Container Veggies thread

[Llamas]

Horseradish does great in containers, in fact I'd suggest only growing it this way if you care one iota about it staying where you put it. Like mint, horseradish enjoys escaping and running amok but if you can tame it, theres nothing like peoples faces when you dig up some fresh horseradish- and then ask them peel it!

p.s. ( It's truly blinding stuff - puts the fiercest onion to shame- the secret is to half fill your sink and proceed to peel underwater)

[00264167]

perfectly accectable radish straight fron a ~5cm deep seed tray, 1 inch or less apart.

[SarzWix]

I have put a courgette all green bush in a 22l crate (one of those oblong stacking ones from Tesco), can someone please tell me how often you should water them in containers and roughly how much water at a time?

Thanks.

They'll need watering daily I would imagine, possibly twice if it's very sunny weather. You can check the moisture oof the soil by pushing your finger all the way down into the soil. If it doesn't feel damp on the inside, then it needs water

[hsthst]

I just walked out of ASDA with maybe 40 flower pots for nowt...........they couldn't help me enough to take them off their hands!!!!

[Bren In Pots]

I just walked out of ASDA with maybe 40 flower pots for nowt...........they couldn't help me enough to take them off their hands!!!!

Congrats, I do like a bargain

What are you planning on growing ?

[21again]

They'll need watering daily I would imagine, possibly twice if it's very sunny weather. You can check the moisture oof the soil by pushing your finger all the way down into the soil. If it doesn't feel damp on the inside, then it needs water

Thanks very much, I have been watering them each day, didn't realise they were so thirsty as to need watering twice daily.

Do I just give them tomato food once they start to flower?

[selfraising]

how many plants did you grow?

From memory, I think it was 5

[julesapple]

Topsy Turvy Tomatoes

Has anyone grown tomatoes completely upside down?

My sons were growing them at school in recycled milk cartons for a science project which is what got us started, and I've since bought proper Topsy Turvy containers from my favourite place - eBay.

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_t...All-Categories

These are the Science project instructions;

"Try growing a tomato plant upside-down. Start with a four or six pint plastic milk bottle, or a two or three litre fizzy drink bottle, a young tomato plant, and some compost. Cut of the bottom of the plastic bottle (do not forget to recycle the cut off bits) and tie string around it or make holes and thread string through so that it will hang upside down. Take the plant out of its pot, put it into the bottle upside down and gently push the stem and leaves out through the top of the bottle.


Fill the bottle with compost, water retaining crystal and some organic slow release plant food, firm it into place, hang up the bottle and water it. Water will run out of the neck, so it is a good idea to hang the bottle over another plant, or over a bucket to catch the excess water. Make sure that it is tied securely, and hang on something strong, as the adult plant, compost, water and fruit will get quite heavy. Tomatoes will also grow in an upside-down bucket with a hole drilled in the bottom. The weight of the fruit and stems will pull the plant downwards, but the leaves will turn the right way up"


We thought that the soil fell out all too readily when we first tried this bottle method, so I cut out circles of hessian, cut a slit from the edge to the centre of the hessian circle and then slid the tomato plants into the slit and bound the edges of the circle around the milk bottle's neck (like a paper lid on a jam jar)

The purpose bought Topsy Turvy tomato growers aren't cheap, but they do look better and can be reused. Ours are hanging from the garden gazebo.

You can grow virtually any tomato variety. This year we have tiny Italian Plums, Black Prince, Pixie, Tom Thumb, A yellow plum variety and some orange vine style and two more that I've lost the labels from so they'll be a surprise. You don't need to pinch out, the bushier the plants the better. You'll get smaller fruits but they'll taste better.

Other things like cougettes, peppers and aubergines can be grown this way but I have yet to try them.

Jules

[Bren In Pots]

I've got a few of tomato plants that look a bit leggy so I'll have a go at growing them this way, thanks Jules

[julesapple]

If the plants are leggy, plant them so that most of the stems upto the first leaves are inside the pot. This gives stability and I was told by the boys' science master that they will root from the buried stems too. )

Jules

[SarzWix]

Thanks very much, I have been watering them each day, didn't realise they were so thirsty as to need watering twice daily.

Do I just give them tomato food once they start to flower?

Yes, if it's hot, they'll take up a fair bit of water once they're cropping. Probably won't need so much while they're still growing.

Tomato food will be fine once they're flowering

[21again]

Tomato food will be fine once they're flowering

Best I buy some more as I have lost count of the tomato plants that have germinated so shall need a bit more for the courgettes and I suppose cucumbers too.

Ta,

[Funky Mum]

Hello everyone!
Just wanted to share some of my pics with you, hope you don't mind! My first go at growing things and I'm addicted! Need to better organised next year though.

Anyway here are my peas, salad bits and potatoes.










I've acquired a patch of ground from The Well Bean project here (they help and support you if you want to grow your own) and I have more pots and peas in there plus some leeks and carrots but I' not really expecting them to take off.

Also does my salad look ready to eat yet? I have no idea *blush*

[Funky Mum]

Pots here -

[SueA]

They look great Funky Mum & I'd say your salads are ready to eat. Just cut off the leaves you need & leave a few on each plant & they'll keep growing.