Container gardening

[manning]

Does anyone do it?

 

[mumto3girls]

I grow a number of things on my deck in various containers. Although I have a nice sized yard, the deer will eat almost anything I plant.

I have several large sized barrel planters that I use for tomatoes--usually cherry/strawberry/grape varieties, but I have also done some full sized ones. In those planters I also put in various herbs--parsley, basil, cilantro. I have grown all of these very successfully.

I have one large planter with a blueberry bush in it. This has not done as well as the tomatoes.

Some years I have done some cucumbers and/or green beans and both of those have done well.

I also have little planters that are rectangular shaped that fit over the deck railing and I grow things like lettuce and some herbs in those. I usually stagger a few lettuce plantings so that I always have fresh lettuce for salads during the growing season. I have done rosemary, cilantro, and thyme in the railing planters and all have done well.

I also do a lot of flowers in containers--some hanging off of my deck others just sitting on the deck or on my front porch. Sunflowers and zinnias are some of my favorites to just plant from seeds.

Hope this is what you were looking for.

 

[shortbun]

We do raised bed gardens. They are about 20 inches deep. I've done container green beans and tomatoes each year. We have these special tomato thingies that hang the plants upside down.

 

[manning]

I'm looking at this:

http://growcamp.com/video?thevideo=e6YXtPmAA1A

www.growcamp.com

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc..._Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&topnav=

 

[mrodgers]

I plant about 12 rows of corn around 20-25 feet long. Also 3-4 rows of potatoes same length along with everything else. I would need an awful lot of containers, LOL.

I like the growcamp link above. Looks like a nice alternative to a regular greenhouse. I'd like to extend my growing season and to be able to start some stuff early from seed. We don't plant until Memorial Day weekend.

 

[RNMOM]

We try various things each summer. We have two large raised beds but everything we plant gets eaten, probably from moles, voles, and the dog. We moved the tomatoes to the west side of the house, outside the backyard fence. Instead of flowers or shrubs we put in a dozen tomato plants with a border of marigolds. I would love to also plant peppers, snap peas and eggplant but we just don't have the right soil, amount of sunlight and such. We need to take out our very old and overgrown maple trees cause they are damaging the foundation but I hate to do it.

We have planted herbs and lettuce in smaller containers with success. You have to be vigilant to water them daily, or most days they dry out too fast.

 

[KellyWasHere]

We have a raised garden bed too. I plant herbs in containers, and as a PP said, you have to remember to water them a lot. I usually don't, but for some reason my herbs seem to survive my neglect. But I never have much luck growing the more delicate ones, like dill and cilantro.

 

[LBIJim]

I live on a sandbar, where only the hardy native plants and weeds can survive. So I have some raised beds about 18" high filled with good topsoil. And many many many pots and containers. I don't grow many vegetables, usually just tomatoes and peppers. The containers have some herbs and all kinds of flowering plants, both annuals and perrenials.

Jim

 

[java]

Wow the grow thing is cool but expensive. I did a small raised bed last year last year after doing container gardening the year before. I outgrew it very quickly. The raised bed gave me plenty of space for tomatoes and Peppers. I will add another this year for lettuce.

What looks cool about the grow thing is that it can't be accessed through the ground up- read no bunnies!! They ate all my green beans last year. Little weasles.

 

[Pixiedust34]

We've grown tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and cucumbers in containers. The tomatoes grew to over 5 feet tall! We staked them to a porch railing. The cucumber container eventually had to be moved to the yard so the vines could sprawl out over the grass.

 

[Carnie]

This is probably a dumb question, but what do you use for soil in the containers? Do you buy potting soil, dig up some dirt in the yard, have stuff delivered, etc?

 

[Pixiedust34]

This is probably a dumb question, but what do you use for soil in the containers? Do you buy potting soil, dig up some dirt in the yard, have stuff delivered, etc?

We use a mixture of store bought soil with compost dirt. We put eggshells on top of the tomato soil once in a while. I forget why--LOL. I think it's good for the soil.