First time veggie container garden

18 years ago

Hi, this year I think I'm actually going to make good on my plan to grow some veggies on my porch.

The porch is west-facing and not covered except for the small roof overhang. I'm thinking I call it full sun, but I wanted to check and see if that's right?

What are good, easy plants to start with this year that'll give me a good satisfying payoff? I was thinking about sweet peppers, summer squash, zuchinni and tomatos, but am definitely open to other ideas.

If I start from seed, how does it work with the number of seeds in one pack? Can I plant more than one plant in a container? Do I plant all of them then save out the hardy looking ones? Can I save not used seeds for next year?

Also, what are good online and book resources to learn more about veggies in containers?

Thanks for helping me out!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (11)

fliptx
18 years ago
"I'm thinking I call it full sun, but I wanted to check and see if that's right?"
How many hours of direct sun does the porch get?

I grow mostly in containers and my philosophy is to grow things I can't get at the grocery store, or not easily, in order to get the most "bang" for my buck/space. So I grow summer squash, but I don't grow yellow crookneck or standard zuchinis since those are so inexpensive at the store. I grow scallop squash or the round yellow and green squash that are good for stuffing. I'm growing Blushing Beauty for my sweet pepper. It starts out ivory and turns red as it matures. But grow whatever you'd like to be able to have fresh and handy, whether it's at the local store or not.

For easy plants, it's hard to beat lettuce. I grow a mix of pretty leaf lettuces that I harvest one leaf (per plant) at a time so the rest of the plant keeps growing. Herbs are also good to grow. Basil and chives are very easy in my experience.

Depending on the size of the container and the vegetable, yes you can grow more than one per container. I'm growing about a dozen baby corn in one container, about fifty leaf lettuces in another, and two small tomato plants in another.

Containerseeds.com is a good place to look at seeds picked for container growing.
sedum37
18 years ago
Get this book from your library (most libraries have it):

McGee & Stuckey's Bountiful Container: A Container Garden of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers
by Rose Marie Nicols McGee,Maggie Stuckey

Many of your questions are answered in there. Excellent reference for growing veggies in containers.
Related Discussions
First time Veggie gardener - advice needed! =)
Q
Comments (3)
Just go ahead and plant the stuff. You'll learn more from your mistakes than your successes. ;-) Nothing beats just getting out there and doing it. Vegetables are usually kind of broken down into warm-weather and cool-weather crops. If you haven't live plants of the cool-weather stuff, you would probably be better off planting it in late summer or fall, depending on the plant. I believe there is a garden book for your neck of the woods called something like Southern Living Gardening or Southern Gardening put out by Southern Living magazine. It should answer a lot of your questions. I saw it in the library system here, so it certainly should be in yours. Below is a link to a list of vegetables that can take partial shade. Good luck! Sue Here is a link that might be useful: Veggies that will tolerate partial shade
...See More
First time gardener- whole container garden seems to be dying! :(
Q
Comments (17)
tdscpa, Thanks, I will call the master gardener's here Monday & see if they can give me tips on gardening here. burnet, Thanks for making your case against insecticides, I haven't really decided where I stand personally on the matter. As far as watering, I do water daily, I would say at least 3-4 inches deep? It's kinda hard for me to explain to you how much water, lol. But the reason the eggplant looks dry in that picture is because I dug it up & when I saw the balls I didn't have my phone handy, so I left it and went ahead and watered all of my good plants. (so the pic was also before watering, plus it sat in the sun until I got back to it with my phone.) And I know, I know. I should water early in the morning, but they really needed water that day & I didn't feel the need to wait. But when I dug it up, there was still some moisture in the soil from the previous watering the day before. Over watering, possibly? I really doubt it's under watering. The containers have no bottoms, just weed paper stapled to the frame, which is 6 inches deep as far as the wood (pine, untreated) goes, and it is dug down in the soil approximately another 5 inches, then filled with the soil mixture. I really wouldn't know if water drains out the bottom? The soil is always warm, and the weather here is always about 80 degrees. It never gets higher than 85. mauirose, Thank you! I'm growing on Oahu, I live close to Pearl Harbor, but I'm unsure what the elevation is. I took more pics for you guys to get the general idea of what my garden environment is. Although the biggest bed which has been having the most issues is against a chainlink fence, we live in a neighborhood packed full of houses, so they really don't get more than a good breeze. Actually I had no idea that spraying insecticide during the day would burn the leaves! That could actually be what has happened! I do live pretty close to a community garden. belgianpup, Pine. And the weather is kinda humid on Oahu. Thanks.
...See More
Story Time and Photo Tour of a First Timer's Veggie Garden;
Q
Comments (9)
Yes, Katamari is the rolling stuff up game. Its really addictive for such a simple game, and theres three of them. The part I like the most is the amazing effort they put into the music. I found some of it on youtube and it ranges from techno to jazzy lounge music, swing music, Im pretty sure someone even snuck a gospel peice or two in there. While Iw as writing yesterday I stumbled across someone who had done an orchestral version of one of the themse that made my jaw drop. Video game music is constantly impressing me with every passing year. But anyway, back to gardening... Part of my problem with the space issue is theres a movement out here for the "Grow Biointensive" system. While I'm interested that they've managed to do so much with such small topsoil space, I've noticed all the beds dealing with the system need at least two feet of soil, dug down or in raised beds, and thats not what I have. My mum has been trying to push me in that direction, but I dont feel confident with it at this time since I wanted to get more of a feel for the general gardening situation since its my first time and all. Some plants still got pushed closer together than I would've liked but then none of us had seen some of these plants actually growing before. The cukes are doign better than I expected for being about 6 inches closer to each toher plant than I really wanted them to be, but we had such a huge amount of plants to deal with that I did the best I could. I think the funniest part about all this is while it is my first time growing a real garden, I've been growing virtual gardens since I was abotu 19, playing an online game called "Final Fantasy 11", which had a really complicated planting/gardening system most people didnt know about. That game system is actually what got me really focused on the seasons, when to plant, where to plant, when to fertilize, what plants grew better in what geological areas, and I even had a little notebook for a long time where I'd record the weekly cycle of my virtual plants in relation to the moon phase and exact time I made any modifications to the planting space. Even the gamers thought I was nuts, but I loved it! They'd even die off or give terrible results if I neglected them for too long, or give off better results if I got proper gardening tools, workbenches, and diffrent planters had diffrent effects too. Im getting better results with a real garden than I was in my virtual gardens though... Except for that one time I accidentally harvested 122 virtual onions. I can tell you, the cooks sure were happy with me.
...See More
Overwhelmed, first time veggie garden
Q
Comments (25)
I still refer to Crockett's Victory Garden which is a month by month guide based on a Boston tv gardening show back in the early 80s. Your library might have it but I frequently see used copies for sale. I love growing peppers. Carmen is an Italian type good for salads and cooking and ripens to red sooner than bell types but I also grow bell types which we love in any color. Depending on how much you use, a large pot of basil might be enough. Here in NH I have to plan spinach in April or it bolts. Pay attention to good seed catalog descriptions (I like Johnny's) because some lettuce does better in cooler weather and other varieties are a little better in summer. The hardier types can take some cool weather in the fall. Figure succession planting possibilities. Lettuce can be a filler in. As mentioned earlier, garlic is planted in the fall and gives you garlic scapes in early July then is harvested maybe late July so you can follow garlic with something else. I find garlic one of the best things to grow since it can store in our semi heated garage (55 degrees) most of the winter. But plant some of your harvest for the following year to build your harvest. Potatoes take a lot of room and you will probably be plagued with Colorado potato beetles. I still love growing potatoes but with limited space perhaps grow fingerlings or an early season type you can enjoy and don't bother trying to grow enough for storage. I have hardest time growing good carrots. Make sure they get enough water for germination. Then remember to thin. I've never tried celery. I highly recommend green beans because they taste so much better than the ordinary grocery store kind. I like a French filet type but Fortex pole beans are both tasty and prolific. I like inter planting things sometimes just for pretty. This was in September so violas had gotten leggy, leeks are in the back so slightly out of picture, there was thyme on the right edge.
...See More
boosiebutt
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks for the tips! Unfortunately, my library doesn't have that book, but when I searched for it in the online catalog, I did see a bunch of other books. I'll have to go in over lunch some day and flip through to see what the best ones are for container AND veggies.
sedum37
18 years ago
So do you have a library consortium (interlibrary loan)? My library is part of a 25 library system. I can search and request a book from any of the libraries (for free!). It is delivered to my local library and then I check it out there and return there as well. I do this all the time! I would be lost without it. May be check if you have this option. Else the paper back version of the book isn't too much I think less than $20.

Good luck!

PS I only grow tomatoes and chile peppers in containers. Nothing like taste of home grown tomatoes. I have grown eggplants (small asian types) and peppers before also.
mea2214
18 years ago
Fresh Habeneros cost $4.99/pound at my local mexican grocery store so I grow lots of them. I also grow lots of different herbs and tomatoes. In the summer, to get rid of all the tomatoes, I make a lot of salsa and it's nice to be able to grab all the salsa ingredients from your garden. Salsa with habeneros can get extremely hot so be careful. :-)
sedum37
18 years ago
mea2214 - yes I grow herbs too! They are so much better than at the farmer's market. Everyone should have a few herb plants -- think how much the stores/markets get for them!
boosiebutt
Original Author
18 years ago
sedum37 - Thanks for the tip! I ordered the book for an interlibrary loan. I stopped by the library to browse the other books, but I didn't check any out yet. There were a couple that were about container gardening/edibles, but I'm going to wait til the other book comes in so I have one due date!

I'm now thinking that I'm going to go with sweet peppers, tomatoes, and the scalloped squash, then maybe some chives.
sedum37
18 years ago
Good I am glad you were able to get the book! If you like it you may decide to buy one (or hint, hint ask for one as a gift).

Chives do excellent in containers. They are perennials for me in my zone 5 garden. I just put the chives container (plastic pot) behind a shed in late fall and they come back every year in the pot. Matter of fact on that one I haven't changed the soil in a while!
sapman
18 years ago
I found that book at Amazon.com. Sometimes you can get a good deal on used books.
boosiebutt
Original Author
18 years ago
Waiting to hear back from the library about getting the book in, I went onto Amazon and did the Look Inside This Book/Surprise Me! feature to get a few (dozen) peeks at what was in there. Now I'm thinking about stopping into Barnes and Noble to pick it up. It looks great, and I can't wait to get it!
betharoo2u
17 years ago
Thanks sedum37 for the tip about the book. I just bought it on Half.com (for only $10!) I am really looking forward to receiving it as I am pretty clueless and I would like to try another garden this year - one that will have better results than last years!

First time veggie container garden

Comments (11)

fliptx

sedum37

Related Discussions

boosiebutt
Original Author

sedum37

mea2214

sedum37

boosiebutt
Original Author

sedum37

sapman

boosiebutt
Original Author

betharoo2u

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

First time veggie container garden

Comments (11)

Related Discussions

boosiebuttOriginal Author

boosiebuttOriginal Author

boosiebuttOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

boosiebutt
Original Author

boosiebutt
Original Author

boosiebutt
Original Author