Container gardening

[1GoldenSun]

When I was a kid we always had a huge garden and grew most of our own vegetables. I'd help Mom freeze and can all summer so we'd be stocked for the winter. To be honest, I did not enjoy this and was happy to grow up and move away and buy all my vegetables from Publix, haha.

But now I'm thinking about trying my hand at a little gardening. As it turns out, though, I apparently do not have the green thumb that Mom and Dad did. Most of my houseplants end up dying. But I want to try. We have a large screened in patio/pool area and I was thinking about doing some container gardening--maybe some tomatoes and peppers? Have any of you done this? Any advice? I'd like to grow as much as possible while using as little space as possible. I do have some yard space where I could plant "in" the ground, but we back up to the woods and have a lot of critters (including wild hogs that like to dig), so I think I'd have more success using planters on the pool deck.

 

[barkley]

several years ago i replaced the ornamental flowers on my deck with herb plants so during the summer i grow parsley, basil and mint in simple flower pots. for veggies you don't need to spend a fortune for containers so long as they are big enough for whatever type you are growing (so not terribly deep for long for stuff that crawls like zucchini, again-not terribly deep but big enough for a cage for tomatoes to crawl up....). we've used old plastic storage bins, empty plastic cat litter containers (for peppers and small plants), and if you know anyone who is doing spring planting of bushes or larger plants-hit them up for the plastic containers before they toss them.

 

[tasha99]

Last year I grew these in containers:

tomatoes (4 varieties of cherry tomatoes were successful, my mortgage lifters got too big, broke their cage, and tipped a huge container over in some wind, and the san marzanos all got blossom end rot despite me adding tons of calcium).

Eggplant: Japanese and mini globe varietes were successful.

Cucumbers: grew but too often bitter (our weather temps fluctuated to extremes).

Strawberries: Grew but everbearing varieties don't produce enough at once to be worth it.

Beans and peas (sugar snap and snow): Successful with adequate trellising.

Peppers: All good, and I grew tons of varieties. The poblanos grown in containers were not as prolific as the ones in beds, though, and the peppers were smaller.

Mini varieties of watermelon and cantaloupe: Successful. Almost killed them using my self watering from beneath system (they were in SIPS containers, but looking so bad. I started watering them from above instead of adding water to the reservior, and they took off.)

Herbs: All good

 

[kymom99]

A couple pepper plants will produce a lot of peppers. Same with tomatoes. Maybe do one regular tomato and one cherry. Make sure they are able to drain and that they get the correct amount of sunlight. Google is your friend. Read up on care and you should be successful.

 

[lowlight]

Look up the Vegepods, they also carry a smaller line of Vegebags. Saw them on Shark Tank, bought a whole bunch because animals eat everything I put in the ground.

 

[mumto3girls]

I have deer issues so I only plant in containers on my deck. I do herbs—basil, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, thyme, chives, oregano, mint and sometimes dill. I also do various varieties of cherry and grape tomatoes, peppers and sometimes cucumbers. I struggle with the cucumbers—vines tend start off great and then die off on me once they start producing.

I use barrels, pots and over the deck railing wire type with the coco fiber. You need to make sure you have good drainage. Containers tend to need more watering than plants in the ground.

 

[_19disnA]

I gave up on any kind of indoor plants since the lighting was never enough to be successful. Windows also filter out a lot of the light needed and most rooms likely only have sun in one part of the day or only one exposure. With outdoor container gardening, plants with shallow roots will do best. Things like herbs are one example. Many other crops need the roots to go much deeper and I would imagine that is why they don't do well. Containers also evaporate the water faster since there is less mass of soil and require more frequent watering.

Tried some of those self-watering planters for indoor use and they absorbed far too much water making the soil constantly soggy and the plants died. Maybe they work well outdoors, but inside they were a huge failure for me.

 

[KristiMc]

Elevated garden beds from Greenes Fence Company are great for small gardens.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I prefer containers made of pottery with holes or wood beds to any sort of plastic, they breathe so water doesn't get trapped, metal cooks everything in the hottest part of summer so now no matter how cute a container is I steer clear. The wood is fun because I can pain those containers in playful colors.

 

[RedAngie]

Sure. I only use containers for growing vegetables now. I generally use cheap plastic storage totes with drainage holes drilled on the bottom. Filled with high quality potting soil.

Tomatoes, peppers, zucchini. Plus the longer thinner flower boxes for radishes and baby carrots. Plus basil and various herbs in smaller pots.

I also have many annual flowers growing in pots.