Vegetable Container Gardening Made Easy

Vegetable Container Gardening

Vegetable container gardening is a simple way to make the most of your space. It can be done on balconies, window sills, porches and patios.

The containers can be bought from garden centers, or constructed from household odds and ends. Gallon cans, plastic milk jugs, bushel baskets, buckets or garbage cans all work fine. For instance, a great tomato gardening container is a 5 gallon bucket. Drill a couple of drain holes, fill the bottom with rocks, and then add your soil mixture.

Vegetable container gardening simply requires plenty of water, the right soil mix, and proper nutrients. Synthetic "soils" are best suited for container vegetable gardening.

These soil mixes are usually composed of sawdust, peat moss, perlite, vermiculite, or wood chips, and are readily available from garden centers. Use a slow-release or organic fertilizer for vegetable container gardening right at planting time.

Best Picks for Vegetable Container Gardening

Most shorter-growing vegetables will do fine in containers. You can also buy bush or baby varieties that are well-suited for patio container gardening. Vegetables that grow readily when planted in containers include:

Tomatoes
Peppers
Carrots
Eggplants
Chard
Lettuce
Bush beans
Peas
Bush squash
Ornamental kale
Cucumbers
Turnips

While flowers for container gardening vary in their need for sunlight, vegetables in containers need at least five hours of light each day to produce. Your best bet is to allow from to eight to ten hours of sunlight every day. For shady locations, leafy vegetables will do nicely.

Proper Pots For Vegetable Container Gardening

The rule of thumb is to match the size of the container to the size of the vegetable once it becomes full grown. As vegetables grow, their extensive roots need plenty of space to develop. Also, when tops of big plants get heavy, they can topple over if in too small a pot.

Vegetable plants such as peppers, radishes, and lettuce need a container at least 6 inches in diameter with soil at least 8 inches deep.

Wooden tubs, large buckets, bushel baskets, and old barrels split in half are perfect for growing squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, and beans.

Mix your vegetables with a few flowers. Not only with this improve their looks but it will attract useful insects, too. A tub of lettuce, onions, carrots and a few marigolds makes a good show and they will all grow well together, while bush tomatoes on their own look every bit as good as flowers.

Vegetable container gardening is an efficient and truly rewarding way to enjoy delicious food from your own garden. Fresh fruit and organic herbs are also excellent to consider for fresh, edible container gardening ideas.

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