Container Vegetable Gardening Corner

R

richard-in-cincy

Well-known member
Let's share our tips, experiences, and info on vegetable container gardening.

I have the space for a small garden, but after 10 years in my present home of battling the rabbits, groundhogs, chipmunks, starlings, squirrels, deer, and whatever else wanders through my neighborhood, I've gone to an enclosed patio "compound" with container vegetables (and a water scarecrow "standing guard").

Last year I grew 6 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, 4 varieties of heirloom eggplants, kohlrabi, spinach, sweet potatoes, lettuce, radishes, pattypan squash, cucumbers, peppers, and strawberries in my container garden. I harvested more vegetables from that small 10X10 patio than in the previous 10 years of effort combined. This year I'm going to expand the efforts and I would be very interested to hear about types of fruits and vegetables others have grown in containers.

Click the link for a very informative vegetable container gardening fact sheet from the Ohio State Univ. Extension Service. Very informative source!

Here are some ideas:

salad pots--I have these going now. I've got mesclun, arrugula, bibb lettuce, spinach, kale, parsley, chives, rosemary, and green onions going in my containers right now.

Italian sauce pot: a 5-gallon container can accomodate 1 roma tomato, 1 bell pepper, and basil.

Decorative hanging cherry tomato basket: 1 cherry tomato in the middle, three dwarf marigolds around the edges.

If you grow large containers of flowers, you can grow sweet potatoes below the flowers and the vines will be decorative foilage trailing over the sides of your barrel. I was successful last year combining sweet potatoes and growing petunias, geraniums, alyssum, salvia, etc. over the sweet potatoes. I had to thin out the vines around the top a couple times in the summer to keep the sweet potatoes from covering some things, but there is more than enough foilage hanging over the side, just pick leaves off wherever something is getting covered. I harvested 10 pounds of sweet potatoes from two large flower tubs last year. Just buy a sweet potato at the grocery, cut it into 4-5 pieces, and put them about 6 inches below the summer annuals as you build the container.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1647.html

 
With container pots - also - think UP!

At a flower show last spring they sold these. Basically an iron rod with steel plates at the bottom in the shape of an X for support. Amongst the many uses they touted for the item was for stacking pots. So - I bought one.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g166/Finer_Kitchens/20080527021_edited-3sm-1.jpg

When I put it together I then realized out I didn't have to buy one at all - I could have made it myself....so - I made a second one from stuff I had around the house.

Basically I took a large pot. In order to prevent it from being too beavy I took a smaller pot, turned upside down and placed in in the bigger pot. Get a pole - I had an old wrought iron pole about 1 inch in diameted. Stick it thru the hole in the upside-down pot for stability.

Put dirt in the large pot (more stability for the pole.) Then I took plastic pots and thread them on the pole through the hole in the bottom. (Note - make sure pole diameter is smaller than pot hole diameter)

Tilt each small pot in a different direction. Put in potting soil and whatever you want to grow. This is how I did my herbs. Parsley and Cilantro were in the large bottom pot. Each of the pole-pots had one herb. Thyme, oregano, chives, etc. Since some herbs have specific water needs - some like try some like wet - this was easy to do. Also - some aggressive herbs like thyme were then contained in their pots.

And don't forget the mint, especially pineapple mint, for the mojitos. We drank alot of mojitos last summer using the pineapple mint!

 
love the sweet potato tip. will try that this year! Also want to try some fingerlings.

I'm trying the trash bag method---put some dirt and the potato starters in the rolled down bag. as they grow, add more dirt and roll up the bag a bit to eventually have a nice mound. the bag has holes in the bottom for drainage and warms up in the sun. I will place this in a weedy area of the garden where it's just too rocky to dig down in the actual dirt. I didn't know a store sweet potato would be so successful.

 
OMG....one year I grew a sweet potato vine in my flower pot, that vine

grew and grew and I swear it wanted to go to the next town. It was a beautiful lime green! In the winter, when I dug up the pot, I had several huge sweet potatoes in there. I was afraid to eat them!!!!!! I should have called the nursery. Thank for the post and a reminder about a way to grow food under other plants!

 
I love this thread, and I hope some others will chime in.

I am doing a big garden this year, but also a big container gardent on my deck. I love the sweet potato tip and I have some I will plant. So far, I have planted a radish pot with 4 or 5 different types of radishes and green onions. I have also planted a cilantro, parsley and nasturtium pot. I love them in salads, and they are so pretty. Great thread!

 
I have an above-ground container garden in my back yard. I'm growing about 5 kinds of

tomatoes, also yellow tomatoes and organic cascade tomatoes (small ones)....okra, radishes, swiss chard, mustard, cuban oregano, watermelon, mixed greens/lettuces, mint, peppermint, spearmint, carrots and red peppers, parsley, basil, Fla sweet onion, red onions, scallions, garlic. I have many papaya seedlings I started. I do organic gardening.

New to my yard this year is a pomegranate plant, a fig, a loquat and a blueberry bush. I also planted a redbud tree and found out I can eat the flowers. My blackberry vines are finally leafing out.

In past gardens the lettuces, mixed greens and red peppers have been the easiest, but this year, they're not growing. The only lettuces doing well are my oak leaf red lettuce.

I gave up trying to grow squash and spinach here. Fungus attacks squash the minute the first squash comes on and there's no saving it. At least I haven't found out how. I was told that from a gardener at the health food store.

We have 2 gardens a year here. In the fall you start your seeds in September and most everything has grown and ready to pick by cold weather in Jan/Feb.

I also have a large compost this year...I'm hoping by next year I can start adding some of it to my yard.

The spring garden....you start your seeds in January so your tomatoes have time to grow before hot, humid weather arrives.

Neighbors of mine have tried to grow sweet potatoes and potatoes here but they say it's an unsuccessful venture.

I'm really having a lot of fun this year planting new things. I found special azaleas online that bloom 3 times a year so I'm planting those in my front yard.

 
Wow Marsha, your garden sounds wonderful!

What is Cuban oregano? I have heard of Greek and Mexican, but Cuban is a new one. How does it differ from the other two? I am getting ready to start a lettuce pot. My herbs didn't do very well in pots last year, so I think I will be starting an herb garden this year. I just need to find the spot. Have you ever grown tomatoes upside down? I have been trying to research if they really grow better like that then in the ground. I found a plan for an a-frame tomato trellis that looks like it would work. I like to keep hubby busy!

 
Cuban oregano is lime green, thick leaves, very fragrant. I'm not familiar with the Mexican or

Greek, so I can't compare. I haven't grown my tomatoes anyway but right side up smileys/smile.gif

 
upside down tomatoes info

it's not that they "grow better" upside down, but there are some benefits: tomatoes don't need staking, they don't sprawl and take over a large area if you don't stake/cage, they're off the ground, so the bunnies, chipmunks, etc. can't reach them (but the starlings can, and they love to pick every last one when they get ripe), since they're off the ground, there is no damage from tomatoes lying on soil and rotting, etc. You can save yourself $15 bucks and cut a whole in an old 2-3 gallon sized pot, insert the tomato plant (a lot of it, including leaves and stems, this creates roots when you put soil around it and makes a healthier plant later), wrap some paper towel around the stem at the opening (to prevent soil from falling out as you fill), then fill with soil (lightweight potting medium is best for this since you need to hang it). With the open top, you can plant basil, dwarf marigolds, or other small herbs/flowers to make it more attractive to look at.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top