m so excited! This will be my first year growing any fruit trees. I planted some fruit trees in the woods a couple years ago and the wild cherry is doing really well down by the creek!
April 23, 2013 at 12:04 pm
Where do you keep your dwarf lemon tree? My husband and son love lemons but we live in WI so it never occurred to me I could grow one!
April 24, 2013 at 8:08 am
We just received our lemon tree in the mail yesterday so we haven’t planted it yet. I’m going to plant it in a big pot today (maybe a 5 gallon bucket) and keep it outside on our south-facing patio. Once it gets colder out and freezing temps, we’ll move the tree indoors for the cold season. My aunt Bunny has had a lemon tree for at least 5 years now that she puts outside in the spring and summer, moves in for the fall and winter. Her tree is very healthy and she gets about 20 lemons a year from it!