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Revitalizing containers!?

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  • Revitalizing containers!?

    I've been trawling through suggestions for fertilizing soil in raised beds and containers and figured I would post to see if folks reckoned I'd managed to use all the information correctly before I bung everything in and kill the lot!

    I am mainly after adding fertilizers to old large pots of potato compost so that I can still grow in them - I have no beds or anywhere in my garden that I could dump the soil, and there is far too much to transport anywhere for disposal, so I really am hoping that I can manage a partial refresh/rotation in the largest pots. Mostly the pots are 40cm in diameter, some around 40cm deep, others 80 cm deep, so on the large side.

    My hopeful plan for the old potato pots is as follows:

    First year: Hoping to grow french (climbing and dwarf) beans and peas in the compost this year. Will be adding torn cardboard two thirds of the way down the pot, then a mix of bokashi bran and kitchen scraps (for fast decomposition) around halfway down, both mixed with the old soil, then some chicken manure pellets just to help the soil out (though as I understand they don't really do much for beans).

    Second year: Grow carrots and roots (and possibly swede/giant radishes). Will be adding coffee grounds, (sand to the carrot pots) and bokashi compost, with some blood, fish and bone before sowing. Also planning to sow spring onions and leaf coriander between them to space them out/repel carrot fly.

    Third year: Perhaps tomatoes/potatoes again (?). To add manure and/or more bokashi compost. Not sure if I would be needing to add lime, borax and epsom salts before planting.

  • #2
    Spring onions like compost too. I put a layer of rabbit poop in the bottom of the tray for those and got nice big ones last year.

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    • #3
      I normally use chicken poo pellets.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Rabidbun View Post
        I am mainly after adding fertilizers to old large pots of potato compost so that I can still grow in them
        I would use a John Innes No.3 compost, and scrape off/top up the top few inches every year, also watering with a liquid feed as necessary.

        The cheap multi-purpose composts aren't beefy enough for permanent plantings
        All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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        • #5
          Top dressing of Growmore or Blood, Fish & Bone before planting should do. Plus feeding throughout the growing season, usually with a liquid feed.

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          • #6
            I've never done it over such a long period but I always try to get at least 2 crops from each container every year. The only exception is toms and cukes which tend to leave a large root ball filling the entire container and don't leave room for much else to follow on. As Twosheds says, you really need some soil in the mix to give it some body and a good few inches of organic matter in the bottom. After that I'd use a liquid seaweed feed or similar. What you might find over a few years is depletion of trace elements which could cause problems for some crops.

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            • #7
              I too have not much room but need to give my old compost a boost. My sil is getting me one of the huge sacks he gets sand delivered in. I cannot wait to get started. I will empty each pot and container into it add fertiliser sand and water as I go. Some will be sifted for seed. Really looking forward to refilling and planting.

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              • #8
                I reuse and reuse the compost in my fish boxes for growing salads. I just remove any old root balls getting any earth off and back in the fishbox, add some fertilizer and give it all a good mix around -some of the original compost is in its third season now with a crop of winter sown salads in the greenhouse.

                A complete fertilizer is probably best for this kind of thing as you get as many trace elements as well, I use a this stuff:

                http://naturalhygienesociety.org/rev...01/garden.html
                Last edited by King Carrot; 14-03-2010, 11:08 AM.
                Jiving on down to the beach to see the blue and the gray, seems to be all and it's rosy-it's a beautiful day!

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