The start of a container vegetable garden

27th May 2008

The start of a container vegetable garden

posted in gardening, Food |

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!

container garden

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!

vegetable garden

And now to introduce you to the kids! I hope they grow quickly and strong and produce many fruits!

Bathilda the banana pepper:

banana pepper

Tamara tomato: (better boy variety)

tomato plant

Zoe Zucchini:

zucchini plant

Ichi-Ban the Japanese Eggplant:

japanese eggplant plant

Bettie the Bell Pepper

bell pepper plant

And Clara and Carla the Cucumbers (the guy at Lowe’s said I could plant two of them in the same pot):

cucumber plants

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!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 at 6:37 am and is filed under gardening, Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On May 27th, 2008, Jenn said:

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!

posted on May 27th, 2008 at 8:20 am

2 On May 27th, 2008, Sara said:

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.

posted on May 27th, 2008 at 8:25 am

3 On May 27th, 2008, Jenn said:

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.

posted on May 27th, 2008 at 8:28 am

4 On May 27th, 2008, terryann said:

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!

posted on May 27th, 2008 at 10:08 am

5 On May 27th, 2008, Joyful Abode said:

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!

posted on May 27th, 2008 at 10:16 am

6 On May 27th, 2008, Meagan said:

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.

posted on May 27th, 2008 at 12:22 pm

7 On May 27th, 2008, Joyful Abode said:

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?

posted on May 27th, 2008 at 12:47 pm

8 On May 27th, 2008, Tiff@Three Peas said:

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.

posted on May 27th, 2008 at 5:54 pm

9 On May 29th, 2008, Tulip Tree Baby said:

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!!!

posted on May 29th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

10 On June 4th, 2008, Our New Abode - NAS Meridian, MS » Joyful Abode said: