Container Veggies thread

[maytreefrannie]

BumbleB....I believe I heard that carrot fly cannot fly above 30cm, so pots are much better!

I heard or read this too, and last year I tried carrots in a bin and got great results - easy to pick and very clean, they were delicious.

This year I'm growing them in a bin again.

Hi All,

I find that all containers need a lot of watering when the plants are fully grown, or in the warm weather. A way of keeping this under control cheaply for those of you with clay soil [or access to some] is to use a layer of sticky solid clay in the bottom of the container before filling up with planting compost - 2''-4'' will do depending on the container size. This can be dug from a spare part of the garden where the soil is not so good and is better for pots than any water retaining gel.

It still allows for the pot to drain - just much more slowly - so any really dry container will get properly wetted before the water runs off.

I've been practicing this for years and it saves a lot of watering time with my many containers and hanging baskets. It's also fertile so a good source of plant food.

Ann

I'll be using this tip, it's a great idea.

[chellybobs]

Hi there, just found this - seems helpful!

Vegetable Varieties for Containers

[chellybobs]

and this

Container Gardening - Allotment Vegetable Growing Advice and Guides

Chelle xx

[Mchanen]

Thanks for the links chelle, very useful- i've added those to my favourites

[lyndap]

Thanks for these chelle.The kids veg fudge recipe looks worth makeing as well! container growing and cooking all on one site...brill.

[chellybobs]

No worries peeps, glad to be of service. Being a stay at home mum with agorophobia does have its uses lol!

[maytreefrannie]

Great links, Chellybobs, thanks a million.

[hathor]

Sorry to be dim: couldn't find the kids veg fudge recipe referred to above, but it sounds very intriguing. Will a kind soul point me to it, please?

[gojiberry]

Been to GC today and a couple of items caught my eye for the container/patio grower. Both were made from the long life green tarp stuff. One was a bean planter complete with support which fitted into the container base, would probably take six or eight beans and a large reuseable growbag was the other with good depth of soil and three ready made planting slots. With the size of the growbag once it has been filled would probably do a couple of seasons providing crop rotation was used. The growbag was £5 which was reasonable and the bean planter £20 wich is a little expensive. However if you look at a minimum use of 10 years it's only £2 per year. If I didn't have a lottie I would have been onto both items.

Ian

[Storming Norman]

I bought one of these 'permanent' growbags to try out in my green house - I have no border soil and have to use pot and growbags.

It's much bigger than you think so it took an absolute heap of soil to fill it. I used a mix of garden soil, soil conditioner and potting mix. There are two toms and a cucumber in it. If anything works well this should, but it had far too many drainage holes and I taped up half of them before planting - I like the water to stay with the plants and not run out immediately straight all over the floor.

It is so substantial that there is no easy shifting it at the year end - so maybe I now have border soil for a while??

This year I am not using the usual grow bags but 75 litre potting compost bags - they cost the same and should provide a much better base for big greenhouse plants.

Ann

[lyndap]

Sorry to be dim: couldn't find the kids veg fudge recipe referred to above, but it sounds very intriguing. Will a kind soul point me to it, please?

It was on one of the links chelle gave us.I wrote this down and you should find the recipe here [url=http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com] in the recipe bit!

[Miss_Locksley]

Keeping animals and pests away?

Hello,

I'm having a go at redcurrants with dianthus for decoration in one pot, dwarf sunflowers with dwarf hestia beans in another, and a pot with carrots, beetroot and lettuce in. I've had the redcurrant outside for a few weeks and planted the dianthus today, and grew the sunflower and beans inside before hardening them off for a fortnight (in a home made coldframe - large cardboard box and a LOT of cheap cling film... did the job and saved me a few quid). And they look lovely so far!

I've got a bit of a worry about keeping them healthy outside though - what advice would you give me to keep cats, birds and insects off of my new plants? Although I'm following these projects from what seems like a really good book, I'm not sure about the pot with the carrots, lettuce and beetroot in. I germinated them indoors in small seed trays and the book says they should be fine to go outdoors, which is what I've done but they look SO small and fragile, I'm sure they're only a small mouthful for a wee animal. Should I cover them over?

Any advice gratefully received! This is the first time I've *ever* grown anything and can't tell you how much I'm enjoying it all! I'm looking forward to bartering my produce with my friends when they are all ready to eat...

Yours,
Miss Locksley

[Mchanen]

Hi Miss Locksley,

I'm a newbie too and very much enjoying it

I think your seedlings will be fine outside but if you're worried about birds and cats you could try putting a net over them- i'm going to get a net to put over my strawberry plants (not taking any chances there )

[GardeningMike]

Drainage spikes - where from Dutch?

Watering - 1-2 litre bottles attached to a drainage spike (99p for 2 at Wilkinsons)

I am interested in looking at and/or possibly purchasing the drainage spikes you mentioned in the container veg thread. Do you have any references I can google or addresses?

Many thanks in advance
Kind regards
Mike

[maytreefrannie]

I am interested in looking at and/or possibly purchasing the drainage spikes you mentioned in the container veg thread. Do you have any references I can google or addresses?

Many thanks in advance
Kind regards
Mike

I'm interested in knowing what these drainage spikes are - I presume they're some figaries you push into the ground and water through them? Have checked my GC but couldn't see them selling there. Would they have another name - like, would they be called something else as well as drainage spikes?

Thanks