Pot up a vegetable garden

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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

Put your garden in a container

Embellishment for the garden  Pixabay/Public Domain/ CC0

#Container gardening has increased in popularity over the last few years. Planting in containers is not just for people who lack space, but can be a unique embellishment for any gardeners garden. The best thing about container gardening is you can put it wherever you like, and since your garden is portable, you can move plants in an out of the sun and rain as needed, move them around for different effects and move them inside for the winter. Your container garden can be as whimsical or as proper as you see fit.

Containers can add instant color, architectural interest, or can be used as a focal point to any area. One of the fun parts of planting in containers is that you get to choose the container, which can be anything from a plain pot to a washtub to a barrel to a pair of boots or a modified chair. You can let your imagination go wild on the shape, size, color, width, or height of the containers for your garden; personalizing it into your own unique piece of art.

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Containers allow you to experiment with new plants, try something outside of your growing zone; new growing medium, new watering methods, etc; if you don't like the results of your experiment, it is easy enough to start over with something new.

The one tricky thing about container gardening is watering, this is why you must make sure you have good drainage holes, and not just one but lots of them at least the size of a pea. If you are using a object that has none, you must find a way to make your own. Over-watering can turn your leaves yellow and leave your plant limp, it will also encourage mold and fungus to grow; under-watering will stint growth and well, could kill your plant off. Most container gardens need a good watering at least once a day during the summer. When you see water coming out of the bottom – stop – wait for the excess water to drain out, then do it again. Surface watering does your plant no good – water needs to get to the roots. Do not water your containers on rainy days, in fact, if mother nature does a good job you may not have to water for a few days.

So join the fun and just don't limit yourself to flowers, try vegetables, herbs, vines and yes, even shrubs and trees.

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