Guides · 7 min read
Seeds for containers, balconies, and rented light
Renters now out-buy homeowners on vegetable and herb seed. The packets have to match the pot.
What fits a pot
Cherry tomatoes, peppers, basil, lettuce, chives, thyme, and bush beans. Not winter squash. Not corn. Determinate or patio tomatoes in a 5-gallon bucket with holes drilled in the bottom. Herbs in 8–10 inch pots. Lettuce in anything that drains.
Use potting mix, not garden soil. Garden soil densifies in a pot and drowns roots. Water until it runs out the bottom, then wait until the top inch is dry.
Light is the constraint
A south or west railing can grow tomatoes. A north-facing kitchen window can grow chives and lettuce, not peppers. If you only have a sill, start with herbs and a grow light, not a beefsteak tomato.
Match your ZIP · Shop a kit · Start dates
The sow list
A note when it is time to sow
Seasonal, not daily. We will send what to start in your zone, and skip the rest of the year.
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A first garden that actually finishes
Six crops, one 4×8 bed, and the mistakes that waste a spring.
Short-season Midwest: Chicago and zone 5–6
Last frost in mid-April. First frost in mid-October. That is the whole argument.
How to start seeds indoors without a greenhouse
Heat, light, and a tray you will not throw away. The rest is optional.