apartment dwellers- how are your containers doing?

[Sugaree]

Howdy to my fellow apartment dwellers- how is your container garden coming along?

Most of our seeds survived germination & re-potting... we put our containers outside a bit early- been a couple weeks now... had a couple frosts but we covered them & they seem ok... now we have to just keep an eye out for plant-hostile critters & diseases.

There is something very satisfying about starting a garden from seed & seeing them flourish. I just hope we will end up with some tasty edibles!

Last year we did 2 containers of tomatoes & 1 green pepper.

This year we are trying:
brocolli
sweet peas in the pod
lettuce
yellow squash
eggplant
red & yellow tomatoes
hot & green peppers
cucumber
corn
radishes
strawberries in a hanging bag, which I don't know if I planted right (which end is the roots???)
and some basil just for good measure :-D

[Ms. American]

In February I planted pots with radishes, onions, garlic, lettuce, spinach. I left them outside (zone 6). Everything grew, sometimes it froze, sometimes it didn't, had it all on the south side. Radishes were small, but delicious! Lettuce did extremely well and I've been eating salads from it since March. Onions could look better, but garlic is a knockout! I've never had garlic do so well. The plants are better than two feet tall! In pots!

I did some pumpkins in tires one year. I had to make sure to stuff the tire itself with soil as well as the middle where the rim goes. I made the tires just two high, and painted them pale pink because that's all I had available. I was looking for something to reflect some of the sun/heat. It was very effective. I only put 2 plants in that set up and got many, many pie pumpkins, each over 8".

I did birdhouse gourds in a bucket and put the bucket next to a home made mulberry switch archway. Those did very well also, as did the zuchinni. In fact, the squashs in buckets never got ravished with squash bugs, grass hoppers or crickets while the plants in the ground nearly got wiped out.

The right soil is essential for bucket gardening, and you must be sure and use some miracle grow or something similar, regularly, and often. Veggies deplete the soil fairly quickly when in containers.

If you use a 5 gallon gerry can, you can safely grow 2 cucumber plants. That's it.

Make sure your drainage is good too so things don't succumb to fungus.

[Sugaree]

In February I planted pots with radishes, onions, garlic, lettuce, spinach. I left them outside (zone 6). Everything grew, sometimes it froze, sometimes it didn't, had it all on the south side. Radishes were small, but delicious! Lettuce did extremely well and I've been eating salads from it since March. Onions could look better, but garlic is a knockout! I've never had garlic do so well. The plants are better than two feet tall! In pots!

I did some pumpkins in tires one year. I had to make sure to stuff the tire itself with soil as well as the middle where the rim goes. I made the tires just two high, and painted them pale pink because that's all I had available. I was looking for something to reflect some of the sun/heat. It was very effective. I only put 2 plants in that set up and got many, many pie pumpkins, each over 8".

I did birdhouse gourds in a bucket and put the bucket next to a home made mulberry switch archway. Those did very well also, as did the zuchinni. In fact, the squashs in buckets never got ravished with squash bugs, grass hoppers or crickets while the plants in the ground nearly got wiped out.

The right soil is essential for bucket gardening, and you must be sure and use some miracle grow or something similar, regularly, and often. Veggies deplete the soil fairly quickly when in containers.

If you use a 5 gallon gerry can, you can safely grow 2 cucumber plants. That's it.

Make sure your drainage is good too so things don't succumb to fungus.

thanks, those are some great tips! :-D

[shortstop]

I just planted cucumber plants I bought at Calloways... and beets seeds. All my plants are in containers, tomatoes, strawberries, green beans. Peas and radishes didn't make it... I'm really okay with it as it's trial and error for me... Fortunately, I'm in Texas so I have a chance for several crops...

[Animal Lover]

Our first year for (container...raised bed really). I just put lettuces 5 kinds, 3 different tomato plants from the greenhouse, basil as I make a lot of pesto, italian parsley, chives, and lots of zinnias for color as they are behind my small flower garden. I can't get down well anymore so the raised beds are wonderful and so far look great and pretty from the road as they are in the front of the house where most of the sun is. Wish me luck. I bought a brass decoration for each box and painted the boxes a light blue/green to match the color of the house. My lovely Son In Law brought them to me and filled them with manure (well rotted on the bottom) Miracle grow soil three bags for each container on the top. I am loving them. AL