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Container Gardening

Question about the "gritty mix" (veggies or just trees?)

swiss_chard_fanatic

8 years ago

I've never seen anything like that...it seems counter-intuitive that a plant can grow in rocks. This brings up some questions...is the gritty mix just for micro trees, or can vegetables be grown in it too? Perhaps carrots? I don't think delicate chard roots would appreciate the heavy weight of the rocks...am I wrong?

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Nil13 usda:10a sunset:21 LA,CA (Mount Wash.)

8 years ago

I think I would skip carrots though.

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Comments (7)

Nil13 usda:10a sunset:21 LA,CA (Mount Wash.)
8 years ago
Well here's a picture of lettuce growing in gravel.
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In very small containers with small drainage holes it is very easy to overload the drainage hole and basically fill up the pot with water. When youdo this, you can get perlite or dry bark floating pretty easily. If the pot has gritty, the water should just pour out the bottom after you stop watering and drain the pot. It's only a problem if you get a lot of rain. I don't mind this so much as the tiny pots get really dry and flooding them helps wet the medium. 0 The paper towel is a bad idea. You most likely don't even need screen with small drainage holes especially once the roots fill in.
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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
8 years ago
Chard would do well in the gritty mix, but I don't plant anything in it that isn't going to go more than a single growth cycle in the same soil. Too many deformities in carrots with the gritty mix .....

Al
swiss_chard_fanatic
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Nil, is that lettuce that you are growing? I wonder how to get that set up. Is it just gravel or gravel with other ingredients? And what about prepping the dirt under the gravel? How frequently would that setup need fertilizing?

Also, why do some folks put down cardboard under their raised beds?

Tapla, i guess carrots are out for gritty mix. Why wouldnt you reuse gritty mix? Dont you just bleach, rinse and reuse? Its rocks so i would expect them to be reusable. I detect a catch coming...
Nil13 usda:10a sunset:21 LA,CA (Mount Wash.)
8 years ago
No, that is not my lettuce. If I had to guess, that particular setup looks like a trench dug in the ground, lined with plastic, and drained to a collection point for re-circulation. It's probably just gravel for cost. It would have a re-circulating nutrient solution for constant access to nutrients. It could easily be used as a 'to waste' (doesn't re-circulate) setup with the addition of calcined clay or diatomaceous earth to maintain moisture. You would still pretty much constantly fertigate at a low concentration though. And I think you would want to collect or divert the runoff for other landscape uses.

Yes, you can reuse the gritty mix, but there will be a lot of organic matter from roots in there that you'll want to get rid of. It's just generally a lot easier to make up new media for annuals. The organic bark based medium doesn't break down that much in a year and you can just toss it in the compost at the end of the season. Now if you live where materials are hard to come by or in a 12 story walk up, cleaning media might be easier.
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
No catch. You can let it go completely dry, then pour it in a tub of water and skim off what floats. After it dries, screen what remains over insect screen & you're golden. I'd rather start fresh, but you can sure save-a-buck by using the method I described.

Al
jane__ny
8 years ago
Where do you live? What zone? Very important information.

Jane

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