Attempted container growing......please please help!

[piskieinboots]

Last year I managed to grow a Crown Prince squash in a container, admittedly it needed a lot of room for its legs and a lot of attention but it was well worth it. I had four good sized squash of it, of which I have only just eaten the last one

[lesleygl]

Hi GMO

I started growing my own properly and this forum is just wonderful, I have received so much help.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on.
L

[chriscross1966]

Hi GMO,
If youhave a Wyevales locally go and look in their carpark, they should have a pot recycling area/skip..... you should find plenty of 8" (and sometimes bigger) pots in there.... Try to find a load of old plates 9pref plastic camping ones) from a charity shop, they're a lot cheaper than saucers to put under a pot (to help with the watering once the weather gets warm...

Sow things in modules , apart from maybe radishes , that way you can always have a few seedlings coming through to plant into any gaps you have. It migh tbe an ideea to look at the various sources avaialbe for "Square foot gardening" as it is in effect what you are doing (although the mathematical definition of "non-continuous and discrete" is clanging around in my head for some reason )

Freecycle can be your very good friend to keep the budget under control, if you can find someone getting rid of topsoil and can nip in there and get a few bags then it both saves on compost and mixed in makes for a better growing medium as it will hold water better. Ditto you will find people getting rid of planters etc at this time of year as they tidy up the garden over Easter....

Also... would you be able to build a bed on the patio?..... You can use a square pallet (if you can find a nice-ish one.... seoperate out the wood, use the battens for corners, all but four of the standard stringers for the sides of the bed and put the remaining four stringers (cut down slightly to fit) on the inside at the bottom flat but screwed to the lowermost side, once its full of soil/compost the weight pressing on those will keep it from lifting.... it'd get you the equivalent of 25 8" pots in terms of space and would certainly open up things like courgettes and squashes to you....

chrisc

[chriscross1966]

Also..... monogerm varieties of beetroot!.... just leapt to mind, don't bother with the cylindrical ones unless you have a very deep thing to grow them in.....

Bottle drippers for tomatoes (or get a watering kit and string it around, but bottle-drippers can be free) and other water-hungry plants like beans...

chrisc

[mrscorpio]

Also..... monogerm varieties of beetroot!.... just leapt to mind, don't bother with the cylindrical ones unless you have a very deep thing to grow them in.....

Bottle drippers for tomatoes (or get a watering kit and string it around, but bottle-drippers can be free) and other water-hungry plants like beans...

chrisc

I see Wilkos do a pack of two bottle dripper inserts - are they any good - how long does it take to empty a 2l bottle?

[growingmyown]

Wow thanks everyone.

Shadylane - Im growing a variety called Crisphead Webbs Wonderful. Do u think this method would work for them? If so that would probably work out better than harvesting 3 lettuces all at once.

Beaufortboy - I have a couple of ceramice pots lying around that are 8"x8" , if I started off some Boltardy beetroot seeds and transferred a seedling into one of each of these pots would there be enough space? Im awfully confused with the matching the vegetable to the pot size.

Another question to everyone. I saw on one website a video that suggested you should start off bean seeds on a layer of kitchen roll kept moist and covered in a small plastic luchbox on the windowsill for a few days before putting in to pots. Is this what everyone does? Also I am still confused as to what size pot to put the french dwarf beans in and how many plants?!?! Sorry if Im being a bit slow, I am a beginner after all Would I be terribly early if I started my beans now? x

[growingmyown]

I also forgot to say bottle dripper????? I have no idea what this is?

[tamsin]

With any root veg like carrots, radish, beetroot etc. its generally better to sow the seeds in the final place not to transplant, so you don't disturb the roots. I would think 8" square pots you might get 4 beetroots.

[Jimmy]

Perhaps the article on "Grow Bag Pallets" might be of use.

Grow Bag Pallets

Your comment
Ive purcased a 4 tier mini greenhouse for my seedlings when it gets warmer and two 42l flexi tubs


Contains the word "purcased" which I assume means "purchased" and is a definate no no word for me !

I am sure you will have lots of success !
Jimmy

[Storming Norman]

Hello & welcome.

I used to grow everything in pots - its fine until you want a holiday and then you have to butter up your neighbours to water for you.

Watering is going to be your biggest issue so really big deep pots for larger stuff is a good idea. Get them cheaply and spend more on the compost - supermarkets do flower pots that are ideal for some things [search for more advice on this in the threads here] and freecycle is a good idea from chriscross. If you want to spend money on pots you can reuse for years Stuart do good self watering pots - they have a a water reservoir which is really useful.

Some things actually do better in pots to my mind:
1. Tomatoes, especially the cherry type - try a few Sungold if you like toms. A big deep pot is best and then maybe you can get two in. I always have 6-8 in pots on my patio as well as more in the greenhouse.
2. Lettuce, especially salad rockets, & cut and come again types. They grow well in a bit of shade as well.
3. Carrots - if you like raw carrots then growing them rather than buying gives so much more flavour - I can recommend the purple ones.
4. If its really sunny then cucumbers, and peppers, and definitely chillies.
5.Climbing french beans do better than runners in my pots - cobra was a really good variety for this last year here, but I don't often bother with dwarf beans [but see the pics attached].
6. Herbs - definitely a must - see pics.

People grow potatoes in pots but you don't get that many - to start with you might try to grow food which is going to produce heavily for the space used.

- and think about putting your name down for a small allotment - by the time you get to the top of the list [in a few years] you could have the growing bug and will want the extra space.

Here are some pics from last July to cheer you up, just think it's only a few months away to this. You are going to be so happy you started this hobby.

[stella]

Hi and welcome. I grow a lot in pots and as soon as I harvest one thing I put another in. Dont forget to feed your plants, herbs do very well in pots.

[growingmyown]

Jimmy - Im sorry about my spelling, its actually because the h button on my laptop is a bit dodgy. I had to buy something to put some of my pots on and it was half price so surely you can let me off!

Norman - Thanks for your advice, I will see where my closest allotment is, there's no harm in popping my name on the list. And your herbs!!! Im very jealous.

[markyHD]

Hi all,

I'm also new to growing (literally, never grown a thing lol), and have started off quite well I think.

I'm growing Tomatoes (moneymaker and some cherry variety), chilli's, aubergines, peppers, runner beans, strawberries, and a partially trained apple and pear cordon.

My runner beans are already 6 foot, and my living room is starting to look like something out of Jumanji o_O

P.s. I'm also a tenant, so everything is destined to be container grown (the beans and tree's obviously already in large containers).

[Nykied]

I'm a tenant but when we moved in, we asked if we could change anything in the garden. They said yes, so I've taken that to mean I could dig up some grass for my veggie patch

[Nepwardle]

Hello all,

I found at a garden show last year a contraption you can pop over the top of your garden fence to hang hanging baskets on.

Last year I grew all my cherry tomato's in baskets which freed up space on my patio for other pots and tubs.

I have a small patch and lots of pots of vegetables, I do get quite good success with Garlic in tubs. But it is a bit late now to put down, but always a good one for planning for next year.