What plants can i put in same container?

[Does the Cooking]

I have limited space and will be using containers. What plants can I put in the same container. I suspect that I can put plants that grow at different speeds in same container. Very inexcpereinced.All ides helpful.

[shirlthegirl43]

you could sow different salad stuff - spring onions, radish and lettuce, in one container.

[moggssue]

How about carrots down below, lettuce on the soil level, and beans up above? Never done it, so I dont know if it would work, but just a thought!!

[Hans Mum]

i think that would work moggssue, you could also try beetroots in with your salads if you try and keep the same 'family group' in the same pot you should be ok

[Cutecumber]

I had success with shallots and lettuce in the same pots last year. The pots were about 10-12 inches in diameter at the top and the same depth. I'm guessing the capacity to be around 10-15 litres or so. They lived outside by the front door where it is very sunny - I am sure all visitors think we're bonkers!

I planted a shallot set in the middle of the pot, during April (they had been started off in small pots in March and were already growing well). I then planted three seedling lettuces around the shallot - salad bowl, aruba and cocarde. The lettuces were finished (some too tough, others picked completely) well before the shallots were mature in July. I got about four very large shallots from each, but you could get as many as 8 or more. I wouldn't try and get the lettuces to head up (i.e. mature) as things will get a little tight, but instead pick a couple of leaves from each once they are growing strongly.

Regular watering is very important, but the good thing is that the lettuce shade the soil and reduce evaporation to an extent.

One combination that didn't work quite so well was spring onions and carrots. I intermixed the seed and the onions were swamped by the fast growth of the carrots. If I did it again, I would put onions in a group in the centre and surround them by carrots, or vice versa. This makes it easier not to disturb the other crop if they are to be harvested at different times.

I have also mixed cauliflowers, cabbages and lettuce in a container and managed to harvest the lettuce before allowing the others to head up. Try one small cauliflower surrounded by two or three lettuce, making sure you finish the lettuce before the cauliflower starts to make its head. It seemed to work ok.

You are not going to get the biggest and best specimens by combining in containers, but you can easily get a reasonable crop in a small space. Some mixtures can look very interesting, too, which is a bonus.

[momol]

I am doing more companion planting this year ( last year only partialy). There are many thing which we can sow together as they feed on different level of soil such as:

-cucumber companion with peas or bush beans.
-peas / bush beans with onion or garlic.
-corn with sun flower or pole beans or cucumber.
-brassica with spring onion or oinion.
-tomato with garlic and (or) carrot or basils.
-salad with spring onion or carrot.
-etc...

I know mine were mainly in raised bed but you should be able to use it for pots too. I was confuse about applying companion planting and crop rotations idea at the same time, but it seems to work in harmony.
Good luck....

[zazen999]

Yes you can, and if you use the principle that you mentioned - of different speeds - then you can do all sorts.

My last summer vege box started out with peas and beans sown at the same time as toms; by the time the toms had flowered, I had already had a months worth of peas and beans. the toms then flowered and set fruit, which I harvested a while later. In between, I chucked a courgette in - and that grew really fast and gave fruit whilst the tom was sorting itself out. I also added a tagete to keep the greenfly away from the tomatos and it worked well.

If I had added carrots and onions, they would have been growing all summer and once the toms/courgette was done, could have carried on for a few months after that...making a cropping container for about 9 months of the year...Pop in a brocolli in august and you could have it for a full year.

But it is crucial to fertilise and water enough to make it work - but apart from that you could try anything really...and see what happens.

[Cutecumber]

Wow! That does sound very productive.

What size/ shape container was this, zazen?

[zazen999]

It was a Tesco 97p storage container...the ones about 2ft by 1ft by 2 ft deep - black plastic.

I'll be taking all my old plastic storage containers to the new lottie - [when it comes through] and using for the same effect...with different variations on the theme. You can use any size with a fair amount of compost in - as long as the depth is enough to cope with the roots you should be fine.