Too kind a reply, db; well received.  All the best to Bek (“Bear”) & the lot.  Friends call me JBear for years (long story)…& I came upon Messybear, as you know, in a mostly roundabout way...but no less apropos a tweaking made, with uncanny insight, by the lovable fuzzy-footed-wiseguy-cider-swilling Buddhist guitar playin dad-dad-daddy-o from Cork.  There’s also a nearing retirement Bear (who really, really looks like a bear) @ my bride’s workplace & another Bear who’s house I do certain once-a-year maintenance on; he doesn’t look like a bear and is struggling with runaway drug and loved-one usage. 

Yup, there certainly are a whole lot of Bears in North America.  Good enough.   

~~

We have a modest…modest partially-wooded rural half-acre…that we sorta like to keep half meadow so where we want garden we like the 4X8 raised garden bed.  The decorative landscaping around the house is blackened mulch, evergreens & blooming matter of whatever we’re fond of @ the moment (arborvitae, juniper, cedar, sage & sweetgrass & basil, peppermint, spearmint, catnip, shade-loving hostas, morning glories and sunloving multi-flora arrangements in whiskey barrels.)  Shelby does the arrangements, I dig in the dirt and plant the hostas and arborvitae and other such edible greens & reds and the like.  It’s not something we’re really hung-up on but we spend a few Sundays in May & June & then maintain it all best we can.  Not really green thumbs, more:  earnest-learn-a little-bit-more-each-year vegetation enthusiasts…with a mortgage & a rocky mound of dirt to dig around on. 

~~

My first question is probably the only important one I have to offer here:

Do you have accessible a fully southern facing (slightly larger than) 4X8 space anywhere near your apartment building?   If so, you can lay-out & grow a very productive single-family veggie garden &

maintain it easily.   If you’re stuck with more than partial shade (& that’s the only option) then you’re

not just musically outa my league, you’re outa my gardening league as well; ...likely somebody here

can steer you clear of a poor yield, but it ain’t me.