Give vegetable container gardening a try
May is right around the corner, and I am sure many of you are as anxious to get out in your gardens to plant this year’s vegetables and annual flowers as I am.
But many of you may not have the time or the space to plant large gardens, so you may give container gardening a try this year! Container gardening can limit the problems some people have with soil-borne insects and diseases and make pest management easier, because you have fewer plants to pay attention to. Container gardening is also a great way to introduce children to the wonderful world of homegrown vegetables.
Texas AM University has a great publication on vegetable container gardening that can be found at aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/publications/guides/E-545_vegetable_gardening_containers.pdf.
Almost any vegetable that will grow in your backyard garden also will do well as a container-grown plant. Vegetables that are ideally suited for growing in containers include tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, green onions, beans, lettuce, squash, radishes and most any herb. Other vining plants, like pole beans and cucumbers, may require a larger container and space on your patio or balcony to grow properly. There are many vegetable cultivars now that have been modified to do better under small container growth. Most of these vegetables will be called a “bush,” “patio,” or determinate variety, because they grow in a more compact manner.
Almost any type of container can be used for growing vegetable plants. For vegetable crops, like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, you will find that a 5-gallon container is the most suitable size. Smaller container sizes are appropriate for herbs, lettuce, and radish crops. Regardless of the type or size of container used, it must drain adequately for successful yields. Adding about 1 inch of coarse gravel in the bottom of the container will improve drainage. The drain holes work best when they are located along the side of the container, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the bottom.
Nearly all vegetable plants will grow better in full sunlight than in shade. However, leafy crops such as lettuce, cabbage, greens, spinach and parsley can tolerate more shade than root crops such as radishes, beets, turnips and onions. Fruit-bearing plants, such as cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and eggplant, need the most sun of all. One major advantage to gardening in containers is that you can place the vegetables in areas where they can receive the best possible growing conditions.
The greatest challenge of container vegetable growing is watering, since soil dries out faster in pots than in the ground. A larger volume of soil won’t dry out as fast, so choose the biggest pot you can. It’s fine to mix compatible plants in a single large pot.
Make certain that any container has holes so excess water can drain away from the soil. You want your plants to get about 1 1/2 inches of water a week, either by rain or by watering. To test whether your pot needs watering, place your index finger as far down as you can; if the soil feels dry all the way down, water the plant. If the soil still feels damp, let it go a day or two then test it again. Overwatering is the biggest problem with container gardening and growing any plants in pots.
The Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity institution.
Elysia Berry is the agriculture and natural resources educator in DeKalb County with the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service.
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