Container Gardening: Tips and Tricks?
I'll admit it: containers with tasty edibles are slowly taking over our little apartment balcony. I do as much research as I can but am just now getting started with growing food plants. There's nothing more relaxing than coming home after work and being rewarded with the fragrance of freshly watered herbs or popping baby arugula leaves into my mouth.
That said: I'm curious about other container/kitchen gardeners. What's worked for you? What do you plant in? (I've been known to grow in plastic milk jugs, the handle is handy until the plant outgrows it, and the clear sides allow you to check root progress). What veg container varieties have you tried? How about upside down bucket gardening?
How does one manage soil when a compost bin is kind of outside of the terms of one's lease, and without little earthwormy friends? (this, I'll admit, is what I miss the most about playing in the dirt when I was a kid.)
Anyway, just hoping to start some discussion on the topic.
That said: I'm curious about other container/kitchen gardeners. What's worked for you? What do you plant in? (I've been known to grow in plastic milk jugs, the handle is handy until the plant outgrows it, and the clear sides allow you to check root progress). What veg container varieties have you tried? How about upside down bucket gardening?
How does one manage soil when a compost bin is kind of outside of the terms of one's lease, and without little earthwormy friends? (this, I'll admit, is what I miss the most about playing in the dirt when I was a kid.)
Anyway, just hoping to start some discussion on the topic.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Bob Ewing on -
I have used an old pair of workboots to grow johnny jump ups on my balconyy, the best containers i had for my cherry tomatoes were 5 gallon ice cream buckets that I got from a friend who owned a restaurant..
-
Permalink Reply by amy on -
ah to return to my restaurant days! if i could stand working in a commercial kitchen again (the hours were great for a single college student, but murder for a new marriage) i would be in hog heaven for recycled containers. did you grow those tomatoes right-side-up or upside down?
-
Permalink Reply by Bob Ewing on
-
right side up but they produced many delicious camp joy cherry tomatoes
-
Permalink Reply by Zi on -
Hi Amy --
I've never had particularly good luck with container gardening myself (you can't afford to miss a watering time!) but there is a guy whose web site you should look at: http://www.recycling.moonfruit.com/
The site is irritating to get through, but definitely worth it if you are into containers. Zi
-
Permalink Reply by PoMoGolightly on -
I found cherry and grape tomatoes did really well in my container gardens. Mainly I liked to plant herbs, although I rarely had luck wintering over by bringing in the containers.
-
Permalink Reply by Eric M on -
Amy, actually a worm bin can easily be maintained on a deck. One of the best books on vermicomposting, Worms Eat My Garbage, written by Mary Appelhof has a section on maintaining an indoors bin. Here are some plans using Rubbermaid Roughneck Totes.
It's a self contained system, so any tea is collected in the bottom bin. I have one in my garage and it works great!
Something I'm going to be trying out this year is upside down gardening using a suspended growbag with holes on the sides and on the bottom. They say it cuts down on pests, but it would also be a great way to grow vining plants such as tomatoes in a limited space such as a balcony.
-
Permalink Reply by amy on
-
I'm actually going to try the suspended grow method but with a bucket probably, instead of the bag. I have a troubled little rosemary plant who needs far more circulation than she gets so I think she'll also get that treatment...(and yes, I do anthropomorphize my plants enough to give them pronouns!) Thanks for the info, I'll be checking those out, and wishing I had a garage.
-
Permalink Reply by Shawna on -
I am lucky enough this go round to get a yard with lots and lots of stuff to compost, and big fat earthworms......but it's a rental so I can't plow up space for a real vegetable garden. Other places we have lived (military housing) also didn't allow gardens so I used the stacked rubbermaids for compost as well, just put some holes to allow air and drainage, water and flip it every so often. I always grow my tomatoes, peppers, herbs, garlic, potatoes and onions...and a avocado tree that we have been moving around for several years.....all in containers.....I use self-watering planters for the most part.....expensive but I have had mine for years...saves water and I don't have to worry about anything drying out if I take off for a few days...
I start most of my stuff from seeds, this year I am using a grow light, first time I have had to use one, but it's so cold here now and I can't leave the seedlings on the south porch.
My main issue is mildew with the humidity here in the south...I get tomatoes off the vines as early as May but the plants are usually done in July....too hot, too humid and they just turn brown and die. The second issue down here is BUGS, lots and lots of bugs. This year I am trying marigolds, Calendula, catnip, dill, and some other plants in the same containers as the tomatoes just to repel the bad bugs and attract the "good" bugs....
Any other plants I should be thinking about?
-
Permalink Reply by Eric M on
-
I had great luck planting garlic with my tomatoes. Garlic oil spray is a well known organic insecticide. I also used nasturtiums as a trap plant for aphids, to great effect.
-
Permalink Reply by amy on
-
Eric,
Is garlic oil spray a commercially available product or something you made? I have planted garlic right next to my aphid-ridden red leaf lettuce, but it's just now sprouting...Looking for simple solutions to that as I've grown tired of smashing them by hand.
-
Permalink Reply by Eric M on
-
Amy, I didn't make a spray with the garlic, I had read that the planted garlic had the same effect as the insecticide. I think the garlic has to be pretty well established to have an effect. I planted my garlic and my tomatoes at the same time, in April 07, harvesting tomatoes in August. I didn't get a garlic crop out of this it should be noted. They seemed to act as barrier plants to the bad bugs, but did not produce bulbs.
-
Permalink Reply by Mama Al on -
One way to make garic oil is to saok garic in a low acidic oil like canola for a few days. Bust this would be to thick to spray on plants. My favorit method would be hot pepper water. To make just put hot tap water and some peppers in a blender and let rip, let set about a week, strain and use a hose sprayer and wet down your plants. Be carful to test one plant first for burning.
© 2008 Created by Kitchen Gardeners International
