HelpfulGardener.com

I am growing everything in pots as I rent and can't dig into the yard or build raised beds.

I have a bunch large blue ceramic pots that I buy from Lowe's. I have recently purchased a couple of the next size down and am wondering if I can use them for peppers or if they are too small for that?

I have a dozen of these large pots but need more to plant everything I want to grow. This size is about $55 plus tax.




The next size down that I am wondering about. I have 2 of these and think they are perfect for lettuce and herbs but if I can do peppers in them that would save me some money. I need another 4-6 pots so that adds up fast. These are about $35 plus tax.

Need to know what variety peppers?

Those are pretty expensive pots for something that will likely be temporary. There are very large and inexpensive pots at places like Grocery Outlet and Dollar Tree. They're plastic, but they last a few seasons.

applestar wrote: ↑

Fri May 22, 2020 12:13 am

Need to know what variety peppers?

Golden California Wonder (Yellow Bells)
Early Jalapeno
Cayenne

If I get lucky and pick the correct volunteer plants I could have Habaneros and I suppose an Orange Thai. I was out of Hab seeds this year and didn't want to give up the real estate for the Orange Thais again. I didn't use many of the OTs last season anyway because they were covered with those bugs from my other thread.

aaardvark wrote: ↑

Fri May 22, 2020 1:09 am

Those are pretty expensive pots for something that will likely be temporary. There are very large and inexpensive pots at places like Grocery Outlet and Dollar Tree. They're plastic, but they last a few seasons.

I left a bad relationship and moved down to TN to start over about 3 years ago. I left her all the pots and dirt that we had so I am starting over and applying some of the lessons I learned along the way. For glazed ceramic, they are much cheaper than the same size equivalent from a nursery. I like the glazed stuff as it keeps moisture in longer than terracotta that can dry out quickly, especially if they are small. I take care of my things and will try to keep these forever. I covered them over the winter to minimize my risk of freeze cracking. When I started this hobby 10 years ago I primarily used whiskey barrel halves but they eventually all began to rot and rust away. I paid ~$50 for those before I knew that I could find them elsewhere for about $30-$35. I am trying to grow as close to my own idea of organic as possible and have avoided the plastic pots this round for that reason. For flowers that would be fine but I don't want that in my food.

Any idea on the volume they hold? My peppers grow well in containers that are just shy of 5 gal.

I'm a little out of practice on my geometry, but I could figure it out if we had the diameter of the bottom.

Peppers will be fine in all of them, the top one you can get two jalapenos if planted a few inches from each side of the pot.

I got 3 jalapenos in this pot that I believe is 20 or 22"



I would probably stick to one pepper in each pot and you probably know this already but you'll have to keep up on watering and fertilizing.

For lettuce and herbs here is another type of planter that works well

Something about this size is perfect because you can also us it for peppers and other plants.