Container Gardening

Hello in this instructable I will give you a few tips on how you can make a successful container vegetable garden. Many people do not have the space to have a traditional garden. But might have a patio or porch which will work perfectly for a Container Garden. Container Gardens are easy to make, easy to upkeep, and can be as fun and as rewarding as a traditional backyard garden. Plus, you rarely have weeds to pull! I hope you enjoy this instructable, now get out there and make a garden. :) Follow the easy steps below or watch the short video tutorial or better yet do both. :) If you have any questions or comments put them down below and I will get back to you as soon as I can!

Tools/Items List:

• Containers
• Spade
• Seeds
• Water
• Drill

There are plenty of vegetables and fruits you can grow in containers. Some popular choices are Potatoes (In 5 Gallon Buckets or other large containers), Herbs, radishes, onions, lettuce, carrots, strawberries, tomatoes, etc.

It is important to note, you need to pick the right vegetable or fruit, for the right season, and for the area in which you live in. When you are at the Hardware store, or whatever store where they sell garden supplies and seeds, on the back of the seed packet it will give you the growing seasons and zones for that particular plant/vegetable. Here in Arizona in my little container garden, I have been successful growing potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, lettuce, green onions, yellow onions, Kale, and cantaloupe.

You really need to pick the right size container for your plants. You wouldn't want to try and plant corn in a small container. My tomatoes in the picture here, are in too small of a container, the wind would always blow them over, in the Arizona heat it was really hard to keep the water moist, either they dried out quickly or I over watered them. Switching to a larger container 3 Gallon plus solved that problem. Herbs don't need a very deep container, and can even be grown on your window sill indoors. The bigger the plant, the bigger the container. Pretty simple. :) Root veggies like carrots also need a lot of room to grow down, so even though the tops may not get that big, they will need a larger deeper container to thrive. Potatoes do very well in large 5 gallon buckets.

Also you need to have the right placement of the container. Plants like sunlight! Most varieties typically grow better with 6 plus hours of sunlight.

To keep things on the cheaper side, buy containers that aren't necessarily growing containers, then add your own holes to the bottom and create your own growing containers. 5 Gallon Home Depot buckets for great for this. You need to drill holes in the bottom if the container doesn't already have holes, because you need to have proper drainage.

Use a good potting mix. Container gardens need more nutrient high mixes, because they are confined to a small amount of dirt. In a backyard, there is lots of room for the roots to roam and to find nutrients.

Make sure to plant your seeds by following the recommendations on the back of the package. With some exceptions, if you were planting cucumbers for instance in a 5 gallon bucket, you won't make a mound, or rows, which is what your traditionally might do in a backyard. Again pick the right seeds for the right season, and right zone for where you live. Otherwise you might need to get more creative if you want to grow a particular type of fruit/vegetable not normally grown during the season or location. Greenhouses, Hydroponics, etc, are different solutions for this.

One thing container gardens need is lots of water. The water drains out easy and the plants soak up the water more quickly then when planted in the ground. For instance here in AZ, in my container garden, I might water the garden every day in the summer, but if it was planted in the ground, maybe every other day. And that same plant being grown in lets say Northern California or Oregon, in the same container, same type of potting mix, might only need to be watered every 3 days in the container, and every 5 or 6 days when in the ground. But bottom line, is you need to water the container plants more then the backyard ones.

Just a nice summary of the tips.

Get to it and grow something!