Hey guys, I have a decent size veranda that gets plenty of sun light. I’m a complete noob and wanted to start getting plants.
What would you guys suggest on getting? I’d like buy fruit seeds like maybe blue berries, black berries? Is that even possible? I’m not sure if the plant will over grow.
Thanks
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If you’re completely new to plants, I recommend something easy to grow and take care of at first. Of all my plants so far, lavender and rosemary have been the hardiest – plus they smell great and you can use the rosemary for cooking.
Blueberry bushes are easy to find in garden centres in Tokyo. I don’t know about elsewhere. I don’t think I’ve seen blackberry. You could always do a container garden – tomatoes, peppers, etc.
Also, /r/GardenersJapan
>I’d like buy fruit seeds like maybe blue berries, black berries? Is that even possible? I’m not sure if the plant will over grow.
Berry plants aren’t usually grown from seeds– usually you buy a small bush and transplant it. Blueberries are finicky and I’ve never seen blackberries here.
Tomatoes are a nice starter plant, and herbs like basil and cilantro. Various peppers are also easy to grow.
If you want something that will grow upwards, goya vines can be trained to make a curtain-like covering. But I don’t like goya myself, so I usually have morning glory flowers growing all over my veranda railing. They’re quite beginner-friendly. Other than morning glories, my favorite sunny veranda flowers are rosy periwinkle/ 日々草, because they can survive the summer heat well even if I forget to water them for awhile.
I have a few pepper plants that do great here: jalapenos, habaneros, and so on are very tolerant to the harsher summer months. Plus added bonus is these varieties are not commonly found in grocery stores, so they always makes for a nice gift to friends etc.
Otherwise i always have herbs like oregano, basil and mint around as i use them a lot.
Blackberries are massive, thorny, woody, horrible plants that will take over more space than you give them. Nice fruit though in august only, otherwise it’s a nasty bramble the rest of the year
Blueberries in a pot are doable but don’t expect buckets of fruit. Maybe a handful.
Balconies can be incredibly hot in summer, so keep that in mind. Herbs, mini tomatoes, peppers are all nice choices when starting out.
Potted citrus are nice.
Skip seeds and just buy seedlings or established plants. Most supermarkets will have a small variety when the season starts.
My husband converted our veranda to a greenhouse but he uses it mostly for his collection of rare succulents and bonsai. He put a canopy over it because those plants get damaged if they’re exposed to direct sunlight. He has also grown herbs and green vegetables in hydroponic tanks but he hasn’t been doing that lately.
In Singapore we plant Pandam plants which not only smell nice, can be used in cooking but also can be used to repel roaches
I use a lot of parsley and basil, so right now I have some planters that hang off my veranda wall, but also recently bought this [tower thing](https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B0936MQ62S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to get some of my herbs off the ground to save space. Also have some baskets hanging from my laundry tension rode with strawberries in them witch are doing nicely. My last planter is a big-ish one and I’m trying tomatoes this year.
If you’re willing to get into hydroponics, growing lettuce in a kratky setup is super easy to do, especially if you’ve got the space. I did it last year and got one really good harvest, but only later realized that you only really get one harvest per lettuce. If you want lettuce all summer you need to time sowing new seeds indoors so that by the time your lettuce is ready to harvest, your sprouted seeds are ready to transfer.
If this is your first time growing, I’d say hold off on the berries and focus on learning the basics with some herbs and tomatoes. It may not be exactly what you want right now but tomatoes are so fun and easy to grow and they’ll give you the skills you need to move up to the berries you really want.
Raspberries are fairly difficult to grow and you could accidentally buy a type that won’t even produce fruit in the first year. Blackberries only produce on the second year’s canes and both get probably a lot bigger than you’re expecting.
Gardening is such a fun hobby but it is still a hobby that requires a lot of research and dedication. So take your time and have fun with it!
I too would like to know what is easy to grow, and by easy, I need to know how often and how much to water them because I banned myself from growing plants because I kept killing them unintentionally (probably too much water…)
I recall rosemary and mints being good big repellants too?