Question by cortnee00: I want to start a vegetable and herb garden in my back yard, but I don’t konw what will grow the best in NYC?
I live in a Brownstone in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn. I have noticed that a certain patch of grass in our back yard gets an excessive amount of light (about 8-10 hours depending). I have never had a garden but always wanted one and food is getting way expensive and I love to cook. So, I am wondering what types of fruits and veggies will grow the best in Brooklyn, NY. Any thoughts?
Best answer:
Answer by rsriram_1999
tomatoes cucumber carrots squire foot gardening and topsy turvy
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If you are thinking about planting any herbs, don’t plant any mint. Thay take over your whole garden.
I am planting a veggie garden too. If you go to http://www.squarefootgardening.com you will find out a ton of info. Basically you need to know the zone you are in, probably zone 6, this is how you find out which plants can grow in your town. I live in new Jersey which is zone 6. I am growing tomatoes, peppers, eggplant basil and cilantro, as well as flowers. Best of luck with your garden.
as mentioned above looking up your usda zone will help alot. BEcause of NYC proximity to the water the bouroghs and the city its self is probably a zone 7a maybe 7b in densely bulid up areas of the city. Try to look for the “NEW” 2006 usda map because it is based on more info in more cities over a longer peroid of time giving you an accurate zone.
chives make great potted plants and will come up every year around know. They are mostly spring and early summer plants though becuase they droop and dry back in the NYC humidity and heat of the summer, but will come up next year for sure. rosemary make great plants for the ground and will survive a NYC winter without much of a problem. if you plant in an area where it is windy in the winter than it will get damaged, but will come back. They may not survive if in pots all winter outdoors.
the next few will need to be replanted or brought in by frost.
BAsil make great shrubs and dont grow too tall, but if they do pruning can keep it nicely shaped. The basil will need to broung out aroung may in NYC and back in Mid october in NYC or early Nov depending on the first frost for that year. Tomatoes especially cherry tomatoes are great and although cherry tomatoes look bad by agust the blooms neve stop and you can be picking as many as 100 tomatoes a week off a large plant by september. Pumpkins make nice plants for areas that are wide and open and will be ripe by about september in your area.