Container Gardening

Container Gardening is not as hard as it looks

When it comes to fresh and local — what’s better than your own back porch or window sill?

For those of us who live in the city, in an apartment or a condo, with very limited outdoor space it has always been difficult to grow vegetables. But small space gardening is possible and well worth the effort, so you can eat healthier and tastier veggies without spending a bundle at the supermarket.

Container Gardening is a great way to fill up those small outdoor spaces

If you have a small patio or a balcony or even a small patch of yard, you can do container gardening. Growing vegetables need 6 hours or more of sunlight, sufficient watering and good drainage so keep this in mind when planning your container garden. It’s always best to start small, and you could start with some herbs, tomato plants, and peppers. 

Container Gardening: What you need to get started

  1. Containers or Flower Boxes – Different plants require different sizes of containers. Smaller containers (gallon jugs) such can be used to grow herbs, lettuce, spinach, peppers, green onions, dwarf tomatoes, etc. You can use larger containers (10 gallons or more) to grow cabbage, larger tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, etc.  
  2. Soil - It is a good idea to use a good potting soil mix (available at your local hardware store) to use in your containers.  One thing to keep in mind is that garden soil may not drain well in most containers, so make sure your containers have holes at the bottom for excess water to drain out.  If you compost, you will have ready- made organic fertilizer to use, otherwise you can buy pre-packaged compost.
  3. Seeds – Refer to your seed packet or starter plant instructions for more information, or simply ask us. Typically you want 4 to 6 weeks to prepare tomato plants for the ideal planting time, which is 2 weeks from the latest frost (which in Boston is May 3rd, so you can start planting in mid-May).
  4. Water – What is ‘good’ gardening water? Rain water is perfect for just about all plants. It is salt-free and often mildly acidic; just to a plant’s liking – hence the popularity of rain water collection. Another great source of water for your plants is to recycle water from your dehumidifier. If you must use tap water, let it sit in gallon jugs for a day or two to let the extra chlorine will dissipate.

 Window Sill Gardening: Nature on a window sill

 If you do not have a patio or a balcony to do container gardening, you can still grow organic veggies on your window sill. Same principles apply, although your options in the kind of vegetables you can grow will be limited to smaller plants. Still, you should be able to grow salad greens and some tomatoes. With a Flower Box and some brackets you can be gardening before you know it.

 Container Gardening: Just Keep it simple

If this is your first time trying container gardening, keep it simple, some produce can be more temperamental than others to grow and you want it to be easy and fun. A great benefit of container gardening is the ability to move the containers around to maximize sunlight if your primary location does not get enough.

In terms of life’s simple pleasures, there’s little that compares to making a salad with fresh vegetables that you’ve grown on your own.  

For more information about Container Gardening, please contact us today.

Tagged with: • • • • • •

Filed under: Gardening

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!