| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| JenniferJuniper |
Posted - Apr 29 2007 : 1:18:24 PM
Does anyone have any experience with this? I can't do a proper garden bed as my topsoil is only about 3 inches deep, laid over solid rock. I cannot afford to do raised beds. I've had great success with herb gardening in plastic deck planters, and want to try zucchini, salad greens, and maybe onions and tomatoes. Do you think it will work? |
| 9 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| westernhorse51 |
Posted - May 02 2007 : 3:35:06 PM
Jennifer, keep us posted of your container garden, I'd love to know how your doing.
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
| westernhorse51 |
Posted - May 02 2007 : 11:00:03 AM
I container garden for all my veggies & herbs & have been for years. There is nothing you can't grow in a container including types of trees. I grow, 3 types of lettuve, tomatoes,(regular & cherry)lima beans, peas, beans, small new(red) potatoes,grapes, strawberries, blueberries, sage, thyme, basil (2 kinds) rosemary, & so many other things. I love it because you can always add new things, change things around. Most of my flowers I grow in ground but not all, I've got them all around also. Here are a couple of good websites & although I dont have any, there are many good books on container gardening but I don't think it's really important. You can do and grow ANYTHING in containers and it's great fun!!www.gardenguides.com/articles/eightrules.htm
www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/container/success.html
there are tons of sites out there just google container gardens. I have a cottage garden w/ all kinds of things and many many containers & I ALWAYS have butterflies, ladybugs, birds, hummingbirds and my containers are everything from "normal" containers (very few of those) to wagons, weird looking pots, metal containers, painted buckets, metal tea kettles, old copper buttonup heels, the list goes on foerever and thats the beauty of container gardens. Have a blast.
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
| Kathie |
Posted - May 02 2007 : 10:34:28 AM
Jennifer i know that you'll have great luck with the tomatoes for sure!!
My mom does this all the time since she's not able to do much else in the garden.. so she plants tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets on her patio!!
She says she doesn't even have to do a whole lot more maintenace on them once she's gotten them planted..
I'm sure there are alot more plants that you could do this way too!
By the way.. LOOK HOW CLOSE WE ARE GIRL!!
Neighbors!!!
In a World Where you Can Be Anything, Be Yourself.. |
| Michelle Marie |
Posted - May 02 2007 : 07:04:20 AM
Hi there, last year my husband did a raised bed and we had TONS of cherry tomato's. This year we bought some of those large toy buckets with the rope handles and have tomato's going in them. They look really good. We planted a variety so next year we can choose what did the best and we liked the most. I even tried some Mr. Stripy which I am very excited about. We also bought some black garbage cans, the kind that look like pots on the top, and he cut of the bottoms and we put some of that landscaping cloth ( I am not sure of what the name is) on the bottom and filled it with soil and a little cow manure mixed in. Total we have 10 buckets of tomato's going. We put some eggplants in our raised bed, banana peppers, and some bell pepper. He wanted to try to put some little gardens along the fence, he is trying cucumbers and cantaloupe. We did the raised bed, containers, and several little gardens instead of one big garden this year. We are thinking they will be easier to maintain. I would definitely recommend the big toy bucket with rope handles and drill holes in the bottom, we paid $5 each for them. We only used the trash cans because at first we could not find the others. Our lettuce did so nicely in our raised bed. This fall we are going to try some in our buckets. Maybe carrots too. |
| lisamarie508 |
Posted - May 01 2007 : 12:44:20 PM
It's like Alyssa said: container gardening is like mini raised beds. I did mine in containers until I got my raised beds built. I ended up going to our local saw mill and picked up a bunch of mill-ends for dirt cheap. That's what I used for the sides. They're a bit uneven(just picture a slice off the outside of a tree) but they worked great and are still holding 3 years later! I have raised flower beds that were made from good sized rocks. There are many alternatives to the raised beds you see in catalogs. While they're pretty and easy to put together; they're also very costly. Rocks and mill-ends aren't all there is. Just use your imagination and go wild!
We come from Nature, we go back to Nature; health & happiness in between requires intimacy with Nature. |
| kitchensqueen |
Posted - Apr 29 2007 : 5:25:43 PM
I do it exclusively. I've posted extensively about it on my blog (too tired from school this weekend to repost here, so feel free to mosey on over there if you're interested...)
http://apartmentfarm.wordpress.com
Now Open!: http://shadetreestudios.etsy.com |
| brightmeadow |
Posted - Apr 29 2007 : 4:13:32 PM
I planted too many tomato seeds last year and didn't have enough room in the tilled garden for all the plants, so I went to the local grocery and got 10-gallon buckets (I think that is the size) that they get their icing for the bakery in. I drilled 4 holes in the bottom of each, filled them with compost and soil, and popped a tomato plant into each one. They yielded just as much as the ones in the garden, maybe more! And I moved them into the garage when the weather started getting cold and I had tomatoes well into November.
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blog at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com ,web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
| kreativeblonde |
Posted - Apr 29 2007 : 2:55:21 PM
You could absolutely do a container. They are pretty easy. As a matter of fact I'm going to do 2 containers at home with lettuce and tomatoes, even though I have a garden plot. I bought some seed packets the other day that are specifically for containers. They are from Renee's Garden and say 'container _______' on the package. I got "Garden Babies Butterhead" lettuce and "Super Bush" tomato seed packets and plan on planting them as soon as the weather cooperates.
Amanda
http://theheadlettuce.blogspot.com
Too much of a good thing is wonderful.
Mae West |
| Alee |
Posted - Apr 29 2007 : 2:04:33 PM
I know that tomatoes do really well in containers, and most lettuces don't need too much soil either. With the tomatoes you should try to get as big of a container as possible because they do like to have a goodly amount of soil for their root base to grow in. I would buy a couple of those half-cask wooden containers that you can get at most any home and garden place. Depending on how much produce you want- I would plant tomatoes in a few and then plant a couple heads of lettuce and other salad things in another. As long as you have enough soil you could even do carrots, strawberries and such. Basically container gardening is just mini raised beds! :)
I have seen some great container gardens, especially having lived in an apartment for a while!
Alee |
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