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Nothing can beat the taste of home
grown #vegetables and with today's rising price planting your own
little garden can save you a fist full of money. Even if you do not
have a yard, with today's container plant systems you can have a
garden almost anywhere, even hanging off a ceiling. Plant and seed
companies now offer space-saving plants that cut the need of plant
area almost in half; so the biggest worry is to find the right plants
for your climate, figuring out placement, so that the plants get the
required amount of sun and shade each day and finding the right size
containers for your plants.
When growing vegetables in #containers
one rule to remember is bigger is better. Most vegetables have a
more expansive root system than flowers, so the deeper and wider your
container, the greater your success of growing a healthy plant that
will produce high yield of produce. When selecting your vegetables
to grow look for varieties that state they are “compact,” “bush”
or bred for container planting. Below is a list of some varieties
suitable for a container garden.
The type of soil you use is also
important – garden or pure topsoil might be your first chose but
they can harbor weeds, diseases and pests and does not drain as well
in containers. Potting mixes are better, especially if it contains
water retaining particles to save on watering (great if your the type
that forget or don't have time to water); since watering is
essential, another way to retain moisture longer would be to top off
your soil with one inch of mulch. Plus potting mixes are formulated
to ensure good water drainage for those times when you just watered
and it starts raining.
Here are some varieties I have plant
with success:
- Tomatoes - Pixie, Sweet 100, and Red Cherry – for dwarf plants you will need a pot that is 12" deep, for regular standard plants like Husky Red or Gardener's Delight a 24" deep pot;
- Cucumber - Spacemaster, Burpee Pickler container should be about 20" wide, 16" deep and water, water, water;
- Lettuce - Tom Thumb, Green Ice, Little Gem, container 8" wide, 6-8" deep
- Peas - Little Marvel, Snowbird, container 12" deep
- Carrots - Nantes, Little Finger, container 10" wide, 10" deep
- Beans, Lima - Fordhook Bush Lima in container 12" wide, 8-10" deep
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