veg gardening in containers.

[BrideXIII]

As there is not a specific forum for container gardening, and it concerns veg, I shall post this here.

I am the owner of a pocket handkerchief garden, which thanks to a fair bit of cash and hard work now has raised borders mostly containing flowers, they are a good foot deep, and will be added to in the spiring to get the level to 18 inches, however, as they were delayed, we planted a few veg in containers, peas, runner beans, radishes, and carrots which got transplanted into the beds as soon as possible ( don't ask) and all were moderately sucessful. We well me, have now been bitten by the veg bug.

the problem is I don't really have enough space to extend the beds, it's a north facing garden, so this time of year the sun only reaches half of it which limits the space even more, half of THIS space is taken up with the greenhouse, to give it enough light and sun.

I have kept the raised border at that end free for onions and shallots, but need to find room for the rest.

for the containers this year I have used 12 inch deep clear plastic boxes, that you buy everywhere for stacking and keeping toys etc.

and what I plan to do in the spring is use nine of these as a 'raised bed' enabling me to move them at will to follow the light and sun in the garden space I have.

question is, am i mad? or will this work well?

I am planning broad beans, runners, peas, potaotos, carrots and salad stuff amongst others.

[bluemoon]

I can't see why it wouldn't work, I have things in pots which spend half the year at the allotment and half sheltering in the back garden, so just moving things by a few feet shouldn't hurt. There's a book called 'Square Foot Gardening', sorry I can't remember the author or publisher, which, as the title suggests, works on a method where each crop is given a square foot on a grid, your description of the boxes made me think of this and it might be an idea to get hold of a copy, it may give you a few more ideas. One of the sundries catalogues - again I can't remember which one, but it might be LBS Garden Warehouse, I have a copy somewhere in the house and will hunt it out later - has what they call a portable allotment. Basically it's a tiered system for growing veg, takes loads of crops and uses hardly any space. There are also mesh, fleece and plastic covers for it so you can protect things from the elements in winter or from bird and insect attack in spring and summer.

[zazen999]

Not mad at all - that's what we did for your first year before we bought this place.

I used them for:
onions, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, courgettes, cukes and spinach.

The second year, i started a load off in there and transferred alot to the garden when we moved here. I did find growing a mixed veg box was quite successful.

I filled the box with compost, and sowed some beans and peas. Only a few to each box. then, popped glass over the top [I got hold of some old windows from freecycle], and took it off when they germinated. Then popped some canes in for the beans and peas to grow up.

A few weeks later I sowed tomatoes in there - I think there were one or two max per pot. i also put in a couple of onions around the sides and marigolds.

The beans and peas grow like mad, and by the time they are done the tomatoes are ready. The marigold keeps the bugs away.

When the beans are done, you chop them back, and you can add more onions. I also put a courgette in, and it romped away - trailing over the side of the veg box.

Once the toms are gone, the plants come out and you can continue to grow onions through the winter. they don't get to the same size as ground onions but you get a decent crop if they have time to mature.

You can also pop lettuce in around the sides, and spinach. And herbs.

If you think 3 dimensionally, so grow root crops in the same box as above ground crops - it can work.

What I did find was that they do dry out and yu need to fertilise them more than those in the ground. I added in slow release fertiliser and gave them a boost with additional fertiliser ever few weeks.

[BrideXIII]

thanks guys, i did wonder if i was going mad for a minute and trying to do much in too little.

it was the 12x12 thing that got me thinking, i mean just cos its a box, its still 12x12 so why not?

i still tend to think along the lines of one crop in each 'module' but thats cos i am a newbie at this and not sure how to mix them, I am sure Andrea can point me right there tho

[quark1]

May I also suggest that you don't forget surfaces from which you might be able to hang things.

There are those hanging flower bags which I'm sure you could easily adapt for those trailing toms like Ildi or 100's and 1000's etc and top off with something pretty (a flower). Strawberries are also often featured in hanging flower containers.

Eye catching and maxing out your available footprint above ground.

[BrideXIII]

May I also suggest that you don't forget surfaces from which you might be able to hang things.

There are those hanging flower bags which I'm sure you could easily adapt for those trailing toms like Ildi or 100's and 1000's etc and top off with something pretty (a flower). Strawberries are also often featured in hanging flower containers.

Eye catching and maxing out your available footprint above ground.

I had considered this, however in my defence, money is always an object when it comes to buying seeds etc, however, if I get a head start on seeds this autumn, maybe I can spring for some tumbling toms next year, I do like the idea of those.

sadly my garden is a slug paradise, despite our constant guerilla war against them, so strawberries don't do particualrly well, mind you apart from the odd parachuter which i swear i saw happen, maybe hanging these would be a solution.

here is my lil' patch

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...dexiii/009.jpg

[Demeter]

You'll get a lot more sun if you take down that gazebo!
Seriously, it looks like you've worked hard, and once the beds are full up and everything is in full go next year it'll be cracking

My garden is a bit smaller than that and gets very little sun, but I'm lucky enough to have a shared patch on the city farm, plus as of July my own allotment too, so next year mainly I will use the back garden to get things started off, and will grow FLOWERS in the front garden. Shock, horror. I never imagined that I'd want to grow stuff you can't eat!

- and I spent ages today getting a patch ready for spring bulbs when I should have been planting onions... I really have got this gardening bug bad.

[zazen999]

I most certainly will help, if you need any pointers just give me a shout. The main thing to remember is to maximise the space, and different crops mature at different times and use the soil differently - so if you start looking at that then the possibilities can increase.

What you can do with seeds, is to buy cheap seeds and swap for ones that you actually want!

There was a call a while back for a container gardening bit of the forum; perhaps suggest that to a moderator and see if they can provide one...

[BrideXIII]

You'll get a lot more sun if you take down that gazebo!
Seriously, it looks like you've worked hard, and once the beds are full up and everything is in full go next year it'll be cracking

My garden is a bit smaller than that and gets very little sun, but I'm lucky enough to have a shared patch on the city farm, plus as of July my own allotment too, so next year mainly I will use the back garden to get things started off, and will grow FLOWERS in the front garden. Shock, horror. I never imagined that I'd want to grow stuff you can't eat!

- and I spent ages today getting a patch ready for spring bulbs when I should have been planting onions... I really have got this gardening bug bad.

aww, my poor gazebo, actually the sun never gets that far, and it does have it use, you see i am mid-terrace and have no downpipe, so the gazebo is actually my water collection system!!! very odd you might think, but when it rains it all gathers in the top, it has stategic holes whereit gathers, which pour into buckets which i empty into the water barrels,nothing venured, nothing gained, and definately no opportunity wasted and I can pot up under cover in bad weather

[BrideXIII]

had a result today (small one)
builders laying concrete had 3 nice lengths of wood they didn't need, so iasked and did recieve.

just enough to make a 3x 2 1/2 ' raised bed 12 " deep, I picked that size cos then one of my mini greenhouses from woolies will fit over the top in the spring.

[Gwen11ian]

Not mad at all - that's what we did for your first year before we bought this place.

I used them for:
onions, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, courgettes, cukes and spinach.

The second year, i started a load off in there and transferred alot to the garden when we moved here. I did find growing a mixed veg box was quite successful.

I filled the box with compost, and sowed some beans and peas. Only a few to each box. then, popped glass over the top [I got hold of some old windows from freecycle], and took it off when they germinated. Then popped some canes in for the beans and peas to grow up.

A few weeks later I sowed tomatoes in there - I think there were one or two max per pot. i also put in a couple of onions around the sides and marigolds.

The beans and peas grow like mad, and by the time they are done the tomatoes are ready. The marigold keeps the bugs away.

When the beans are done, you chop them back, and you can add more onions. I also put a courgette in, and it romped away - trailing over the side of the veg box.

Once the toms are gone, the plants come out and you can continue to grow onions through the winter. they don't get to the same size as ground onions but you get a decent crop if they have time to mature.

You can also pop lettuce in around the sides, and spinach. And herbs.

If you think 3 dimensionally, so grow root crops in the same box as above ground crops - it can work.

What I did find was that they do dry out and yu need to fertilise them more than those in the ground. I added in slow release fertiliser and gave them a boost with additional fertiliser ever few weeks.

What a great post! This is exactly what I'm interested in doing next year! With very limited space outside my door (and an allotment waiting list in my area that is so long they're no longer taking names) this will be a great way to make the most out of my space.

[maximepaul]

i have a veg patch but still so a lot of veg in containers i think some of the veg like carrots/ strawberrys for instance do much better!! (only my findings though)
Recommend Watercress does very well and makes lovely soup!!!

[BrideXIII]

i have a veg patch but still so a lot of veg in containers i think some of the veg like carrots/ strawberrys for instance do much better!! (only my findings though)
Recommend Watercress does very well and makes lovely soup!!!

must try watercress I think, we use loads of it as salad, for some odd reason I though it only grew in water

woulb be a great crop for my little planned raised bed, salad stuffs, cos the mini-greenhouse will keep the slugs at bay.

[Duronal]

Watercress is very easy i'm growing some in my pond!

Also i've grown carrots, cabbage, PSB, Toms, apples, red currents, potatoes, and strawberrys in pots very successfully.

As a handy tip put your pots on cages in the middle of the lawn and they'll not get munched by slugs half as much. Also the grass underneath doesn't die because it still has lots of light.

Good Luck

[fwuffydragon]

I've just written a huge post about what I've grown over the last few years:

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...tml#post288826

I also use plastic storage boxes - drill holes in the bottom and they are perfect! Moving them round the garden to catch the sun is absolutely fine - you may want to invest in some sort of trolley to make sure you don't do your back in!

I find that with the boxes you have to pick them up by the OPPOSITE CORNERS and NOT the handles, as once they're full the handles won't take the strain - most of mine have broken off now!

Enjoy!

Suggest 2 parts compost or soil to 1 part well rotted manure - well mixed - I find this works really well. Also feed regularly.

I don't have as many slug problems with my storage boxes as I did with traditional plant pots - I think the turned over edges at the top deter them a bit - at least with the clear ones they will be easy to find and evict!!!

You may want to line your clear boxes with bin liner or something around the edges to make sure the roots don't scorch in hot weather - especially if you're going to do potatoes or they'll end up green!