Growing veggies in pots

[brianm1973]

I'm trying to grow my own veggies for the first time, so i'm a complete novice.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, so here goes with the silly questions!!

I've got myself a small 4 tier plastic greenhouse, so far i've planted lettuce (iceberg) which have started quite well, courgettes which seem to be flying, sweetcorn which have started quite well, tomato's that haven't gone as well as i'd have hoped, although i do have some in the house that are doing ok. I've also got some carrots and onions in fairly big pots that i had from my brother who had planted from seed.

My question is, what is the best way forward with these?

I was thinking of putting the lettuce in a growbag, maybe 4 to a bag?
Courgettes in a fairly big pot, 1 to a pot?
Would the tomatoes work in a hanging basket?
Sweetcorn in a growbag? How many would you plant to a bag?
Should i leave the carrots in pots? They seem to be going quite well.
The onion's look like weeds!! How should they look?

Sorry for the long winded post, and silly questions, but i'd hate to lose everything now.

[selfraising]

Hi there and welcome. I also grow quite a bit in pots but also have some raised beds. I too use mini greenhouses.
I sow the tomatoes indoors in propagators on the windowsills as it is a bit cold for them to germinate in the ghs, the same with peppers.
The lettuce should be fine in the grow bag and I would be tempted to put 6 in but then I always squeeze a bit more in Tomatoes will grow well in hanging baskets but it depends on the variety. I grow most of mine in growbags or pots. If you are short of space, you could grow one tomato plant in a pot in the mini gh by taking all the shelving out which is what I will be doing with some of mine this year but don't plant them out until they have been hardened off and the risk of frost has gone.
The courgettes should be fine in a large pot.
I would think the growbags would be too shallow for the sweetcorn, they produce quite deep roots and they may topple over. I have previously grown them in an old dustbin or a similar quite deep pot would be good

[Chitfaced]

Hi There

I'm a novice too but from what i know so far:

Lettuce, can grow easily in pots - I would probably go with many pots rather than a growbag as you can move them around more easily.

My courgettes (I have two) are going well in the garden even though I'll need to be careful of frosts now. Space them about 50-60cm apart.

I think tomatoes work very well in hanging baskets. My Mum is experienced and she does this with cherry toms.

I have carrots in pots although some I started indoors to compare with.

That's all I think I can help with but there are photos on my blog if you're interested.

Best of luck

[susieq100]

Tumbling Tom tomatoes work brilliantly in hanging baskets - I did those last year. Big orange £1 buckets from B&Q - got OH to drill some holes in the bottom and grew gherkins and mini cukes in those, up a little wigwam. Sweetcorn are very 'rooty' - they need to be in the ground really unless you are going to grow them in something like a potato planter. Good luck!

[Hillwalker]

There's plenty of advice on growing sweetcorn in containers, but as others have said they have to be large which could be expensive. Your best bet would be one of the larger sized patio/potato planters or you might want to give one of these a try: GARDEN COMPOST CLEAN UP BAG, heavy duty, 600mm X 460mm | eBay UK - Good depth and nice and wide for stability. Unless it's permeable, would need drainage holes.

They used to have a 750mm tall version: GARDEN COMPOST CLEAN UP BAG, heavy duty, 660mm X 750mm on eBay (end time 06-Apr-11 10:26:31 BST)

[iGrowVeg]

If you mean spring onions, they look like blades of grass when they first start growing and are easy to miss unless you look closely. They are good sown with carrots as the onion smell is supposed to keep away the carrot fly and both veggies are quite slow growers so work well in the same pot.

[Minerva]

I grow courgettes in a large bucket (1 per bucket) and get a decent crop. In the hot weather they can dry out easily so they need frequent watering.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Hi Brian and welcome to the vine.

I do all my growing in containers of some sort and will post some pics that may help with ideas.

Just one point don't go buying buckets I used to but now prefer the Morrisons black pots they are about the same size and 8 for £1.

Pic 1 shows new spuds in those pots + a left over bucket, behind are 2 recycled plastic water tanks holding main crop spuds. I also grow spuds in plastic dustbins.

Pic 2 shows my peas in 2 self made raised wooden boxes.

Pics 3 shows main crop onions in a cut down water tank.

More to follow when I can find them.

Colin

[Florence Fennel]

Welcome to the Vine Brian. If you've got an ASDA local to you, they give away black flower buckets which are brilliant for growing veg.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Re-reading your post you ask about lettuce in a grow bag, in my opinion that may be wasteful. I grow mine in bought containers some 15" x 6" x 6" with follow ups in modules, this way when I cut a lettuce I can immediatly pop in a replacement.

As to toms I grow Sungold in black pots and tumbler in hanging baskets.

Pics below.

Colin

[Florian]

Love the wooden boxes, Colin!

[Florian]

I'm trying to grow my own veggies for the first time, so i'm a complete novice.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, so here goes with the silly questions!!

I've got myself a small 4 tier plastic greenhouse, so far i've planted lettuce (iceberg) which have started quite well, courgettes which seem to be flying, sweetcorn which have started quite well, tomato's that haven't gone as well as i'd have hoped, although i do have some in the house that are doing ok. I've also got some carrots and onions in fairly big pots that i had from my brother who had planted from seed.

My question is, what is the best way forward with these?

I was thinking of putting the lettuce in a growbag, maybe 4 to a bag?
Courgettes in a fairly big pot, 1 to a pot?
Would the tomatoes work in a hanging basket?
Sweetcorn in a growbag? How many would you plant to a bag?
Should i leave the carrots in pots? They seem to be going quite well.
The onion's look like weeds!! How should they look?

Sorry for the long winded post, and silly questions, but i'd hate to lose everything now.

Sounds like you are in a similar boat to me! Good luck with it all, sounds like you are off to a flying start. Love growing courgettes especially

[brianm1973]

Thanks to everyone that has replied, I wan't expecting such a good response in such a short time. I think i'm addicted to this site, the wife is fed up of me talking about veggies!! She'll be happy once they all grow.

I will nip to Morrison's tomorrow to pick up some pots, the courgettes have to be moved quickly, they have really shot up since yesterday. Don't want them getting too big, they are only in small trays.

My tomatoes in the house are in a small propagator, only 6" x 4" maybe, there are several seedlings growing in there, all about 1 1/2" tall, should I seperate these into individual pots? If so, how do I seperate them?

How soon should I move the sweetcorn? They are currently about 2" tall.

I will leave the lettuce until they are a bit bigger before I move them.

I currently have my carrots and onions in seperate tubs, still in the small greenhouse, 3 to each pot. As mentioned in an earlier post, would I get away with planting more seeds of the other plant, ie carrots with the onions etc?

Once again i'd like to thank everyone for there help so far.

Brian

[Potstubsdustbins]

Thanks Florian, SWMBO loves pod peas so I had to do something to grow a few, with these boxes I get 50 plants to each box. Don't get many peas myself though LOL.

I am growing Kelvedon Wonder and the plan this year is to start another 100 plants in thumb pots in early June in the hopes of replacing first lot with a second crop sometime in July. Well thats the plan?


Colin

[bronwen]

Wow potstubsdustbins, you're plants look great as does your handywork on the planters!

Welcome to the forum brianm1973. I have been bitten by the veg gardening this year too and also enjoy this site as a means to get my gardening 'fix' and also HEAPS of great information and inspiration. I'm growing everything in containers. Poundland have some nice albeit thin kinda 12x12 square planters. I had wanted Morrisons flower buckets since joining the forum and everyone mentioning them... well it was only a few days ago that my local store finally had them even though I'd been checking for them! I was so excited about pots it was kind of sad really! Then spent an enjoyable half hour talking over the fence to my next door neighbour piercing pots together. OOoo, they even had them in two different sizes!
I am growing carrots and spring onions in rectangular planters about 2' long 12" wide, 12" deep, carrots sown in the middle and spring onions around the edges in the hopes of deturring any beasties who want to eat my carrots!
I'm growing tumbling tom and sunbaby tomatoes which will be able to go in hanging baskets I hope... if I can work out where to hang them!! There are a lot of informative videos on youtube to show you how to prick out seedlings etc. Watch a few cos quality of the videos varies as do the methods people use Also was it on Gardener's World or Beechgrove Garden on the bbc recently that showed this?
Anyway, enjoy and good luck