Is a pot garden completely potty?

[emmavaleriehollis]

Hi all,

You will have to forgive me (and I apologise in advance if I get any terminology wrong) as I am about as new to veggie growing and indeed any form of gardening as you could possibly be. I have barely ever even managed to get a houseplant to survive and now I find myself in the very lucky (but very scary) position of having to tend for the gardens at my new house.

They are not massive plots but are substantially large enough to be quite overwhelming for a newbie. Having said that I am determined to use the space I have to the best advantage and make a go of growing my own fruit and veg as well as some flowers for the beauty factor :0)

I am sure I will have many (many) questions for you as I make my first tentative steps but for now I want to run this by you:

I can't possibly tackle both front and back garden all at once this year as I'm sure that would overwhelm me and I would lose my enthusiasm. My plan is to dig out the very messy beds and cover the soil up (is it called mulching?) in the bigger back garden and leave that be for this year and then experiment in the front garden which is much more manageable (approx 5m x 5m).

I have been thinking that it may be best to use large planters and pots for all my planting as I feel this will somehow be more manageable and will allow me to move things around when I (inevitably) make mistakes with where I put things.

My question then (and I apologise for taking so long to get to it!) is whether veggies can be successfully grown in this way or is this a ridiculous idea bound to end in disaster?

If you have managed to get this far without falling asleep, thank you, and I look forward to any advice/encouragement for a rather petrified new grower :0)

Emma

[nick the grief]

Short answer - YES !!!

Welcome to the Vine. It can seem a lot but it may not be as daunting as you think. I take it that it isn't a brand new house and that the gardens are "established" If so, I wouldn't dig any of it up now as there maybe plants in there that you will like. Far better to wait & see what happens. Take loads of foto's then come the Autumn Then you can remove the stuff you don't want & move stuff that you like thats in the wrong place etc.

In the man time you can still buy loads of tub (I suggest your local £ shop) and then cro things like beans, peas, carrots, Potatoes ( it's still not too late to get some earlies or second earlies - try Swift for 1st earlies & Kestrel , Nadine or Maris Peer for 2nd earlies), You could always do some hanging baskets with Tomatoes in - Garden pearl ( sometimes spelt gartenperle) or tumbler & I have planted Basil & marigolds (Tagetese) in with them as well.

Hope that helps

[emmavaleriehollis]

It does help, thanks - now is that a 'YES' you are potty or 'YES' it can be done? LOL :0)

With regards to the 'wait a year and see', I didn't make it very clear but we have already done that. We moved in last January and yes they are established gardens and due to the amount of work that needed to be done on the house itself we have been flat out renovating inside for the last year and watching the garden in the meantime.

The upshot is that the garden is pretty much a mess and there is very little we want to keep - the odd plant here and there but otherwise it needs a complete overhaul. Now the inside is done (almost) I am turning my attention to the garden.

Ta for the advice - it is much appreciated, will investigate the local instore for pots and garden centre for seeds over the next couple of days - thanks. x

[nick the grief]

Yes on both counts but there again we all are on hear so you'll fit in just fine

[Alice]

Hello Emma, and welcome to the Vine. The basic answer to your question is, yes, you can grow anything you like in pots. Now you have that answer maybe you should sit still for a while and work out what it is you want to do. No garden gets done instantly, and maybe you could work out where you want to start and how much you want to do this year.
Think about what you want your garden for
Where is your sun and where is your privacy
How much does the ornamental factor mean to you
How much do you want to grow to eat
How much time can you spend every day/week
How much money can you spend
How much work are you prepared to do.
If you have a good think and come back with specific questions I think you'll get good , specific answers.

[wellie]

Hi emmavaleriehollis !
May I call you emma?
I had almost an entire garden in containers where I used to live, because the soil was bluey-grey clay, and completely inhospitable.
You can certainly create a fabulously productive garden using pots, baskets, troughs and growbags - I had great fun learning along the way.

My advice, given my own experiences back then is to pay keen attention to watering and liquid feeding the containerised plants. It's the difference between success and failure, and come Autumn, when you look back on your diligence, you'll be delighted with what you've achieved and harvested.
I wish you every success, and lots of whoopee! moments....

[xspye]

Hi Emma

I've only been growing veg a couple of years and i am still incapable of keeping house plants but growing friut and veg it is strangely addictive! You'll probably make loads of mistakes but you learn from them and there is always loads of advise from grapes who know what they are doing.
I think most stuff can be grown in pots I've grown tomatos (tumbler or tumbling tom) in hanging baskets they were really easy as long as they have enough water etc and a courgette plant is always good as they crop really well (very satisfying for me in my first year!), salad leaves (pick and come again types) are really easy and you soon realise you save money by not having to buy the bags from the supermarket .
From my experience the best advise i can give is not to get too much too soon I was hugely ambitious in the quantity and types of plants I grew and I made masses of mistakes and Hugely under estimated the time it would take to tend my patch, poly tunnel and greenhouses
But in saying that I've really enjoyed it and I hope you do to. Bring on the veg

[Nicos]

Hello Emma - and Welcome to this madhouse!!
Actually you're lucky to have the chance to start afresh in your garden!
When I redid the back of mine, I went to the library and took out loads of gardening design books, and got an excellent idea of what I didn't want and started from there!
I love planning and designing in a very amateur sort of way ( ie 3am and bathtub and chatting to myself ironing/lottie) that the ideas very slowly develop, with plenty of time to alter your ideas.
I've got mostly patio,water feature, raised terraces and veg in the sunny part of my garden and I have to say I'm chuuffed with how it's turned out!
One word of advice from my experience...tub growing means watering once or twice a day (even if it's raining!) depending on it's location and what you are growing. And that is very time consuming. Make sure if you intend to go on hols that you have someone who will put in this time to ensure you have a healthy crop when you return!
Have fun with your designing!

[smallblueplanet]

Hi emma, first thing you should check is where the sun shines, now we're just coming into spring you could keep an eye on where the sun rises and sets. I was amazed at how much variation there was between where the summer sun shone and where the winter sun didn't! Veggies on the whole need as much light as they can get. Of course you might want to put a greenhouse in too!

You can grow lots in pots but it will as folk have said take more effort in watering them. If there's nothing in your garden you want to keep why not go for it and plant in the garden - there's plenty of time, most haven't even planted their spuds yet.

Is your front garden 'safe'? There's a whole thread on the Chit Chat forum (I think) about things going walkabout from peoples front gardens!

Anyway whatever you do, enjoy it.

[clarelouise4]

Hi Emma
Welcome to the Vine. There is quite a good book that might help you called The Edible Container Garden by Michael Guerra. Before I got my lottie last August I had to grow what I could in my little garden at home and I found it a great book.
I found my carrots did better than others who had grown them in the ground because apparently the carrot fly is very lazy and won't fly high enough to get into the container.
Good luck with it all
Clare