How many pots/baskets each veg

[Elfeda]

Well I grow tomatos,chilli,cucumber,chilli and corriander mostly in pots at home. after 2 years of last minute decisions, think it is better to sort them into what I want to grow in each of them and where they would be sitting.just like plot plan right!

lot of you practice it allready. so how do you plan yours?


I also want to put some pots at lotty for basket tomatos mostly.

[sparrow100]

I grow most of my chillies in pots - 8 padron plants gives us loads of tapas chillies from June to October, and there's room for about 16 flower buckets of chillies in the new greenhouse, when it's up, so that's how I plan

I use 2-3 of the side paths on my plot to stash other pots on - usually early potatoes when it's warm enough, a big tub of yacon now I'm hooked on the stuff, and possibly tubs of carrots and salsify. And then I've run out of pots that are big enough...and I'm too tight to buy any more, or the compost to fill them.

[Penellype]

A large part of my garden is occupied by various containers so planning is vital. I have 36 30 litre buckets, 7 square pots (which I am trying to retire as they are a bit heavy for me to move when planted), 3 saladgrow planters, a quadgrow root vegetable planter, a chiligrow and various smaller pots. Many of these are occupied throughout the year with various crops, and I try to keep track of the compost so I don't use it for the same thing 2 years running.

This requires a LOT of planning, anticipating when various crops will be finished. I make a spreadsheet with the various pots (the buckets have numbers painted on them) down the side and the months across the top. For example for the saladgrow planters:

saladgrow 1 currently mizuna and namenia, should be ready for spinach in March when the brassicas start to bolt. Spinach should be finished by June, and will be followed by leeks.
saladgrow 2 currently chinese cabbage and pak choi will be followed by more spinach in April. This should be available for planting winter brassicas in July (I will change the compost).
saladgrow 3 currently contains leeks. These should be finished by March when I will plant more spinach (one of my favourite veg). In June the base of this planter will be moved onto the hedge path where it will accommodate 4 11 litre pots, 2 of cucumber and 2 of carrot (flyaway). The top will later be planted with winter salads, timing will depend on when I have harvested the onions, as this 2ft square planter takes up quite a bit of space.

I have a similar plan for every one of my large pots, although the later in the year it gets the more flexible the plan is. For example I will be planting 2 PSB plants in 30 litre buckets vacated by potatoes in July, but exactly which of the 18 buckets of potatoes these will be remains to be seen. There are spaces for 8 buckets under my carrot net - these will start off with 4 buckets of carrots and some spring and early summer cabbages, and these will slowly be replaced by more carrots and then as the carrots are eaten, by calabrese or broccoli so that the precious space under the nets is always in use.

So, note how many pots you have, decide how many pots of each veg you want, the most important first, then decide where to put them. Finish off by adding any extras when space becomes available. Be prepared to be somewhat flexible in case a crop takes longer to mature than you thought it would.

[Cadalot]

I was planning to put square flower buckets at the end of my paths on Spencer Road Allotment but now I'm considering turning them into permanent beds for asparagus, Rhubarb and everlasting onions. The idea was to have some wildflowers in flower buckets as well. So at the moment I'm very indecisive.

Mill Green allotment plan shows the first early spuds flower buckets / 30 litre bucket area they start life in the greenhouse and then come out as the weather gets better.

I stepped the paving slabs this year to give me level platforms for my 20 flower buckets I use for growing my tomatoes in the back garden.