Growing veggies in tubs - hints & advice please

[GuapoJoe]

Hello everyone!

I'm a newbie here and would really appreciate the wisdom of your knowledge.
I have recently aquired some limited room in my garden and would like to utilise it by growing some tubbed veggies - like potatoe and tomato's.

I'd welcome any advice on what would be suitable to grow and tips on techniques. Unfortunately, it's a small slabbed area - hence the tubs to grow my labours in. I have hanging strawberry plants but would like any ideas on other fruits and vegetables to grow in bags/pots/tubs within a limited area.

Many thanks in advance,

Joe

[Flapjack]

My advice is get a good book. I'm a novice too and I found that there is so much conflicting advice online about what size pots for which veg etc. So I got some books from the library and found this to be the best one:
Amazon.co.uk: The Edible Container Garden: Fresh Food from Tiny Spaces: Carol Klein, Michael Guerra, Patrick Whitefield: Books
ISBN 1856752208 - maybe your library will have a copy?

It gives really clear guidelines about what will actually do well in pots and what size pot they need! There are so many things that you can grow - even sweetcorn! Good luck, I had lots of fun with this last year.

Michelle

[Janet's Garden]

New to all this!

Hi All,

I'm new to this forum thingy but having read how much advice is out there it seemed like fun, everyone has to start somewhere. My mother used to grow all her own fruit and veggs, made soup, wine, everything fresh and tasty, we never had to buy anything along that line but it was always in season, not imported from afar, perhaps growing up during the war and not having much money started her love of gardening, but I can still taste the home made broth with the leeks, celery, potatoes, parsley etc, goosberry full, newly boiled beetroot and freshly picked strawberries like it was yesterday, I'm so glad GYO has come back "en vogue". I started trying this myself a few years ago, but unfortunately I now don't have Mum's knowledge to rely upon and have made many silly mistakes, but when you can go to the greenhouse and pick your own sungold toms - what a joy! It's a pity I didn't get "the bug" when I was younger and watched how the jam, wine, broth, preserves were made. I know it's not rocket science but everyone has there own little variations. There's nothing nicer than sitting in the garden (big or small or indeed a balcony) listening to the birds and survying your home grown produce, tending it with care, then picking your organic "stuff" and enjoying knowing you did it! I am also learning about compost, great stuff - am thinking about getting a wormery also, boy I really love all this, pity it took so long to realise what is important in life.

Good luck to you all. Janet (and my faithful companion Ally the German Shepherd - my tomato taster!)

[Janet's Garden]

Go for it!

Hi there,

There are so many things you could grow in a slabbed area, given that you have large enough pots and a pleantyful supply of water, assuming it is in a well protected area. If I can do it in Northern Ireland, it should be OK. What sort of fruit and vegg do you like? I have successullly grown cherries and apples in pots, albeit large ones, also climbing french beans, lettuce, mange tout, strawberries, goosberries, blackcurrents and although I grow tomatoes, aubergines, chillie and sweet peppers in the greenhouse, if the weather is warn you can do this in a sheltered area - try anything you fancy, what's the worst that can happen! although banannas might be out!!

Good luck...Janet

[rodofgod76]

Hi, we have a greenhouse but nowhere in the garden to make a veg patch so we've began growing things in containers.

We've got beetroot, little gem lettuce, radish, spinach, rocket, watercress, chillies, sweetcorn and red onions on the go, all in containers. I've also got some potatoes on the go, one lot in a proper potato grow bag, the other in half a bag of compost. Also got a couple of Blueberry bushes out there too.

Noticed that the garden centres and places like Homebase were very expensive for large pots and containers, and came across Poundstretcher. Very very reasonable for their large tubs and containers. Well worth checking out, so too is Wilkinson's.

[percy charlie]

make sure you sow your seeds more thinly as in a pot its harder to do thining out so by sowing thinly you dont have to do it. i grow potatoes, spring onions 2 varieties, carrots, radishes, parsnips, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, goji berries, japenese wine berry, thornless blackberry, rhubarb, apple, cherries, pear and nectrine trees on bush root stocks, and black, red and white currents and i grow them all in pots, the garlic i grow in 6inch by 8inch plant pots and there looking good, potatoes in anyrhing from bucket size or larger, if you want to grow anything i do you can send me a message and il tell you the size pot i use the feeding i do for it to help get you started, i dont recommend brassicas as they can be difficult in pots to grow and you dont get as much produce for your space and time, so not as much value for money

[GuapoJoe]

Growing veggies in tubs - hints & advice please

[QUOTE= What sort of fruit and vegg do you like? [/QUOTE]

I enjoy most fruits and vegetables. I particularly enjoy salad items.

I am also thinking of creating a compost area to assist in recycling and 'putting back' into the soil. Space is at a minimum but I think priorities must be put in order.

Thank you for your very helpful advice Janet and happy gardening!

[GuapoJoe]

Thanks Percy Charlie.

I hope to grow all of what you listed in your post. I'm particularly interested in the size of tubs/pots for the raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, goji berries, japenese wine berry, thornless blackberry, rhubarb, apple, cherries and pear.

Unfortunately, I don't have a greenhouse.

I am also thinking that in order to take advantage of precious space perhaps I should take a sizable tub (say 24inch x 24inch) and plant a variety of veg within it such as lettuce, rockett, raddish, spring onion etc and have another smaller pot with a variety of herbs in it.

What are you thoughts with this?

Thanks in advance,

Joe

[garric]

I am new to growing your own produce and as I particularly hated gardening previously I had the back garden flagged. Now that I am thoroughly enjoying growing my own produce, thanks to my brothers stress management teacher I wouldn't mind knowing what size pot you use for your Raspberries and how you train them. I have been trawling the internet for hours trying to find some useful info. At present I have grown a number of herbs and have beetroot, spinach, carrots, onions, garlic, tomatoes chillies and peppers on the go all in containers.