Container Veggies thread

[Sanjo]

Thompson & Morgan (I think!!) sell somethng called a water wizard which fits the top of an old soft drinks bottle, 2 ltre size. I am sure I have also seen them in Wilkinsons but wouldn't stake my life on it. Hope I have the right end of this stick!! Sanjo

[marmalade]

I tried them but found they weren't much use I think I free-cycled mine!

Ready to be planted out in my yard is: tomatoes (2 normal 1 tumbler), strawberry, wild strawberry, fennel, parleys, sage, lemon thyme, russian and french tarragon, cucumber, mange tout, oregano, coriander, and something else I've forgotten about

the tumbler tom and strawberry will go in a hanging basket, the other 2 tomatoes will go in grow tubs, as will the cucumber

I'm at a loss what containers the mange tout need (never grown them before!)

the herbs will go in my other terracotta pots

I lost lots of pots with the harsh winter this year so have a legitimate reason to buy new things

also, is it too late to plant potatoes?

[murphy99]

I bought two in wilkinsons yesterday.. got the last packet! they are called plant waterer on the packet and claim to fit most types of plastic bottles. I haven't tried them yet though!

[Mchanen]

I don't think it's to late to plant potatoes- you'll just need to check the sowing times for the variety you want to grow, i planted my maincrop ones on the last bank holiday!

When i get home today i'm going to sow some courgette seeds (plan to have 1 courgette plant in a large pot), some mizuna and rocket in a 12" pot, some spinach in a smaller pot and some spring onions in another pot- i plan on doing successional sowing of various herbs and veg so hopefully have plenty over a few months

[hamsterqueen]

I am having an operation on my foot soon and will be in plaster for 6+weeks.

Have planted herbs in a hanging container by back door and am going to have a couple of pots of salad leaves easily accesible when on crutches

[Mchanen]

Hope your foot gets better soon Hamsterqueen

Good idea that!

[dillydallydaisy]

Hi, I had planned to plant in beds this year but am having a re-think about layout and a couch grass problem, so I will be growing in pots again this year and thought I'd join this thread. There are some great tips, thanks everyone!

In growbags (on top of an old metal dog cage, the slugs will have to grow wings!): Salad leaves, rocket, spinach, spring onions and radish.

In hanging baskets: Strawberries, Tomato 100's & 1000's (first time with these toms)

I have success growing potatoes in black rubble sacks.

In pots: loads of herbs, Tomato's (sweet olive, gardeners delight and red cherry), chilli (cayenne), sweet peppers, cucumber, french beans (blue lake), borlotto, courgette, beetroot and sweetcorn.

In large garden trugs I am going to try parsnip and PSB for the first time. I was really dubious about trying parsnip in pots but noticed some of you had success and I had already bought the seed!

I am also going to try pak choi this year but can't figure out if it can go in a growbag or needs a pot, has anybody else had success with pak choi?

[marmalade]

I've not seen sweetcorn mentioned, so I'll add my twopenneth worth. I grew sweetcorn year before last in a metal dustbin, minipop variety, they did really well.

how many plants did you grow?

[scooby-bloo]

Just found your thread, wow there is some inforation on here to read, well pleased..
I'm a little confused as to what to do next with my minipop sweetcorns ? they are about 4 inches tall now, I'd like to grow in a large container if I could, I done a little googling before I came on here and they it said although the sweetcorns are small the growth can be 8 foot, is that correct ? I was going to use a large tub of about 24" in diameter, would this be a bad idea and if not how many could i get in a tub ? I didn't realise so many choices would be fine for the container, so so pleased.. I have tried to grow corgettes from seed, twice now & without success so have no bought 2 ready grown plants which are in huge planters and doing well with big yellow flowers already on them..

[SarzWix]

Scooby, Mini-Pop corn does get as tall as normal corn, so you have to be careful that the container doesn't end up toppling over from being top-heavy! You can plant them a bit closer together than normal sweetcorn though, so that is an advantage for container growing. I'm not too sure how many you'd fit in your tub 4 maybe? Or 5 with one in the middle? How many were you hoping to get in there?

[chuckles]

Hi, I am just starting off a container veg garden as rest of ground under weed supression treatment at mo and i have a question.
Every year we go to Hampton Court Flower Show and buy two tubtrugs (much easier to carry plants in). We have accumalated a few now. For things like parsnips etc that will be in during the cold weather will they be ok (frost protection wise ? ).
Really i mean any tubs we use, do they need any special treatment to protect them ?

Not done a container one with winter veg in before so sorry if i sound like a numpty .

[tamsin]

I had carrot seedlings in a plastic storage box over winter and they coped okay and are shooting away. You could always wrap a bit of bubble wrap around if a hard frost is forecast.

[21again]

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.

[Peek-A-Boo]

I'm going to try planting out my sweetcorn in those huge checked laundry bags people seem to take to laundrette (especially in Eastenders!) i got the super giant size ... i can fit in it ... for £1.99. I'll line them with thick black bin bags to keep the heat in then I'm going to put three in each and stand two bags next to each other so they can pollenate

Then i've got two smaller ones which are pink and spotty for my potatoes cheap and pretty at £1.50 each!

[Llamas]

Well Dutch you did say that you wanted us to keep the suggestions coming no matter how crazy so here's one that may make folks gasp: Rosebay Willowherb is originally a kitchen garden escape..... So, if you are willing to risk scattering a million of the offspring around...you can have a very nice, wildlife-friendly, tall ornamental flower to go alongside your sunflowers. But don't say I didn't warn you about the offspring !

Am gasping indeed, but thankful for this valuable information! I eats my nettles and now I shall munch those pesky fireweeds!