How and when to fertilize container-grown vegetables?

[BabyGartner]

I am very new to gardening and this is my first attempt. I planted seedlings in peat pots in mid-March and after the seeds sprouted and were slightly hardened out I transplanted them (early May) to 1 gallon pots. I did have a problem with the peat pots and thought the roots wouldn't grow through them so I actually got rid of the surrounding peat pot and transplanted each plant into their new soil and container without the peat pot. 4 weeks later nearly every single plant is flourishing!

Trouble now...
I want to keep my babies growing but don't want to neglect feeding them nor do I want to overfeed. I used some Blood Meal to mix in with the soil when I transplanted the seedlings 4 weeks ago. The package says the feed lasts up to 3 months... Should I feed more or less often? Which plants need which fertilizer? Anyone have any advice? Tips? THANKS!

Plants include:
Beans
Carrotts
Zucchini
Various herbs (oregano, parsley, cilantro and basil)
Tomato
Roma Tomato
Peppers

[rainbowgardener]

Personally I really don't do a whole lot of fertilizing after everything is settled in. The herbs especially don't want it, they are used to growing in poor soil. The tomatoes and peppers would be the heaviest feeders in there. But even for them, after the soil is thoroughly warmed up, I pull all the weeds, put a top dressing of compost down and then a layer of mulch and then I pretty much leave everything alone and it does well. It's one of those things about whether you are setting out to break records or whether you want an ordinary productive garden. The top dressing of compost and the mulch will gradually break down and keep feeding the plants. And my soil is pretty rich from years of adding compost and mulch...

Incidentally you were right to get rid of the peat pots; they are plant killers!

[Kisal]

Oops! Sorry! No message.

[rainbowgardener]

I looked at this again and realized I hadn't really paid attention to the container grown in the subject line. When I talked about not fertilizing after I lay down top dressing and mulch, that is for things in the ground. Containers are a little different... they have to be watered so much more and that flushes nutrients out. So they will need fertilizing of some sort. I'm not used to growing all those veggies in containers.

[Kisal]

I grow tomatoes in containers. Tomatoes are heavy feeders, and also need quite a lot of water. I use a fast-draining potting mix, rather than something like soil from the garden. Make sure your container is large enough to accommodate the size of the root system for the plant in question. I never plant veggies in containers smaller than 14" in diameter. For plants such as tomatoes, I look for about that depth, as well.

With the exception of the carrots and herbs, all of the plants on your list must produce flowers in order to bear fruit. For those plants, I prefer to use a fertilizer that is designed for flowering plants. (Make sure the label lists it as appropriate for vegetables.) I mix a small amount of slow-release fertilizer into the soil when I pot up the plant. After that, I apply a liquid fertilizer mixed half-strength 2 to 3 times a week, depending on how rapidly the plant growing. Also, if the weather is hot, and I'm watering every morning, I apply the half-strength fertilizer mix about every 3rd day. I usually water the plant with plain water, until water begins to drain out the bottom of the container. Then, I go back an hour or two later and water with the fertilizer mixture. When I give the fertilizer mixture, I don't apply so much that it runs out the bottom of the container. (Just a note, I don't have access to compost, so I have no experience using it with container-grown veggies.)

I think peppers require much the same care as tomatoes.

This link has what I consider to be good information about container sizes:

https://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1647.html

[BabyGartner]

Thanks for the very helpful tips! I ran over to my garden center and picked up some plant fertilizer and larger pots and am following the tips.

Update on the potted vegetable garden.

I bought 6 14" deep tomato bags. While they aren't 20" deep they are made for tomatoes and are much more roomy than the pots I'm currently using (1 gallon pots with approx. an 8" diameter). I'm going to transplant my 4 tomato plants into those. As for my zucchini that are also in the small 1 gal. pots, I bought these huge 20 gal. barrels and plan to transplant each zucchini plant into those. I know 20 gal. is probably a bit overkill but the price was right and the diameter is more than sufficient. I can't help but worry about my little zucchini plants. Their stems have gone from sticking straight up to completely horizontal on the soil. I'm assuming this is fine as they are a viney plant, but I want to transplant them to the larger 20 gal. pots so they have more soil to lie on. Right now with 8" worth of lying space I'm worried I'm stunting their growth as they tend to hang out in mid air. I feel they need some support.

My beans are growing wildly and I think they need some support like a round tomato cage to climb up in. I have those in the 1 gal. pots and I'm thinking they'll be ok in there once I get the cages for them to climb in.

Recommendations? I will have 6 tomato bags that are 14" deep and I'm going to use 4 of them for the tomatoes. Any recommendations as to what to do with the other 2? I have 3 bean plants in 1 gal. pots and 2 peppers in 1 gal. pots. Are those safe in their pots or should some be transplanted to the 2 larger bags I have?

Thanks so much! I just don't want to kill my babies. I'm so proud of their growth and don't want to stunt them. Any suggestions are helpful. And thanks again to everyone who helped with my previous post. BIG help!