Next year I will be switching to container gardening for my vegetables, and I was wondering if anyone here container gardeners with their veggies. If so, could you share tips with me on what works for you and what has not.
Thanks!
Zone 5
Northwest Ohio
Hey Karen post this over in gardening to. I am looking forward to seeing the posts.
Gary a west KY Gardener! (ZONE 6)
Karen our whole veggie garden is in container gardens. It is wonderful, so easy to take care of and very neat. The only thing I don't grow is corn, because it takes up too much room. They are easy to water and weedfree, however if there are any weeds you can sit on the edge, rather than having to bend over. We have had ours for over 25 years now. I have 16 4x8 boxes and l 5x15 box.
I grow tomatoes and sometimes cucumbers in containers but this summer I'm read to tear everything up, it hasn't rained for ages and I can't afford the watering they require. Everything looks sick. You need to water a lot especially when it's hot and dry.
This is the first year I'm trying container gardening. I wanted to do a 4x4 garden, but it just wasn't going to happen(again--). I bought a 4 pack of broccoli, and 2 tomato plants, and it took me(what seemed like forever) to plant them outside. I had containers from other years, so that was not a problem. I did need to buy soil, and with some help from DH, they are planted and the broccoli is taking off. I know that it is cool weather plant(and I was afraid of planting it too late). I'm not real sure of the tomato plants tho. There is life and some flowers, but I'm not sure if I will see any tomatoes at all.
Laurel
Hello from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan!
I have a large garden in raised beds but have one butternut squash vine growing on the deck this year and it is producing large fruit. I have grown tomatoes in containers (5-gal buckets) before and they did okay although the fruit wasn't quite as large as in the main garden. Cucumbers are a good veggie to grow in containers...I have had success with them also in the past.The only problem with container gardening that I can see is the watering. In hot dry weather it might require water twice a day.
We have had really hot weather for the past couple weeks - around 30 - 35 C which is high 90 F and have only had to water once a day - in the evenings. The boxes take less water than a normal garden would.
Karen I just posted over on gardening good morning for you. Gran there is a big difference in raised beds and container gardening like Karen is referring to. Water is the biggest problem.
5 gallon buckets are great with holes drilled in them. If you frequent a restaurant or bar and know the staff you make be able to get them free. Many get pickles and other food items in them. The main thing is choose your seed carefully. Many supplies will have in their description ideal for container. There are cuke and squash that are of a bush variety that work great in containers. Lettuce, radishes, beets and short carrots can be grown in porch boxes. The choices are endless.
Here is one of my tomato plants. The largest of the tomatoes doesn't show well but they will do quite a bit of growing yet before they ripen.
I use pro mix in the pots but do mix in manure and 5-10-10 fertilizer the same as I would in the garden and then don't feed again.
Growing and Cooking
One year I grew all our summer squash....yellow, zucchini and patty pan...in containers on the deck and they all did really well. Had to do a lot of watering, though.
Been a busy day in the veggie garden today even though the temperature hit 90 in the shade at 1 PM. I spend 3 more hours weeding but had to quite at 12:30 because of the heat. Have run the sprinkler since 9:30 this morning. Did the little veggie garden, the asparagus bed, the onion bed and have one more move in the big garden. It takes 2 positionings of 2 hours each to get that all watered. Still have the potato bed to do but that might not get it until tomorrow. Did the plots yesterday so they should be fine until tomorrow.
Wow! Thanks for the great posts. I really appreciate it. You've given me confidence that I can do this container gardening thing next year!!!
I've mentioned this on the gardening board, Gary, but maybe I will post this over there too. Good idea.
Gran, I'm looking for a whole lot less weeds, so I am looking forward to giving this a shot.
Two things I do plan on planting next year, are tomatoes and cukes, Hiker. I'm hoping next year won't be so hot and dry for such a big part of the summer.
Laurel, my garden is done in 4x6 beds. Four are done in flowers. One is strawberries. The last one was supposed to be for the veggies. It has been a disaster for me for most of the ten years we've lived here. I don't think you are missing much by not getting your 4x4 in this year. I'll bet you get tomatoes this year. I put my broccoli and cabbage in late this year (again), but hope to be able to harvest from them in the fall. I figure I can enjoy them as much in the fall as I can in the summer. Good luck!
I am so glad to hear that you've had success with squash in a container, Ma Bea. I was really wondering if I'd be able to do that or not. Can't wait to try it! I'd rather spend my gardening time watering than pulling the weeds any day of the week.
Bette, you are a beautiful lifesaver! Thank you for mentioning the 5 gallon buckets from fast food restaurants. I know someone who works at Burger King, and DH knows someone who works at McDonald's. I am so going to try and hit them up for buckets! I get weird about how I grow my food. I would certainly imagine a bucket deemed food-safe to contain pickles would definitely be good to grow veggies in. I'm getting more excited about next year by the minute. Thank you! BTW, I can only hope my tomatoes will look as good as yours.
Karen I wasn't here yesterday so I missed this. I grow Lettuce , Cucumbers & tomatoes in pots. The past 2 yrs I've had a problem with thre cukes & lettuce for some reason, but I'm going to try a Fall crop this year & see what happens. Here's some pictures from past years.
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