A Conversation for Ask h2g2

I need tips on container gardening

Post 1

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

I have numerous flower pots left over from previous summers, when they housed petunias and Calibrachoas. I've been thinking of planting beans and peas in them. Has anybody tried raising vegetables in flower pots? If so, are there any things I should try to keep in mind? or should I abandon the whole idea?

Thanks in advance for any advice. smiley - smiley


I need tips on container gardening

Post 2

Lanzababy - Guide Editor

How big are these flower pots paulh? If they are 5 litre size or bigger you can certainly grow things like dwarf (french) beans. I guess a 5 litre pot would be about a foot across and a foot deep.

Vegetables need a fair amount of root space and they need loads of fertiliser and water as well as sunshine, so very small pots won't really be suitable.

You could try herbs in smaller pots though and group them together to make a wonderful herb garden?

Other things you can certainly grow in pots would be tomatoes, chilli peppers and aubergine, zucchini.

Here's a picture of dwarf beans growing in the sort of size pot you'd need.
http://www.village6675.co.uk/SuttonDwarfBeans.jpg

I'd hesitate to try peas though unless you have a massive pot!


I need tips on container gardening

Post 3

Mu Beta

We do a lot of veggies in pots. Herbs are an obvious starting place, but most beans will do pretty well if you give them a frame to climb up. Salad, of course, is great because it doesn't need much rooting space: there are several excellent varieties of 'speedy salad' on the market which crop in as little as four weeks, so you can just keep growing more. Spring onions are good too.

Carrots need surprisingly little space in larger pots, and if you've got a greenhouse then that opens the door to tomatoes and chillies too.

B


I need tips on container gardening

Post 4

ITIWBS

Moving this from Pliny to Brunel for convenience.


I need tips on container gardening

Post 5

2legs - Hey, babe, take a walk on the wild side...

The so-called cut and come again lettuce varietys would do well, I think, for a fair few crops, depending on how rich the soil/compost was in the pot, plus of course the size of the pot.. smiley - 2cents


I need tips on container gardening

Post 6

ITIWBS

I've done most of my gardening in flower pots for many years, using pots in a variety of sizes, the American market standard 6" dia x 6.5" or ~ 1 liter pot, the 8.5" dia x 8.5" or ~ 2.5 liter pot, the 10" dia x 12" or ~ 5 liter pot and the 15" dia x 17.75" or ~ 16 liter pots for most purposes.




The first, 6" dia x 6.5" tall or 1 liter pot works well for onions, filled with a good quality potting soil that drains easily and a tsp of pelletized mineral fertilizer with iron and trace minerals.

For onions, usually I simply cut off the bottom half inch or cm of the onion (with the roots attached) and plant immediately at a depth of 0.5" or a cm, 1 cutting per pot.

With this approach, one gets as many onions as there are exposed eyes in the cut face, approximately of a size with parent onion.

If you're going with ~ 1" or 2cm onion sets, use 2 or 3, depending on size of the mature onion.

One can also grow 1 or 2 black eyed peas (or chickpeas) in a pot of this size, or half a dozen radishes, or 1 - 3 turnips (depending on size of the mature turnip) or 2 or 3 carrots or parsnips.

Nearly all garden herbs can be grown conveniently in pots of this size.

If they outgrow it, they can always be moved to a pot of a larger size.




Next size up, 8.5" dia x 8.5" tall, or 2.5 liters, one can grow a single peanut plant or fava bean. (I usually use raw peanuts from the health food stores for seed.)

One can also grow chili peppers, 1 per pot, in pots of this size.




10" dia x 12" tall or 5 liters, 1 squash vine or 1 sweet corn or popcorn, with or without a climbing pea or bean, which should be planted about the same time the corn sets its ear.

This is also the right size for a single potato plant or a bell pepper.




15" dia x 17.75" tall or ~ 16 liters, I use for tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, melons and pumpkins, 1 per pot, with a supporting wire cage.




Composting in flowerpots, one can use a loose fill of leaf litter to prevent soil from spilling from the drain holes in the bottom of the pot, topped off with potting soil.

Kitchen compost should be buried at least 2"/5cm below the root ball of a plant one is transplanting to a larger flowerpot.

In either case, adding a clover or pea or bean plant with the roots attached to the compost for the benefit of the nitrogen fixing bacteria on the roots can improve soil fertility and obviate odor.

There are also commercial soil cultures available in many garden shops.




Garden pest control, a seasonal insect and/or slug preparation applied to the bottom of the pot in a thin layer can prevent infiltration through the drain holes.

Copper tape around the pedestal or copper sulphate applied around the base of the pots can also stop infiltration by garden slugs.




If you're going to want to move the flower pots around (hand cart recommended), setting them on a pedestal (an ~ 2"/5cm flat paving block for example can prevent the plants from rooting through the drain holes.

Alternatively, one can set the pots on black plastic sheets.
(Transparent plastic sheets rarely last a season.)




Re-using pots and potting soil, usually, I'll simply place an empty flower pot of the same size upside down on top of a spent flower pot,
invert and tap the soil mass into the empty pot, plant and add a tsp of pelletized mineral fertilizer.


I need tips on container gardening

Post 7

hygienicdispenser


In large pots you could also grow courgettes (zucchini). Even with one plant you may well find yourself with far more than you can eat.

I've read, though I've never tried it, that a good way of keeping slugs out of pots is to spray the outside with WD40.


I need tips on container gardening

Post 8

hygienicdispenser

Re-reading the OP, I'd say that peas might not work so well. You need a lot of pea plants to provide a worthwhile crop. The same goes for broad beans (fava beans). Conversely, climbing beans (french beans, runner beans, borlotti beans and so on) give a good yield from a small number of plants and are ideal for growing in large pots, so long as you give them something to climb up.


I need tips on container gardening

Post 9

ITIWBS

WD 40 is only fish oil, so is garden safe.

smiley - biggrinAlso enhances lure effect with fish bait.

On peas and beans, some crops are best grown along a fence line.smiley - smiley


I need tips on container gardening

Post 10

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

smiley - wow

Bless everyone who gave advice.smiley - applause Some of my pots are hanging pots. I hang them on the outside of my porch railing. Any sort of vines would be able to crawl on the steel railing supports -- peas, pole beans, gourds. I had also thought about planting grape vines in the ground at the base of the railing.

One option is to buy larger pots and fill them with the soil from my smaller pots. I get excellent exposure to the sun in front of my house i n the morning. The porch gets exposure int he morning and in the afternoon, so it's ideal for plants that need sun throughout the day.


I need tips on container gardening

Post 11

Peanut

Strawberries would be great in hanging pots smiley - strawberry


I need tips on container gardening

Post 12

hygienicdispenser


You can also get tomatoes for hanging baskets:

http://myhangingbaskets.com/images/3.Tomato-Cherry-Cascade-G016651.jpg


I need tips on container gardening

Post 13

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

Tomatoes could be considered for a little later in the season. My sister raises tomatoes from seed in her kitchen in March and April, then sets them out when the weather gets warmer.


I need tips on container gardening

Post 14

KB

I got my biggest ever tomato harvest from two hanging baskets. I've also done French beans, peas, potatoes, pretty much every leafy salad plant I've heard of, carrots - as MB said, you can really pack them in - globe artichoke, radishes, can't remember what all else. Containers are brilliant for growing veggies in. I often get better results from them, in fact. smiley - ok


I need tips on container gardening

Post 15

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

That's very encouraging,KB. Thanks for the tips.smiley - ok


I need tips on container gardening

Post 16

Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor

This is a very interesting thread and you know... you should write a collaborative Entry about this. It's really helpful information.smiley - magic

(If everything goes well I'll soon be owner of a balcony and I wanted to plant a few things in pots too)


I need tips on container gardening

Post 17

Amy Pawloski, aka 'paper lady'--'Mufflewhump'?!? click here to find out... (ACE)

I can finally access the shelves in my greenhouse(though the door needs rehanging) so this is useful for me toosmiley - ok


I need tips on container gardening

Post 18

ITIWBS

More tips, to prevent infiltration of garden slugs into flowerpots through drain holes, plug the holes with snippets from a Chore Girl copper scouring pad.


I need tips on container gardening

Post 19

Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor

I usually plug the holes with little stones.


I need tips on container gardening

Post 20

quotes

Pot tip-terracotta pots look nice, but being porous, lose a lot more water than plastic ones do. Pots dry out quickly anyway, so this is an important consideration. It is possible to line terracotta pots with plastic sheets, but I find the roots tend to try to grow between the plastic and the pot.

Also, big pots dry out less quickly than small ones do.


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