Container Vegetable Gardening
Are you thinking of growing some vegetables in a container? Living in an apartment? Perhaps your past container gardens were not all you had hoped? Container gardening can be a challenge, a few pointers can help.
Make sure you have 6 to 8 hours of sunshine on the spot you have selected. If there is less sun, consider growing herbs or perhaps some shade loving flowers. The spot should have a convenient water supply, and a drainage path that does not stain your patio or drip onto your downstairs neighbors.
Use the largest container that you can. It should have a hole in the bottom. You may need a saucer. If you are on an upstairs balcony, select a light weight plastic pot and add some perlite to the potting mix.
After you have the container in place, place coffee filter or a couple sheets of newspaper over the hole to allow water to drain, but keep the soil. Do not use gravel. Fill the pot with good potting mix. The goal is a large volume of soil to hold water and nutrients for the plants.
When choosing your vegetables, look for the words ‘patio’, ‘compact’ and ‘bush’. ‘Patio’ tomatoes and ‘Tumbling Tom’ tomatoes are good choices. You might try a bush cucumber or ‘Bush Belle’ hybrid pepper, or an eggplant. A single plant from the retail nursery might be enough.
Crops like corn, pumpkins and watermelon are not good choice for pots. Think of smaller plants. One of the many of mints, lemon balm or yarrow, is ideal. These plants tend to spread too far in the garden, so a pot is perfect.
Check the soil moisture in the pot regularly with your finger. Keep it moist, it can dry out more quickly than a garden in the ground. Fertilize with compost tea every 3 weeks or use an organic fertilizer. Don’t expect record breaking yields. Do expect the satisfaction of home grown. Replace the soil in your pot once a year.
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