Container Gardening???

[kbaldridge06]

I will be having to make do with a container garden this year as we are renting our house out and I moved in with my mother while DH is deployed. The thought of not having a garden this year disturbed me too much so I will take an adventure and try container gardening. I'm not sure what vegatables I could grow though. I am in need on many suggestions. I would like to grow vegatables and fruits....I am also 7 1/2 months pregnant right now (which is why I moved in with my mother while DH is deployed). Our baby is due early in March so I will need plants that won't be so time consuming. I am a housewife so I will be home to tend to them though. All suggestions and advice are welcome..especially from those of you who have done this before.

God Bless,
Katie

[Spinner]

I did a lot of container gardening last year. I found that you can grow a lot of vines in containers, such as mellons, cucumbers, squash, etc. I set my containers next to a cattle panel and trained the vines to climb. When a mellon gets started good, make a diaper out of an old rag tied to the panel on each side of the mellon. It works great, holds the mellon up so it doesn't get dirty. I also made manure tea from cow patties. I poured the tea into each pot about once a month. Also gave them feedings of epsom salts. I guess you can tell that I tend to keep everything natural, no chemicals here.

[ldc]

I've also had great success with pole beans, bush beans, tomatoes, eggplant, and different peppers in containers. The secret! seems to be to find really big ones, keep things evenly moist and not drowning, and have fun picking! Also, if you find some big containers, you won't have to bend so much! Best of luck! ldc

[PonderosaQ]

You are going to be amazed by how much you can grow in a container. With good soil etc you can get a huge crop and space things so tight the weeds don't stand a chance. When my girls lived in park model trailers in campsites I used to give them whole gardens in pots. One would have tomatoes and peppers with some small basil and parsley for example. Another would have cukes and green beans and so on. Yes go up! I used to use two tomato cages fastened together for the kids and weave plants through them.I actually still rather enjoy containers even though I have plenty of garden space. You can put them by the kitchen door and just go out and grab things so easily, no bending and weedins. You may find you like this new adventure.
PQ

[gryndlgoat]

Years ago when I had a patio garden I had genetic dwarf nectarine and peach trees in half-barrel planters. They were wonderful plants! Beautiful flowers in spring and full-size fruit in summer, and lots of them considering the size of the plant. And next to no care. They transplanted well to my new place when I moved them (but I had to leave them behind when I moved up here...Customs wouldn't let them across...sigh). I think Starks Nursery carries them.

[Daddymem]

We use the ends of pipes that are cut off during construction, either concrete or HDPE. Great luck with herbs, rhubarb and flowers too. Plan on expanding our collection and what we grow in them real soon.

The patio tomatoes seem to do better in containers than the larger tomatoes do. I use 5 gallon buckets and the patio tomatoes root systems are not as large.

[wilderness1989]

I've gardened in pots and half barrels quite a bit over the years. Put in all the GOOD compost you can afford, DO NOT use the stuff from WalMart I really had BAD LUCK with their potting soil and compost this year and will never use them again. I've grown lettuce, tomatillos, tomatoes, eggplant, flowers, and peppers in 1/2 barrels with great success, just stay on top of the watering. If you like sweet peppers I grew Carmen Hybrid in a 1/2 barrel and they are the sweetest tasting pepper I've ever grown, they are on my keeper list.

[Jenn]

Please google grow bags. I grew all my greenhouse crops- cucumber, tomato, pepper- in ENgland this way. Most of my neighbors grew these crops on the patio in warm summers without a green house (and barely knew tomatoes and cucumbers can be grown in the ground). It's a flat bag of growing soil you cut holes in one side of and put the plants in those holes. 2-3 plants per 1.5x3 foot by 6" thick. Few small drainage holes bottom half. You could make one of these from a bag, say, of compost; might need some other fertilizer added in liquid form. The bags such stuff comes in are tough enough.

At end of season (season pretty short even with a greenhouse there where I was South England- maybe May to October) the bags would be full of roots and some remaining dirt and I'd dump them on my outdoor beds or compst pile.

having been taught when growing tomatos never to let them reach edge container with roots I never understood this, maybe reaching edge container makes them mature and fruit which is bad in early spring growing the summer garden's seedlings but GOOD in the pot/growbag you will never remove the plant from.

[dhaley]

Tomatoes grow really good in 5 gallon buckets hung upside down. I have heard cukes do too but haven't tried it yet. I do all my herbs in containers. This year I am going to have to use either containers or put in raised beds. The place we are on now has too many rocks to put in a traditional garden.

[keljonma]

We've grown the following in containers with great success: strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, radishes, carrots, beets, green beans, snap peas, potatoes, summer squash, nastursiums, rose scented geraniums, parsley, lavender, rosemary, basil, oregano, thyme, sage, fennel and lots of different scented mints.

[grannygardner]

I grew herbs in plastic window boxes this past summer and had very good results. I grew tomatoes and peppers in five gallon buckets.

[ceresone]

My experience was the other way, I did have a big garden, but I also had lots of large pots with different vegetables. For me, it was too time consuming, of course we had unusual 100 degree temps for days on end.despite having used water crystals in the pots, it seems they needed watered every morning.
but--since i want to save heirloom tomato seeds this year, i'll be doing it again.

[keljonma]

I forgot .... last year we planted winter wheat in a small container and it grew well enough for our chicks to have some as treats.... this year we planted in the pasture.

[squeakyzig]

I read in Mother Earth News (it's been a while back) about growing potatoes in a container like setting. I think it said to use a 5 gallon bucket (with the bottom cut out), lined with a heavy black trash bag. Fill the bottom of the bag with hay and/or straw. Put in your eyes then as the plant develops and the hay compresses, just add more hay.

I am hopeful that I'll be able to try the potatoes this way this year. It sure would make the picking easier.

[hisenthlay]

Good advice on here so far--one thing I would emphasize--if you have a hot and/or dry summer, the bigger the containers are, the better! When I had things in 5 gallon pots, I was watering 2x a day and STILL the plants often looked wilty and sad, and were stunted. We built a large planter out of recycled wood (about 2.5 feet wide, 5.5 feet long, and 3 feet high), and it was as good as planting stuff in the ground. I also got a bunch of plastic containers from the dollar store ($8 each) that are circular, 2 feet high and 2 feet in diameter, and those worked very well, too.

[Rita]

I have 3 Earth Boxes and while they are pricey they have lasted 7 years now. The advantage of the Earth Boxes is they don't need to be watered as much as the top of the soil is covered with black plastic and there is a large water resevoir (sp) in the bottom. I always plant cukes and tomatoes in mine for an earlier than the regular garden crop. Rita

[visionary]

A good source for buckets is bakery departments in large supermarkets and donut shops. Their fillings and frostings come in food-grade vinyl buckets. I bought them once at a Dunkin Donut for .50 apiece, but the local food chain gives them away and usually keeps a washed out supply on hand. I think they are three and four gallons.

[Zipporah]

When we lived in an apartment I had a container garden with tomatoes,peppers,and yellow squash.

[Jan Doling]

Cherry and grape tomatoes look nice in hanging baskets, too.