If there is one thing we can still do well, it is adapting. This last year was testament to that. New crafts, new ways of shopping, socializing, schooling, and working. Finding ways of bringing the OUTDOORS IN. Now that we are able to start reestablish our footing outdoors, we are looking for ways to bring our INDOOR hobbies with us. From simple kitchen herbs to, cherry tomatoes, container planting can create your small spaces into large yield potential. In this article, we will highlight the top basic veggies including; potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers, but always keep in mind that as you grow deeper into container planting, the sky is virtually the limit with wide open spaces for small territory locations.
Taking Root: Self Starters
What vegetables can I grow in a small garden?
Virtually any vegetable can grow in a small vegetable garden. Although you may want to stay clear of the autumn rooted large growth, melons, pumpkins, thick rind squashes, larger varieties of cucumbers…anything that requires ground creeping grow room. This should give you some freedom of choice when considering small vegetable garden ideas. You can grow potatoes in a bucket, pole beans in a boot, or snap peas in a window planter. Think of the endless resources around you….and have FUN.
How do I start a small vegetable garden?
- Start with the 5 “P”’s and grow from there.
- 1)Price: How much can you budget for, considering any small tools, fertilizers, and soil you may also need.
- 2)Place: Where are you planting? In a backyard lot or a on a patio stoop?
- 3)Pot: Going the container way? Pick and choose your vessels to suit your needs.
- 4)Plot: Do you have spare room to leave for maintenance? You want to have freedom of access for weeding, feeding, and picking.
- 5) Plant: Are you adventurous with the thought of this endeavor or are you just going to start off with what you KNOW you enjoy. Not everyone loves those lima beans…..ahem…and following along with how to start a small vegetable garden for beginners isn’t going to change your palette.
How do you layout a small vegetable garden?
I normally begin with a little trick I call “seed reading”. The first thing involved with that is finding my eyeglasses that magnify the size of type on the back of seed envelopes or on the info tag of seedlings. Then, I take note of the recommended space guidelines and normally add an additional 4 inches for container planting and up to a foot for plot in ground row by row style. Then, on your driveway or yard or living/dining room, tape or chalk out the area perimeter and get an idea of HOW much room you’re talking about. Don’t forget, vegetables need to be kept under sun for 6 to 8 hours a day, be within easy access to water and still be within your eyesight. Your region may also be prone to marauding midnight nibblers like rabbits, raccoons, deer, skunks etc. so add that to your budget AND layout schematic…fencing wire or something similar that won’t offend any neighbors either. After all, good fences do make good neighbors. Once your outline is before you, and before you sit down to grow potatoes in a container, add in where you will be planting each crop and then either take photos or sketch this out in a journal to refer to off and on. Your own almanac. I also suggest keeping the seed packet as well.
Self Contained Rhyme Time: What’s hot in the pot.
Yes, growing vegetables in containers, growing vegetables in pots, or choosing the best vegetables to grow in pots might seem to be a waste of time and effort for very little yield, but such is NOT the case with container gardening vegetables at all. One saving idea behind growing vegetables in containers is with mobility and maintenance you literally can be planting year round….from the coldest clutches of snow depth northern locales to arid, scorching drought weary badlands. Being able to keep seeds sprouting all year round is a treat and knowing the ins and outs of how to grow cucumbers in a pot will $ave you $uper bucks.
**you can always keep a fresh supply of germinated re plants on hand to replenish by self- germinating seeds between damp paper toweling and then transferring into seed pots. This takes all of 7 to 14 days approx.** Your container vegetable garden is more than how to grow potatoes in a bucket; it is a grow case to ease stress on the wallet, body, and mind and the first steps back to a healthy life from all angles, including those upside-down tomatoes.
What are the easiest vegetables to grow in pots?
The best productive veggies that suit patio or container planting are tomatoes, climbing beans, lettuce, radishes, peppers, peas, carrots, cucumbers, and potatoes.
How deep should planting containers be?
From 6 inches for smaller, bushier veggies like radishes and lettuces to 14 to 16 inches for tomatoes, carrots, and potatoes. Options for how to grow potatoes in a container or growing tomatoes in a pot now include bag container kits sold everywhere where plants and seeds are available.
How many potatoes can I plant in a pot?
These terrific tubers can yield one dozen spuds from one seed potato, drop in on top of at least 6 inches of composted soil, cover with another 6 inches and water. Re top the soil as the plant sprouts and continue to do so. This “hilling” will promote more growth. Make sure the container has drainage from the bottom. A good patio harvest can bring you 100 pounds of potatoes if you use a 50-gallon plastic trash barrel and replant a second crop after the first cycle is done. (after 80 days or so)
How long do potatoes take to grow in pots?
Choosing to grow potatoes in a container is super economical and can produce pounds within 75 to 80 days…and still leave time for a second outdoor crop. Move it indoors and you can have your fill year-round.
What Grows Up…can grow down.
A hanging vegetable garden might be the perfect addition to your deck, patio, backyard, or front stoop trellis and can be created out of a variety of materials. Repurposing your time, budget and your own home/shed or garage, things like wood pallets, ladders, bookshelves, coatracks, old sports equipment. When touched up with a few imaginative finishing touches, you can be on your way to a hanging vegetable garden of your dreams, full of upside-down tomatoes, where envious neighbors will be left to wonder how to grow cucumbers vertically with such aplomb and success. That being said:
How do you build a vertical vegetable garden?
Your vertical vegetable garden should fit the intended environment as it will be the centerpiece showcase. So while that old barn door may be exactly what you want to ensconce with an upside-down tomato planter and cascades of lush green long beans and tender-crisp, sweet peas, make sure the door is in decent enough shape to withstand the weight. One gusty wind, for example, and that barndoor maybe whisked off to Oz. A vertical vegetable garden should be within handy watering reach, secured in a sunny spot and be able to either have the proper depth of soil within it or procured in other planting vessels on it. My own adventures in vertical vertigo started off with a humble dollar store over the door shoe organizer and sprouted from there.
What vegetables grow well in a vertical garden?
A good way to remember this is by saying, “anything on a vine will grow up and down just fine”. Tomatoes, cucumbers, pole beans, peas, summer squashes like zucchini, pattypan, yellow and crookneck, peppers, and just for fun, don’t forget accompanying herbs and super sweet strawberries for an after dinner or anytime snack.
From the simple indoor potted violet or ivy to a few snippets of a basic indoor herb garden, we can expand into VEGETABLES and grow BIG in SMALL outdoor spaces. Perfect for urban neighborhoods. What crops can be grown vertically or what non-grow spaces in your back yard can add landscaped curb appeal and container, small plot or hanging vertical vegetable gardens are neuveau questions that yield the new way to sow away the blues as you show of your green thumb prowess.