Each issue is chock-full of timely gardening ideas and tips for you to grow your best garden ever!

Container Gardening

Plant Containers

Almost any container can be used for container gardening. Outdoor flower pots come in many different sizes and varieties like wooden, plastic, clay, ceramic, metal, and self-watering. Outdoor planters would include barrels, tubs, window boxes, and gallon-sized pails. Before you start, consider how the plant grows. Some plants are "trailers," others are "fillers," while still others are "uprights." Some plants have large blossoms; some have medium sized blossoms, while still other varieties have more of a cluster of flowers that will cascade very nicely over the side of your container. Then there are those with tall, medium, and those that have no stalks at all, but grow in compact clumps. There is such a wonderful variety of plant blossom and foliage colors to mix and match.

One of my favorites for container gardening is the window box planter. Window box planters should be at least 9-10 inches deep and 9-10 inches wide. Measure the window to see what size box you need. The sizes or shapes of other containers are best chosen by the variety or size of plants you want to grow in them. I tend to select plants that are on the small size although you can mix it up with different height plants. You can mix up blossom colors that will compliment each other or select primarily vivid foliage plants without flowers. Again the location of the window box, in full or partial sun, will give you a good idea as to what plant will be best suited for its location. My window box is in full sun and I mostly had Petunias in the box that did very well. However, my recent attempt at mixing up the heights was quite a surprise. I had a few Zinnia seeds that I sprinkled primarily in the back of the box. By the middle of summer, the Zinnias were so tall they almost reached the top of the window (about three feet) because I neglected to pinch them back periodically. To be able to see out your windows – choose a small size.

Hanging baskets

Hanging Baskets are another popular method to add interest and gardening space. There are many type of hanging containers available from growing bags to the more decorative coconut fiber baskets.

You need to take care to use lightweight potting soil and to make sure that the attachment is strong enough to carry the weight of the basket, soil and plant when wet.

Sheppard’s hooks are popular devices for hanging containers, they come in many styles and are portable, allowing you to change the look of your container garden to suit the season and your mood.

Container size

Plan ahead and choose a pot that is appropriate for your full grown plant. The general rule of thumb for container gardening is the bigger the better. Especially with vegetables, some may eventually become too large for a container, as with large fruited vegetables that grow on vines like squash and melons. The volume of the soil/rooting mix is important. Peppers, dwarf tomatoes, and chard need vegetable containers with a rooting volume of one to two gallons pots with a 20” diameter. The full size vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and eggplant would require a four to five gallon rooting volume and at least 20” or 22” in diameter. However, if you would like to grow vine vegetables in barrels for instance, a trellis would help give the plant support and somewhere to climb. When looking for suitable varieties select one that is described as “bush” or “compact.” suitable varieties is to look for those described as "bush" or "compact" and varieties that have been especially bred or hybridized for container gardening. There are also some dwarf varieties of the larger vegetables that will grow well in containers. Greens, such as spinach and lettuce have more shallow roots and will grow just fine in a broader, flat container. Planters must have drainage holes in the bottom of the container.

Soil

A lightweight mix should be used for container gardening. Soil straight from the garden shouldn’t be used in a container because it is usually too heavy. Clay soil should be avoided. In a container, the bad qualities of clay are exaggerated.

Container gardening medium should be porous in order to support plants, because roots require both air and water. Packaged potting soil available at local garden centers is relatively lightweight although the expense of prepackaged or soilless mixes can be high. You can mix your own with one part peat moss, one part garden soil, and one part masons sand, and a slow-release fertilizer.

Fertilizer

One of the drawbacks to container gardening is the fact that your plants will need continual watering and fertilizer. The roots of the plants are confined in the container and they can use all the water that is available to them and then some. Also remember that with the constant watering, many of the nutrients in the soil are also drained when the water finds it way out the bottom of the container. There are some good all purpose fertilizers on the market that can be mixed in water or just sprinkled on the top of the soil. The fertilizer packaging will let you know how often it can be used. There are two types of fertilizers: timed-release and water soluble. Both are needed for container vegetable growing success. Slow or timed-release is added at planting time, and should be thoroughly incorporated into the soil mix. Look for a complete, balanced type such as a 10-10-10, 13-13-13 or 14-14-14 formulation. Follow the directions on the container for the proper application rate. Thus, a three gallon container would need 1 1/2 tablespoons of fertilizer and a five gallon would need 2 1/2 tablespoons, and so on.

Water soluble fertilizers are added about mid-season when the plants begin to produce. This additional fertilizer is needed because most potting mixes don't retain nutrients very well, the plant's roots are restricted and thus somewhat stressed, and watering leaches nitrogen out of the soil. Some experienced container vegetable gardeners have success with a "super bloom" type of fertilizer, one with a high phosphorus content to stimulate blooms and subsequent fruits you can look for a 10-50-10 or 19-59-9 analysis. The water soluble fertilizers should be mixed at a slightly weaker rate than the label recommends and added once every week or two. You can also use manure or compost teas for organic container gardening. Be sure that any manure that you use is thoroughly composted.

You probably will need someone to water the plants if you go away for two or three consecutive days. That’s all the longer they can tolerate very dry conditions. An alternative is to group the containers together and use a water timer with an oscillating sprinkler.

Remember that plants grown in containers need as much sun as they would in the garden. Flowers and fruiting vegetables need at least eight hours of sun daily. If you have less sun, grow leafy vegetables or herbs, and get color in your containers from bright leaves like Coleus or Caladium.

Below are a few varieties of vegetables that are suitable for container gardening:

• Beans- Snap, Bush Romano, Bush Blue Lake, (pot size 8" wide, 8-10" deep).

• Beets- Red Ace Hybrid, Burpee Golden, (6"-12" deep).

• Broccoli- De Cicco is a favorite of ours. It produces many side shoot florets for a long harvest period (20" deep).

• Carrots- Short root or round- Nantes, Gold Nugget, Best of the Bunch, Little Finger, Baby Spike, Short & Sweet, Thumbelina, (10" wide, 10" deep)

• Eggplant- Dusky, Morden Midget, Bambino, Millionaire, (16" deep).

• Kale- Any variety: (8" wide, 8" deep).

• Lettuce- Black-seeded Simpson, Red Sails, Salad Bowl, Tom Thumb, Green Ice, Little Gem, (8" wide, 6-8" deep).

• Onion- (Bunching types work best) White Pear, Japanese Bunching, Beltsville Bunching, (10-12" deep).

• Peppers- Any variety, (16" deep).

• Potatoes- Charlotte, Kennebec, Red Pontiac, Irish Cobbler, Epicure, (10-20 gallon containers).

• Radish- Cherry Belle, Early Scarlet, French Breakfast, Sparkler, Burpee White, Comet. Avoid winter radishes, (4-6" deep).

• Spinach- Any variety, (4-6" deep).

• Tomatoes- Any variety, (8" wide, 8" deep).

Return to Home Page from Container Gardening