Container Gardening

I posted a lengthy discussion on container gardening last year (see Popular Posts) and it has all the essentials on preparing the soil, planting, and successfully growing your veggies in any type of container; raised bed or otherwise, but I wanted to talk about it again BECAUSE I LOVE IT...and here's why.

For shear volume, there is nothing better than an in-ground garden, BUT...  labor is significant!  Tilling, weeds, pest control, etc.  Everything is bigger...including the problems.  We are so busy at the store in the Spring that it is difficult for me to have TIME for my own garden.  I need a garden that fits my schedule.  Talking with my customers,  TIME may be the biggest shortage we all have - more than money!  So here's some ideas on container gardening that don't take much time to set up and are a breeze once they are going.

Square Foot Garden.  The obvious is the small square-foot garden made famous by Mel Bartholomew in his book Square Foot Gardening.  One of the main points I got from his book was this.  We tend to garden like commercial farmers but our goals are not the same.  The farmer uses mechanical tools and usually farms a huge quantity of a few crops in huge fields.  We small gardeners are just the opposite relying on manual labor and growing a wide variety of crops in confined spaces.  Bartholomew showed me that I can grow a lot of different crops and produce enough for my family and friends in small spaces with less work than my traditional in-ground, row garden.  One of the main ideas I got from him is that more plants planted closer together grow more total produce PER SQUARE FOOT than my row garden.

The picture above shows two 4x4 foot square gardens; the left with 16 broccoli plants and the right with 8 cabbage, a 2x2 plot of carrots, and a 2x2 plot of onions.  Nearly invisible is a welded wire trellis arched between the two beds.  Once the cool season veggies are done, I will plant cantaloupe, cucumbers, tomatoes, and pole beans and train them on the trellis.  The remaining 3/4 of  the beds will be dedicated to tomatoes, squash, egg plant, or bush beans.  I am adding two more 4x4 beds this year and will be able to produce most of the veggies I want for my entire family.  The benefits including superior soil, less watering and weeding, and less bending over.

Recycle Old Containers.  There are many other kinds of containers that can be extremely easy to use for particular crops.  Here's an example of styrofoam boxes used to ship grapes to grocery store being used for lettuce.  Two or three of these can be seeded every 2-3 weeks giving you plenty of leaf lettuce for about 8 months out of the year.  The red teepees in the background are actually walls-of-water with early season heirloom tomatoes inside.  According to some university research, the red increases yields.  The walls-of-water protect the plants from frost (down into the low 20s) and wind.  They are one of the best early season tools for southern gardeners.  They tomatoes are planted in old 200 lb. cattle lick tubs with the same soil mix I used on the  raised beds.  I will secure the plants to the side of the trellis for support.

Earthboxes are another favorite of mine for people who are away from home and can't water every day during the summer.  The bottom of the container contains a reservoir which holds about 2 gallons of water.  With the top mulched, that will last up to five days in the summer heat.  This one is shown with a red/green leaf lettuce mix.

Make it Fun.  Here is my first strawberry of the year in a hanging basket.  I also plant container variety tomatoes such as Tumbling Tom in hanging baskets.  In our summers, a deep basket with a small reservoir for water is best.  Otherwise, you will be watering twice a day.

What to Avoid.  I have not had luck with the upside-down containers and neither have any of my customers.  I bet that a dozen people tried them last year with no success although last year was a terrible year for gardening - 102 degrees for a couple of months!  Here are some other things to watch out for when choosing a container.  Be sure that the container isn't contaminated with something you would want in your produce.  This may include pesticides, herbicides, and treated lumber.  Also, color can make a difference.  I local gardener was growing tomatoes in black lick tubs and was having to water twice a day and the plants were still suffering from the heat.  He painted the tubs a lighter color and problem solved.  Be sure to fit your container to your plant - bigger pots for bigger plants, etc.  Also, be sure to site your container keeping in mind your plants' light requirements.  Don't forget that the trees don't have leaves yet!