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Growing Vegetables in Containers
Regardless of the size of your garden, there’s always
room for some container-grown vegetables on a deck
or patio. In many cases, these outdoor spaces receive
the best sunlight in the yard so they are often the best
places to mature a tomato or eggplant crop. Here are
some general guidelines for container gardening and
some suggestions for crops to try.
Planting and Maintaining the Crop
* Use pots large enough to accommodate the mature
plant because you’ll sacrifice productivity if you don’t
give the roots room to spread. Many varieties will need
a 5-gallon container for each plant. Eggplants and cherry
tomato plants can be grown in 12-inch pots. Side drainage
holes are preferable to bottom holes which can easily get
clogged. Raising the container off the ground will help
improve drainage. To keep mature plants from toppling
over, the pot should be at least 1/3 as deep as the
plant is high.
* Use a sterilized, commercial potting mix rather than
garden soil to fill your containers. Potting mixes are lighter
and resist compaction better than garden soil. They also
do not introduce the disease organisms that are commonly
present in garden soil.
* Check the containers daily because during hot weather
they can dry out quickly. The commonly recommended
method of determining when to water is to stick your finger into
the soil to your second knuckle, and if it's dry at that depth, it’s
time to water.
That technique may work fine for clay pots that evaporate
water evenly throughout the pot, but plastic and wooden pots
can have a dry layer on top and moist conditions below where
the roots are. With these types of pots, it’s better to push a pencil
or Popsicle stick down into the soil. If the soil sticks to the pencil
after you pull it out, it’s moist enough. If it comes up clean, the soil
needs water.
* Use a diluted liquid fertilizer about every third time you water,
to provide a constant supply of nutrients to the roots of your plants.
It's wise to flush the salts out of the containers every month or
so to prevent salt build-up and subsequent burning of roots and
leaves. To do this, simply water the container until water comes
out the drainage holes. Wait five minutes, then repeat the process.
Try These Container Vegetables:
* You can imagine how well cherry tomatoes are suited to
container culture. Burpee’s ‘Tumbler Hybrid’ is also well
suited to 12-inch pots. Even larger full-size tomato plants
can be grown in containers, such as plastic 25 to 30
gallon garbage cans. (Avoid the tin models because they
heat up and can leach toxic metals.)
After planting 2 plants per container in soil-less potting
mix, wrap the container with a section of 8-foot-tall steel
reinforcing wire that has 6-inch openings (to allow easy
access). (Measure the circumference of your pot first,
and add about about 6 inches for overlap. Most pots
need a piece about 8 feet long.)
Hold the ends in place with small wire ties and secure
the wire with two 8-foot-tall steel fence posts tied to the
wire in at least two places. Place it in full sun, or where
plants receive at least 6 hours of direct sunlight a day.
* If you've had trouble in the past growing eggplants in
your garden, try growing them in containers. One plant
will grow well in a 12-inch-wide container filled with a mix
of peat moss, compost, and perlite. Growing eggplants
this way allows you to control the soil content (reducing
the chance of your eggplants being killed by wilt disease
in your garden's soil); and allows you to place the plant in
the sunniest location.
Later in the fall, your ability to move the container can help
you avoid cold temperatures and even frost. Try growing
the Oriental varieties, which have smaller plants and produce an abundance of
long, thin fruits that are great for grilling.
* If you love to grow hot peppers, but only need a few
and have trouble getting them to mature in your climate,
consider growing them in containers. Hot pepper
types, such as habanero and serano, and even
‘False Alarm Hybrid’, which offers rich jalapeno flavor
without the fire, are well suited to containers. Fill a
5-gallon container with potting soil and plant one
pepper per pot. Keep the plant well watered and
fertilized, and you'll be eating peppers all summer
and fall.
* Cucumbers love the warm soil a container provides,
so you can plant earlier in spring and harvest longer
into the fall. It's easier to keep an eye on the demanding
water needs of cucumbers when they're grown in pots
on a deck or patio close to the house. Choose bush
varieties, such as ‘Bush Champion’, that produce both
male and female flowers (or you’ll have flowers but no fruit).
* Radishes, carrots, and beets can thrive in containers.
Mix them with other vegetables to provide a little shade
during the hot afternoons.
* Don't forget the herbs. Many -- like parsley, cilantro,
chives, basil, thyme, and sage -- grow well in a container,
such as a one-half whiskey barrel.
Q. What kind of hanging basket is best for growing a
‘Tumbler Hybrid’ tomato plant?
A. Either plastic or wooden hanging pots would be good
choices. They hold up well in outdoor weather, and they
don’t lose as much water to evaporation as pressed peat
moss baskets or clay pots. Choose a container that’s at
least 8 inches deep to accommodate the developing
root system.
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