On Sunday, for my birthday, my sweetheart got me some veggie seedlings, pots, and potting mix. I couldn’t be more excited!
We were thinking about digging up part of the yard to make a “real” garden, but evidently that is a LOT of work… you have to get rid of the grass, till the soil so it’s soft, add fertilizer and topsoil and other junk… and then hope it can support life. Evidently with the potting mix, you have such a rich loose nutritious “soil” for the plants (in quotes because there’s no real soil in it) that it should be pretty easy. Plus, they are portable so we can move them around if they need more or less sunlight, and when we move we can take them with us if we want to.
Also, because we live in base housing, if we dug up part of the yard, we’d have to return it to its original condition when we left… digging up the plants and replacing sod. Ew. Who wants to do that? Not me!
Monday morning, we planted them in their pots, and now they’re sitting in our back yard chilling in the sunlight and drinking the water we just gave them.
If anyone has any tips about container gardening I’d love to hear them! Especially when it comes to vegetables and herbs… these specific veggies, and herbs in general. For example, I’d love to know which herbs can get along well together in the same pot!
And now to introduce you to the kids! I hope they grow quickly and strong and produce many fruits!
Bathilda the banana pepper:
Tamara tomato: (better boy variety)
Zoe Zucchini:
Ichi-Ban the Japanese Eggplant:
Bettie the Bell Pepper
And Clara and Carla the Cucumbers (the guy at Lowe’s said I could plant two of them in the same pot):
Please do share any knowledge or advice you have about these vegetables or about container gardening (and herb gardens) in general! I’d love to learn from your experience so that hopefully this summer can be full of fresh veggies here in Meridian, MS!
Hi! I'm Emily. I'm a Navy wife and stay at home mom of two beautiful children. I cook simple, delicious, grain-free recipes, do crafts, decorate my home on a budget, and keep a happy household. I tandem breastfeed, babywear, cloth diaper, practice elimination communication, homebirth, and co-sleep, but I'm not a hippie.
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What a great tip for saving a lot of back breaking work. Good job!
John Rowe recently posted..Container Vegetable Gardening vs Regular Gardening
Good luck for your new gardening ventures. I love container vegetable gardening. My advice… firstly red peppers and tomatoes don’t like each other and secondly, give the aubergines and tomatoes trellis’ or some form of support to help them grow and stop the branches breaking and then the fruit dying.
container vegetable gardening recently posted..The simple joys of container vegetable gardening
Loved your post on container veggies – just linked to it in my blog, Your Easy Garden (http://www.youreasygarden.com) – which I just launched on behalf of Tesselaar Plants. We're just starting out, so it would be great if you could comment on the post I did on this topic (title: “Want an easy kitchen garden on the deck or patio?”)
Loved your post on container veggies – just linked to it in my blog, Your Easy Garden (http://www.youreasygarden.com) – which I just launched on behalf of Tesselaar Plants. We're just starting out, so it would be great if you could comment on the post I did on this topic (title: “Want an easy kitchen garden on the deck or patio?”)
[...] I showed you pictures of our little garden already, but not pictures of the [...]
What a great little garden you have going! I just taught a class on container gardening and have a ton of notes if you are interested, but it looks like you are off to a great start! Here are a few little notes I have off the top of my head:
1) I have to respectfully disagree with a prior comment that suggested you should nor fertilize if there is already some in your soild mix. In short, the only nutrients that a container plant gets are going to be what YOU give it. A plant in the ground can obtain much more from the soil and therefore needs less added. A container actually leaches nutrients MUCH faster because of frequent watering, the container does not hold onto them. Also, unless the potting mix has osmocote in it (doubtfully)then it is highly unlikely that you truly have a 3 month supply of fertilizer. Adding some liquid vegetable Miracle grow will NOT burn them, it simply isn’t strong enough, just do it according to the package directions. I would not wait more than 2 or 3 weeks before beginning this. It is far more important to be sure that vegetables and fruiting plants have the nutrients they need BEFORE they show any signs of stress or they will not grow or procduce well. Let me know if you have any other fertilizer questions.
2)Water has been metioned. Be sure to water in the morning for maximum water retention and on really hot days you may have to water more than once. Stick your finger about 1/2 an inch into the soil to test for dryness. If it is moist to this level, don’t water it. When you do water, drench the roots until water runs out the drain holes. Do not let them dry out. You may notice that a plant springs right back after they wilt and you water them. However, you don’t want this to happen much with vegetables – again, it interferes with good production.
3)’Soft’ Herbs can be packed into containers together. Woody herbs like rosemary or lavender will need a bit more room. Pinch the flower buds off basil, oregano, etc if you want better leaf production and healthier more vigorous plants.
Long winded I know! Sorry!!!
Those plants look really good. I’m growing cilantro, parsley, basil and strawberries at the moment. I’m so paranoid that my cats are going to pee in the containers that move them around a lot.
Twitter: JoyfulAbode
says:
Meagan, if we wait the 3 months the potting mix is supposed to be good for and THEN fertilize, that would be ok right? I think you’re right that it wouldn’t be good to put in miracle gro while the potting mix is still supposed to be fertilizer-ful.
I didn’t know that about herbs being a natural pesticide! Awesomeness. Maybe they’ll keep away the millions of insects that are everywhere too… wishful thinking?
Em, be careful about over-fertilizing. If your potting soil already has fertilizer in it, and you add more fertilizer by using Miracle-gro, you can actually “burn” your plants by over-fertilizing! This is especially true in your pots, since the fertilizer isn’t going anywhere — it’s not being washed away like it would be in a garden. I wouldn’t use anything else unless your plants are showing deficiencies (pale leaves, looking wimpy, not bearing fruits, etc.).
Also, as far as companion planting herbs, you don’t really want to plant herbs together with each other. It’s better to companion-plant herbs with veggies, and the reasons are twofold: 1 – for some weird reason, both plants will actually grow better together when they grow with their friends, and 2 – herbs often act like a natural pesticide to keep bugs away from your veggies. Tomatoes really like basil, so I bet you could plant a really small basil plant in with your tomato plant as long as you kept the basil plant trimmed back. The rest of your vegetable pots would probably benefit from having herbs nearby but not necessarily in the same pot.
Twitter: JoyfulAbode
says:
Jenn, thanks for the tip about the oregano and also about cross-pollination issues… I hope that doesn’t happen! When I get home I’ll try to separate them all more.
As far as the fertilizer goes, we used potting mix that’s supposed to provide enough food for 3 months, but we’re also planning on hitting them with some miracle gro every month or so.
Sara, thanks for the nice words! I hope your move goes well. Have you lived in VA before?
Terryann, we will definitely be getting a cage for the tomato and some little stakes or mini trellises for the cucumbers. I hope we get a really big one too!
Your tomatoe needs a “cage” or support it with soft ties to the fence. Hopefully you will get really big tomotes and then you will see why it needs the support. Also only water the roots, not the leaves, tomatoes like dry leaves, hot days and wet feet. I agree with the other advice about cucumbers and zucchini also squash will do that too.
Enjoy your veges!
Oh, and I can’t believe I forgot this one, move your zucchini, cucumber and eggplants as far away from each other as you can because they tend to cross-pollinate. We had a tiny garden (in ground) at our first apartment and ended up with cucumbers that tasted like zucchini. Our neighbor was a fantastic gardener and confirmed for us that cross-pollination can happen if the plants are too close together.
Happy Birthday! I’m afraid I do not have any gardening advice….my thumb is black.
I hope your move went well. Our family is moving to Norfolk,VA over the summer. My husband is going back to the ship….shore duty is very cozy. 
I don’t know much about gardening, but I do know that if you plant a garden in containers, it needs plenty of water and fertilizer. I believe our fertilizer (we use the kind that you mix with water) says to fertilize every other week.
I planted a bunch of herbs together in one pot a few years ago. If you go that route and want to plant oregano, but it in it’s own pot, it beat up all the other herbs in the pot and took over. I plant all the herbs in their own pots now and things are good. That reminds me, I need to take pictures of my plants!