Container Gardening Ups and Downs

[staffeldt89]

This was my first attempt at container gardening this past summer. I definitely had my ups and down and learned alot. I started everything out in small containers and thought that I would be able to keep them in there because they were producing fine. With the heat of the summer, It lead to me having to constantly water the plants and it lead to sporadic watering problems which meant I had to repot almost everything into larger containers so it held water longer. I made a few videos about my summer gardening experiences --->

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzlwcMg_ieDbd1fEh-8WnJg

Did anyone else have the same problem with having to repot to larger containers? At the end, everything turned out great. I grew pepper, tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, lettuce, chard kale and more all in containers. I'd love to hear everyone else stories and give me some feedback!!

[imafan26]

I always repot vegetables into larger containers. They have to keep growing or they stunt and are not productive. I start with community pots and I transfer to 4 inch pots. From there they go into the final pots. Plants with large root systems like tomatoes go into 18 gallon containers. I can keep smaller peppers in 2-7 gallon pots. Lettuce did fine in a shallow tray and it is a fast crop. Cabbages, kales, and chard are big plants so they needed to go into at least a 5 gallon pot. I plant cucumbers, beans and peas on a trellis so I rarely put them in pots. Basil and most herbs are good in pots but grow bigger in the ground. Miniature or container tomatoes and cucumbers can go in smaller pots, but I get better flavor and production using larger pots and indeterminate tomatoes
Slow growing plants like bay leaves can stay in 6 inch pots for a very long time. The best way to tell if you need to pot up is to pull the plant out of the pot, if the roots are coming out of the drain holes or they are starting to circle the pot, it needs to go up.
https://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsh ... ainers.pdf

[Bobberman]

I plant a lot in containers even in 5 gallon buckets. In the buckets put a hole a inch or two from the bottom so some water stays in the bottom for the roots! I also add something light in the bottom 6 inches of heavy containers like Styrofoam or empth water bottles with cap on! Another trick is to put a small container like the bottom of a gallon milk carton in the bottom of a big pot to hold some water in the middle or have a tube from the top go directly to the container and water from the bottom!Works great just use your imagination!I also strain garden dirt for the bottom half of my container and add bought weedless soil for the top half! This gives life to the mix!

[imafan26]

I have used that trick of drilling the hole a couple of inches up in 5 gallon containers. It was one of my modified self watering pots at the Urban Garden. It did fairly well, but it was anaerobic at the bottom of the pot. At home, I cannot do that. I over water so I need pots to drain there with a well drained mix. The first thing I do with hanging baskets is ditch the saucer and I don't buy self killing planters or hanging baskets.

[albopepper]

Nice greenhouse!

I use my simplified method of building SIPs with 30 gallon totes. My peppers & kale love it. More planters are in the works for the upcoming season.