66 Things You Can Grow At Home: In Containers, Without a Garden

From apples and figs, to bananas, guavas and hops

Growing your own food is exciting, not only because you get to see things grow from nothing into ready-to-eat fruits and veggies, but you also don't have to worry about the pesticides they might contain, and you definitely cut down on the miles they—and you—have to travel.

If you're up to the challenge—and it really isn't much of one—growing your own food can be so rewarding. And so much cheaper! Just be sure to choose the right planter or container, learn how tomaintain it properly, and go find yourself some seeds! (Or starter plants.) Like this idea? Be sure to check out these 6 Crazy Concepts for Micro Gardens That Actually Work to get inspiration for designing your own garden in a small space. 

Here's a starter list of all the crazy things even urban gardeners, without space for a garden, can grow at home.

Photo credit: Gardener's Supply

Tree fruits - including apples

1. Apples can be grown in a container; you can also grow them on the balcony or other small space using a technique called espaliering.
2. Kumquats
3. Avocados (plenty of extra tips online if you search)
4. Blackberries
5. Blueberries (sometimes helpful videos are available online)
6. Pomegranate
7. Cherries
8. Figs
9. Pears

Photo credit: Photodisc/Thinkstock

Citrus fruits

Citrus trees in particular are said to be good for beginning gardeners and are easy to grow indoors, so don't let inexperience or lack of outdoor space stop you from enjoying fresh-picked, hyper-local fruit.
10. Dwarf oranges
11. Grapefruit
12. Tangerines
13. Meyer lemons
14. Limes

Tropical fruits

Tropical fruits can also be surprisingly easy to grow indoors, even in non-tropical climates. Such as...

15. Bananas (look for container gardening tips online)
16. Pineapple
17. Papaya
18. Guavas (several varieties)

WATCH VIDEO: Living with Ed: Grow It On Site

Photo credit: © iStockphoto.com/Thinkstock

The real surprises

19. Hops—yes, as in the "spice" ingredient in beer. Turns out they're easy to grow!
20. Aloe Vera
21. Strawberries
22. Tea (well, herbal tea)
23. Quinoa!

Photo credit: © iStockphoto.com/Thinkstock

The non-surprises

24. Tomatoes
25. Summer squash
26. Other squashes, like acorn and pumpkin
27. Hot Peppers
28. Sweet peppers
29. Cucumbers

Melons

30. Small cantaloupe
31. Jenny Lind melon (an heirloom cantaloupe)
32. Golden Midget Watermelon

Photo credit: Jupiterimages/Thinkstock

Herbs

Just about any herb grows well indoors—just be sure that if you're going to do any container-sharing, you do your research first about which herbs co-habitate well together. (Some will hog water, for example, and leave the others dried out.)

33. Basil
34. Oregano
35. Parsley
36. Rosemary
37. Chives
38. Catnip
39. Thyme
40. Sage
41. Parsley

Photo credit: Comstock Images/Thinkstock

Leafy Greens

42. Kale
43. Mesclun greens
44. Spinach
45. Swiss chard
46. Lettuces (plenty of options there, from micro-greens to head or loose-leaf)
47. Mustard greens
48. Collard greens
49. Arugula

Root Vegetables

50. Carrots
51. Beets
52. Potatoes

Photo credit: Pixland/Thinkstock

Other healthy-sounding stuff

53. Sprouts
54. More sprouts: mung bean and lentil sprouts
55. Wheatgrass
56. Kohlrabi
57. Turnips
58. Rutabagas
59. Celeriac
60. Parsnips
61. Jerusalem Artichoke
62. Sugar snap peas
63. Rhubarb (not ideal in a container, but it can work)
64. Mushrooms (again, more tips online if you look)
65. Pole Beans
66. Aaaand... asparagus, although some disagree that it does well in a container. Try it if you're ok with a risk!

Bonus 67: You can grow your own loofah, too, but you'd need a garden rather than a container for that.

Published originally by Planet Green 

Holzer and Mollisson Permaculture. Other inspirational people.

Check these articles and videos for inspiration.
Just 20 minutes of your time!

Hozler miracle of growing forest garden in Austrian mountains
http://www.celsias.com/article/permaculture-miracles-in-the-austrian-mountains/

An inspiring interview with Bill Mollison, the founder of Permaculture
http://www.scottlondon.com/interviews/mollison.html

Fukuoka interview in how to green a desert
http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC14/Fukuoka.htm

Fukuoka teaches us to make seed-balls. Agriculture for lazy people ;) And Nature-friendly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4-bwW8PWI0

More Hozler inspiration videos. See its beautiful farm!
http://www.krameterhof.at/index.php?id=videos

John Seymour Bible to Self-Sufficiency!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Complete-Book-Self-Sufficiency-Realists/dp/0751364428

Rudolf Steiner free lectures on Biodynamic Agriculture
http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/Ag1958_index.html

An inspiring (and awakening) video in how biodynamic agriculture may help save the world
http://www.howtosavetheworld.co.nz/

The inspiring project of PFAF, 7000 plants for a future (useful and edible)
Don't say you don't have the free information!!!
http://www.pfaf.org/

The amazing urban garden project of Path to freedom.
Have a small garden and become self-sufficient. Produce tons of food in a small space!
(See the amazing photo gallery)
http://www.pathtofreedom.com

The spiritual community of Findhorn. They grew vegetables on sand just by following the advice of listening to plant spirit guides, called the devas.
http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/aug3/findhorn.htm

Earthships: High-tech green house design, entirely self-reliant, based in Permaculture principles
http://www.earthship.net/

Example of Robert Hart, inventor of the "forest garden" concept. See photos of his garden
http://www.spiralseed.co.uk/forestgarden/pictures/index.htm

Permaculture documentaries for free

For anyone interested
please see this series of permaculture documentaries
for each kind of habitat, situation: desert, tropics, temperate lands, cold places, urban...
each doc is about 30min and divided in two or three parts
great inspiration and practical ideas!

THE PERMACULTURE CONCEPT AND SCENARIOS:



then i add two other very interesting videos!

RAINWATER HARVESTING:



BACKYARD SELF-SUFFICIENCY:



If you are interested in these topics, please feel free to subscribe to the blog (see the right column) to receive the latest updates in your email!

Alternative edible vegetables, for Permaculture use!

This is a post intended to show some useful and less well-known plants in Permaculture. These are edible perennial vegetables, that can often produce huge harvests, and are easy to grow, and can be used in a permanent forest garden Permaculture project. I included the links where you can order these. Have fun.

Ordering tropical, fruits, vegetables and seeds:

http://www.tropilab.com/tropicalfruit.html
http://www.seedsofchange.com (lots of seeds, but they don't send to Europe)

Alternative edible tubers

http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/kitchen/2003su_tubers.html
http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/altroots.php PFAF, database on edible plants
http://www.glasshouseworks.com/trop-o.html

These are some edible tubers, grown as crops in South America, in a similar way to potatoes:

• Yacon, tasty sweet giant tubers, that can be eaten raw like a fruit. These were grown as a crop by the Incas. The plant dislikes cold but can be grown well in temperate climates with warm summers, because the tubers would survive in winter. I have grown these last year and had huge harvests. http://www.realseeds.co.uk/unusualtubers.html
• Oca, Oxalis tuberosus, a common crop in South America, next to potatoes, the flavour is identical to spinach due to the oxalic acid, can withstand some frost, easy to grow http://www.realseeds.co.uk/unusualtubers.html
  
• Tropaeolum tuberosum, Anu: grown for 8000 years, a close relative to nasturtium, these tubers have a spicey flavour. Dislikes wet and hot climates, and can be grown in temperate climates, but takes time for the mature tubers to form (only by September), so it requires no early frost. http://www.burncoose.co.uk/site/plants.cfm?pl_id=4607
• Pachyrhizus tuberosus, Jícama, giant tubers, white, grown only over 6 months and harvest in September. Can be grown in temperate climates. survives some frost but not freezing temperatures. The tubers can be eaten grown but the aereal part is poisonous, just like the beans, to which is a relative. http://www.sandmountainherbs.com/jicama_yam_bean.html and http://www.bountifulgardens.org/products.asp?dept=43
• Ulluco, another unusual South American crop http://www.realseeds.co.uk/unusualtubers.html

Besides these rarities, there are other less-common vegetables, but which are worth to be grown in a vegetable garden, such as parsnips, sweet potatoes, ginger, jerusalem artichokes, swedes, scorzonera, parsley roots (Petroselinum crispum tuberosum), different kinds of radish, kohl-rabi and celeriac. We have grown most of these plants before, if you need advice just email me. You can also watch our pictures in previous posts.

Fantastic carrots!

Another interesting thing to know is that there are plenty of (natural) varieties of carrots. No, they are no hybrids, these are tradicional varieties, which are now rarities, but available through some sellers of heirloom seeds. These include white, yellow, orange, red and purple carrots.

All the cited tubers are of course perfect for vegetarians, vegans and even rawists, wishing to improve their dishes, because most can be eaten raw and fresh!

Yacon

At the PFAF website, which I recommend all of you to visit, there are other interesting suggestions for edible root vegetables:

• Apios americana, ground nut
• Camassia quamash, quamash http://www.vanmeuwen.co.uk/plant/61406
• Cyperus esculentus, tiger nuts
• Dioscorea batatas, yam http://www.china-food-wholesaler.com/buy-chinese_yam and http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/DIOSCOREA_BATATAS.htm
• Erythronium species, dog's tooth violets
• Lathyrus tuberosus, tuberous pea http://www.ediblelandscapes.ca/plantlist.html
• Lilium lancifolium, tiger lily
• Lomatium cous, biscuit roots
• Orogenia linearifolia, indian potato
• Perideridia gairdneri, yampa
• Psoralea esculenta, breadroot http://www.prairiehabitats.com/seeds.html and http://prairiemoon.com/store/template/product_detail.php?IID=496&&
• Sagittaria species, arrowhead
• Sium sisarum, skirret, i have both the tubers and seeds
• Stachys affinis, chinese artichokes: available in many suppliers
• Typha latifolia, reedmace, common cattail: this is a native species in European swamps, and I have seen selling before, but not yet online

You might wanna check also these two interesting links:

- Top20 Permaculture plants http://www.pfaf.org/user/top20plants.aspx

- Edible tubers: http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/kitchen/handbooks/tubers/tubers.html

Last, please feel free to subscribe for updates of the blog, see the right column!

Interesting Permaculture video and ideas

The authors show the use of animals to eat pests (turkeys to eat grasshopers, ducks and lizards eat slugs and snails, chicken eat the apple larvas)

In this video, found also a tree from himalaias, with lemon tasting fruit that cures cancer, a fern used as compost nitrogen activator, and a perfect edge schrub, with edible fruits and seeds.

Finally, the use of bamboos - fast growth and huge tensile strenght, they withstand the strengh of earthquakes, hurricanes or tsunamis, and provide also lots of others uses (e.g. around dam lakes) or are edible!




Please visit also our new blog on ecovillages http://theecovillagerevolution.blogspot.com

10 October 2010 - a day to take action

Tomorrow it's a day to take action.

All around the world, plenty of people will be taking steps to reduce our impact on the planet which damages the environment.

Go to http://www.350.org to join iniciatives near you!

There will be plenty of them! And funny ones!

Join http://www.1010global.org to start taking action in your house!

1. Use less airplanes

2. Reduce heating in winter, cooling in summer

3. Change to energy-efficiency appliances. Go solar

4. Drive less. Use bike or public transports

5. Eat local, organic and less meat

6. Consume less. Buy second hand

7. Recycle always. Make less trash

8. Save food

9. Save water

10. Did all above? Please feel more happy!

It's a global grassroots movement.

Important influences to Organic Farming, Permaculture, Self-sufficiency and Environmentalism

Henry David Thoreau (USA, 1817-1862)
"Live at home like a traveler"


Thoreau was an American philosopher, poet, historian and naturalist. Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, a reflection in simple living in a natural environment, and self-sufficiency in the woods. Walden is a declaration of independence, self-reliance and spiritual discovery. Thoreau describes his two year stay in a cabbine, in a forest on a edge of a town, living a simplified life, and discussing his needs of shelter, food, clothing and money.
Thoreau was a leading Transcentalist philosopher, with a core belief that there is a spiritual state that transcends physical reality and can only be realized through the invidual's intuition rather than religious doctrines. He was also one of the founders of modern Ecology and the environmentalist movement, studying the growing patterns in fields and woodlots. He was also greatly interested in the accounts of travellers of that time, such as Cook, Magellan and Darwin.
Thoreau is also well known to have introduced Civil Disobedience as a method of non-violent protest and resistance, that later influenced Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
During a time of a great industrial revolution and urbanization, Thoreau was one of the first ones to call for a return to nature, and to a more simplified, liberating and natural way of living.


Rudolf Steiner (Austria, 1861-1925)
“A healthy social life is found only, when in the mirror of each soul the whole community finds its reflection, and when in the whole community the virtue of each one is living”


Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social thinker, architect and esotericist. He founded the spiritual movement of Anthrosophy, which is a continuation of the European Transcendentalism. Steiner attempted to find a synthesis between science and mysticism. He provided a bridge between the cognitive thinking of western civilization with the inner and spiritual needs of the human being. He created a revolution in many fields, such as architecture and visual arts, performing arts, (Waldorf) education, medicine and also agriculture.
Steiner invented the concept of biodynamic farming and gardening, which is one of the first sustainable forms of agriculture. He was concerned about the impact of chemical agriculture on the environment and the loss of nutrients on the soil. Steiner encouraged organic practices such as the use of manure, composting, and achieving the right balance between the different species of plants and animals on a farm. He stated that the use of chemicals on agriculture was very detrimental. He also analysed the spiritual energies underlying the growth of plants, influenced by the planets, and the life energy elements on the soil, which were recorded in a serie of his lectures. This marks not only a natural approach to agriculture, but also a spiritual and hollistic one, where all the life forms are respected and in the proper balance.

Sir Albert Hobert (UK, 1873-1947)
"The health of soil, plant, animal and man is one and indivisible"

Hobert was a Botanist and considered the father of organic farming. He travelled to India to teach western conventional farming but came convinced about the importance of healthy organic and natural practices of farming to the health of local populations.


Masanobu Fukuoka (Japan, 1913-2008)
"If we throw mother nature out the window, she comes back in the door with a pitchfork."


Fukuoka was trained as a microbiologist and a soil and plant scientist. At the age of 25 he began (like me) to doubt the wisdom of modern agricultural science. He eventually quit his job after having a moment of great insight in one night, returned to his family farm and developed a pioneering no-till form of organic agriculture. Although he practiced organic agriculture, he took a step farther in not only growing without any pesticides, herbicides, but also without any significant weeding or tilling.
Fukuoka asserted that there is a great difference between organic farming and natural farming; in that organic farming was still scientific in approach like conventional farming, and could still damage the environment. Fukuoka wished to reproduce natural conditions as close as possible. He emphasizes on mainting diversity. On his method with no plowing, the seeds germinated when the provided conditions were right. Ground covers of clover provided nitrogen; weeds considered part of the ecosystem but periodically cut (not weeded) to allow the nutrients to return to the soil without disturbing it; the crops are grown one after the other, but the ground is always covered (therefore allowing the retention of humidity and life beneath it); straw is used as mulching. He detailed his findings in his famous book "The one-straw revolution".
Fukuoka was also a pioneer in the development of seed balls: the seeds are mixed with clay, water and compost and thrown into the soil, allowing germination without tilling.


John Seymour (UK, 1914-2004)

Seymour was a leading figure of the self-sufficiency movement during the sixties and seventies. At the age of 20, he went to South Africa and live through a sucession of jobs. There, we also contacted with the self-reliant life of bushmen tribes, where we spend some time and created a friendship with them, and learn about their life as hunter-gatherers. Later, he was living aboard a sailing boat where he felt he needed to settle down in a land-based life as his first daughter was growing older. He then began living and writting his experiences while living a self-sufficient life with his family on rural smallholdings, in many books on the subject. Seymour was also an opponent to genetic modified food and industrialization, and an environment activist.


Bill Mollison (Australia, 1928-)
"Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple."


Bill Mollison is a researcher, ecologist, naturalist and teacher, and the father of Permaculture. Permaculture is a system of permanent and sustainable agriculture, and also an integrated system of economics, self-sufficiency for local communities, human interaction and ecology. His legacy resulted on the creation of many permaculture farms and communities all around the world, adapted to many different climates.


Mike Reynolds


Reynolds is a architect based in New Mexico and a radical proponent of sustainable living and self-sufficiency. He developed a completely new self-reliant and ecologically friendly system of houses, called Earthships. These houses are made from natural materials, recycled materials, and can mantain a confortable indoords temperature even in very cold or very hot climates. The house collects and recycles water, allows food production and is equipped with solar and other alternative methods for independent production of energy.

More people will be added in the future. Suggestions are welcome!

Update - The end of a one-year garden....

Unfortunely, we change place, and now we don't own a garden.

The garden experiences of 2007, 2008 and 2009 were very positive!

We are looking to rent a new space for this year, but the prices are very expensive.

Urban Permaculture is a big challenge!

This year we should write more about ecological daily practices.

Our last harvest are shown above.

Perennial Leeks

Perennial leeks taste like every day leeks, but they have bulbs and give side shoots, forming perennial clumps which spread and are very resistent to drought or frost. This is a must have for permaculture and perennial vegetables enthusiasts.

http://www.cornucopiaseeds.com.au/products/Perennial-Leek.html

Walking Onions and other relatives

Another "must have" for Permaculture enthusiasts are Walking Onions, also known as Egyptian Onions (Allium proliferum). These are perfectly normal onions which give flowering tips which produce bulbs which fall and give way to new onion plants, hence the reason for its name for the plant that seems to walk through the garden!

The bulbs are however small.
Perhaps even more interesting (although I don't own these yet) are Multiplier Onions (Allium cepa aggregatum), which produce bigger bulbs in clumpings. Both species are edible and taste like onions.

Welsh onions (Allium fistulosum), Ramsons (Allium ursinum) and Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are other perennial options. Chives taste wonderful in omelletes. Ramsons can grow native in shade in European forests and give many white flowers in spring; the plants look very similar to other poisonous species like the Lily-of-the-valley, but they have a strong smell of garlic.

Danger of wrong identification of wild carrot family herbs

Whenever you go finding and identifying wild edible herbs, you must be very careful in the proper identification of species from the carrot (Apiaceae) family.

Never collect and eat plants from this family from the wild, since some are very similar between each other and also very poisonous. They can be frightening similar to parsley, chervil, carrots or parsnips. Some even smell carrot-like and have sweet flavours! Nevertheless, small ammounts can cause death by muscle paralysis.
Some examples are:

• Fool's Parsley, Aethusa cynapium
• Hemlock, Conium maculatum
• Water dropwort, Oenanthe crocata
• Water hemlock, Cicuta spp.
  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poisonous_plants