Help a student gardener ( Uni project research)

[uni gem]

HI I am Uni Gem

I am a university student, training to be a secondary school design technology teacher and I need help!

I love gardening, mainly veg growing. I am currently trying to design a product as part of my uni course. I'm focusing my project on, growing your own vegetables, in small out door areas, such as, a balcony.

I have some ideas, as I grown my own vegetable but I need to carry out some market research for my design folder, and thought that a forum would be the ideal way to get ideas. What I need is your comments on what you would want from a planter in a small outdoor space.

No matter where you live or the size of your garden, all your comments are needed! What features would YOU like to have in your ideal planter if you could have it made to suite your needs. Also what veg. would you want to grow in it?

I need comments on:

Size, style (rustic, modern etc), materials (plastic, wood, metal), would you like it to be self watering, what colour (bright, earthy, etc), would it like it to be made from recycled materials, how much you would be prepared to spend on it.


Please, please, please help!!!!!
Many thanks
Gemma:

Sorry for any spelling mistakes I am dyslexic.

[snohare]

Small enough to let me open my window or door / not get in the way of access, egress.
I want to have to water or feed my plants ! If I don't, then all the fun goes out of it - any fool can grow an invasive species (mint, anyone ? ) but it's not exactly a heart warming achievement.
But if I go on holiday, I want to be able to leave them attached to some kind of watering reservoir. Even if it is only a protruding plastic tray that will catch rain and leave it to soak in through the drainage holes in the bottom of the planter.
If space is really at a premium, then leaf crops and fruit seem to be the most "profitable". But something like a gradually-unrolled black plastic sack for growing tatties in will always have a perennial appeal, especially when I think of having a special birthday or Christmas meal of homegrown, pesticide-free veggies. Ideally I would like a mixture of short term, sequentially sown, and long term, one-off veggies. (This is what I grow at my folks' place in the country, where ironically I cannot get the organic produce that will not make me ill.) Personally, I keep toying with the idea of a wooden box that can have repeated layers of boards added as tatties are earthed up, but I haven't worked out how to do it without using expensive tongue and groove timber.
Ideally, not plastic. (I hear too many bad things about endocrine disruptors and the likes of Bisphenol A through the scientific press.) Wood would be good, but obviously not if full of toxic chemicals. Ideally, I suppose ceramic (frostproof to - 27C ! ) If pushed by penury, I would happily use recycled plastic.
Slug deterrent. (Ie, retains vaseline.)
Last but not least, if someone could design a wooden planter that did all this, and after use for growing could be used to store root crops, in a stackable manner, I would be chuffed to bits.
Did I mention personalisable ? (If that is even a word.)
That's my tuppence. Hope it helps. No spelling errors at all that I can see by the way - congratulations ! I know the effort it can take, I too have this problem. (If you can call a different way of learning that.) If you want to stop your commas running amok, just remember - they go where you would pause for breath.
We eagerly await your ergonomic masterpiece. Best of luck !

[uni gem]

Thanks Snohare.
Really useful, lots of food for thought.
Rain catching!!!! Did not think of that.
many thanks for your comments and time.
Gemma

[BrideXIII]

I'd love a tiered container, it would take up less space but have room for plenty of croppage, taking advantage of vertical space when horizontal space is at a premium.

[Demeter]

The one thing I've never seen is a potato barrel that you are supposed to be able to get the spuds out the bottom of, that looks like it actually works. The ones I have seen with little hatches at the bottom look (1) like the hatches are too small to be of any actual use and (2) very flimsy.

If I only have a small balcony garden, I want something that will look attractive as well as functional, probably with more of a contemporary rather than a rustic feel as something rustic would look daft (in my personal opinion) in a small urban garden. So - a contemporary-design potato barrel with a bit of solidity (but not too much weight!) and strength to it, and with well-designed access that allows you to harvest from the bottom of the barrel really easily. Recycled materials is always good. Some sort of reservoir at the bottom would be useful to reduce watering frequency. Personally, I would be more into muted / natural colours but something bright and patterned would catch a child's interest more easily.

If you can do all that for under £50 you can't fail to sell a few... going by what I see in the catalogues anyway!! - for me, it'd have to be somewhat cheaper as I've got plenty of growing space on the allotment lol

[Pompeylottie]

If I were to grow tomatoes, cucumbers or runner beans or anything that needed support I would like enough depth to stick canes in or fixings to attach canes to the back or sides. Plastic would be okay for me - recycled if poss, dark colour I believe keeps the soiler warmer though I may be wrong. I personally wouldn't pay #50, perhaps I'm a cheapskate but I tend to buy cheaply at Wilkies or Aldis etc, rather than the dearer cataogues. Best of luck.

[beaufontboy]

Hi Gemma, I grow all my stuff in pots in the back garden so have a few, If i was going to buy a pot, I love old wooden ones and pottery , a good mix of reds , blues and greens with the wood poss being re-claimed if poss.
Good deep pots are best for me 15 to 18 inches across and the same deep so they can support wigwams and canes. not fussed about self watering as that is part of the fun!! usually grow toms, carotts, beets and strawbs (in smaller pots) would be happy to pay 35-40 quid for a decent pot !
Good luck ! Stuart

[Snadger]

I can visualise a link-a-board or leggo type system which fully utilises the space available. Having plants at differing levels is the key for me and fully customisable i.e. You didn't think it looked quite right one way, you could shuffle the containers around to a new design. I think 'earthy' colours (greens and teracotta?)in recycled materials with differing textures and shapes slotted together at varying heights.

It's hard to portray a vision, isn't it!

[Maf]

In Otley the council have planters that fit over railings by traffic lights.

Imagine a trough with a channel thru it. Something like that would be good for people with balconies.

[uni gem]

Thank-you

Thank-you for your responses.
Very useful stuff. Much food for thought! no pun intented.
thanks again.
Gemma

[Matt.]

Most balconies on new flats are made of a steel lattice. I'd want to make sure there is a drip tray at the bottom to catch any excess water and stop soil and detritus falling though to the neighbours below. I know I'd want that if it was the neighbours above!!
I too think a rain catcher is a great idea. Maybe the water could be stored next to the planters in an ingenious space saving design?!

I'd also suggest containers to suit quick growing crops like salad leaves would be best as I don't think I'd have the patience to grow one spud plant. Its a lot of growing and waiting for very little output! Same for long root veg etc. Beans and tall veg seem impractical.

In terms of materials i have no preference. Whilst wood is very nice is never as cheap as plastic which ultimately would sway my decision.

Good luck with the project and don't forget to use a spell checker program if you're worried - it takes seconds. You can always write the paragraphs in Word of equivalent, spell check and then paste here etc..

[Gwen11ian]

I grow my veg in a tiny cement area next to my front door.. I would like a pot made out of recycled plastic, something the thickness of ceramics would be idea to protect against frost and add weight, and square or rectangle to fit in along with pots next to it without wasted space. The sides should be straight down, unlike other current window box styles that waste so much space by tapering at the bottom. It's all about utilizing absolutely every possible space. Traditonal terracotta or moss green color is always nice, but a bit of an interesting design would be a plus. Celtic knot work, art deco, etc.

[uni gem]

HELP A STUDENT!!!!!!! 2 Back again!!!

Hi
Thank-you to everyone who applied to my original post “HELP A STUDENT (UNI PROJECT)”
I received a lot of really useful information.
After reading through all comments I have a better understanding of what people would like/need.
However I now need to be really direct, as I need to put my questions into a questionnaire format.
So I am back…..

I have written a series of questions (5 Questions ) below, which I would be really grateful if you could answer.
To answer the questions, please write the question number and chose one of the noted response.
For example:
Q1 No
Q2 Yes
Q3 Maybe

Questionnaire:
Q1) Would you like/prefer a utilising system for growing vegetables, if you were limited for space, for example a small yard/Garden/Balcony?
Yes:
No:
Not to sure:

Q2) Would you prefer the item to be made from recycled materials?
Yes:
No:
Not sure:
Q3) Would you like the container to be self-watering?
Yes:
No:
Not sure:
Q4) Would you like to have a drying or root veg storing area?
Yes:
No:
Not sure:
Q5) What type of style would you prefer?
Modern:
Rustic:
Contempatery:
Vintage:
Other: (Please State alternative style)
Not Sure:

If you have any other comments please write them down.


Many thanks
Gemma