Container Gardening

[LittleRed]

Have you, or do you ever do any container gardening? What have you found particularly well suited to growing in tubs, and what grows nicely from hanging baskets (fruit and veg especially)?

 

[Smartaleck]

Last year I grew beetroot and carrots in tubs and tomatoes from a hanging basket. I believe you can also grow potatoes in a bucket and strawberries from a hanging basket but I have yet to try these.

 

[grnspot110]

We grow "cherry" tomatoes, small varieties of sweet peppers & scarlet runner beans in containers every year. Usually some lettuce & radishes early & marigolds & mini petunias around the edges of the same pots. I add fertilizer to the pots yearly & replace the mix every 2-3 years. I make my own mix with garden soil, vermiculite, perlite & ground sphagnum moss. Adding some moisture crystals to the mix helps also. ~~ grnspot110

 

[LittleRed]

I'm rather looking forward to trying potatoes in containers this year, and have carrots, onion, tomatoes and strawberries so far. I just have to decide what to put where.

Does the vermiculite help a lot with water retention?

 

[Kryten]

I used to keep tarantulas and we used vermiculite for exactly that reason-it is excellent at retaining moisture and the spiders needed that.

The container gardening is really easy and honestly, it's so much easier when you have problems with your soil, as you bypass your bad soil.

 

[grnspot110]

Vermiculite & perlite also "lighten" up the weight of the potting mix, making it easier to work with & move the pots, if needed! ~~ grnspot110

 

[LittleRed]

Do you do all of yours properly in containers? Some of mine is likely to be in raised beds-container growing as they will be in their own soil, but there is a chance they will grow through. I doubt I'll have much luck moving them!

 

[Kryten]

If the reason for container gardening is to protect the plants from the bad soil underneath, this might not be such a good idea. At they least they are likely to not be able to grow through, and at worst, whatever you didn't want may soak up into the better soil.

 

[Pika]

That sounds similar to the mix in "Square-Foot Gardening." My mother does her container gardening in five gallon buckets that she picks up and then she drills holes in the bottom for drainage.

 

[Harriet]

The only kitchen container gardening I have done in the past was herb growing. Containers are perfectly suited for raising herbs. You can also mix in herbs with your flower containers. The herbs are good foliage fillers.