Container Gardening
 

For those that have been doing it for a while... any insights to share?

I have planted direct and in raised beds for easier maintenance, but have only used containers to start plants.

I use Happy Frog potting soil. My container tomatoes outdid themselves this year

I think despite the rain, it was a good tomato year. I got a few cukes and peppers but other than that, I was disappointed.

I put some of my stuff in containers and some in the ground and don't do too much different with either. I do think the containers need less weeding even though we have a tarp type ground cover with holes for the veggies.

At home I have 2 x 8 PT painted frames. Easier than digging up all the roots underneath. Some would attach hardware cloth underneath for critter protection. I use equal parts of peat moss, Vermiculite and compost for soil. No weeds, no rocks, easy to work. Compost for residents here is free from the DPW Compost facility. 100% sanitary. At camp, we use flower boxes and large pots for annuals, herbs and tomatoes. All on a deck that is about 32 inches elevated for easy stand up work. When we leave, everything gets pushed back a couple of feet to prevent deer feasting. Hummingbirds love Salvia and red Impatience and a nearby feeder. Commercial bagged soil from garden center comes out by boat. Not much good natural soil on the island, and it is very acidic.

I've done the raised beds. Starting with decent manure and peat moss for drainage and body. But I have never tried actually growing just in a container for the entire season. Probably a little too worried about the plant becoming root bound. But those plants can't be moved from the weather.

The reason that I discovered the shorter stalk corn is a bad season of wind damage and a co-worker at HD. Before that all corn to me was the field corn that I grew up with growing 8-10 feet tall. But on dairy farms... that is what you want. The corn we humans consumed was only an afterthought and a small percentage relative to the acres grown.

The raised beds were largely the result of getting large bell ends from culverts that got installed and had them cut away. They were three feet across and the black corrugated plastic allowed the soil to warm more quickly in the early season.
I used beef steak with basil at the base. Cucumbers with dill. Bell peppers and oregano. But I am not sure if that would be easy to do with a container unless it was pretty large.

What varieties of tomatoes have you had that grow well? Peppers? Should I look for a short maturation?

I've been growing vegetables in Home Depot buckets for a few years (only two of us, so yield is fine). Use store-bought potting soil and buy tomatoes and peppers that are already 6" or so tall. Start cucumbers and green beans and other veggies from seed. Have had good luck.

I drilled around 6 - 1/2" holes in bottom of buckets and put a piece of landscape fabric in the bottom with some crushed stone for drainage. Also put around 1-2 inches of mulch on top to retain moisture.

All buckets are up on a bench to keep animals away, but I caught deer snacking on the tomatoes last year. I hang the buckets with the cucumbers up around 7 feet off the ground so they grow hanging down.

I would add a pic, but totally clueless as to how.

I have had great success with tomatoes in small barrels. They have a center hole, which is great for inserting a strong cylindrical stake. You can always add stakes against the outside edge and tie across.

Definitely look for shorter “days to harvest.” They may not be as big, but you’ll have a lot more of them and earlier, too.

If you start them, yourself, in mid-March, you’ll have big, sturdy plants by the end of May to plant out. They will likely need 2 upgrades in pot size by then, along with narrow stakes.

It’s always a debate on vine ripening, but scientifically, they don’t need it once they show color and will continue to charge along unassisted once removed from the plant. This increases the yield enormously.

You can freeze them whole without any processing.

Apologies if you know all this already. . .

Mac

A lot of good information, Mac. Your barrel idea is very interesting.

A lot of useful information, that I didn't either know... or maybe even forgot.

Really sparking some interesting ideas.

I can make the cottage garden more productive and not really change the feel of it with these.

The barrels - ours (Lavalleys) are a resin plastic - and I think would be wide enough at the top for the garlic I hope to plant in a few weeks.

The pail idea... the hanging and transport possibilities I didn't even think of.

And moving the flower pots back to protect from deer is a great idea also.
I can use the deck rails with more sunlight to get better growth and set up a means to move them back against the wall with the deep overhang to protect against predator and weather.

Obviously the people that used the strong smelling repellent this year probably noticed what our customers complained about... the excess rain seemed to wash it away much more quickly requiring more applications for it to be effective. I hate deer netting as it changes the feel of the garden.

Deer?
 

You can keep deer away by laying down chicken wire. They won't walk on it. Stake it down with "U" wires and you can walk on it or drive the mower over it.

Interesting.

I'd like to try that idea. I'm used to the rigid black deer fence that you can see right through, but it's a process and expense to install.

The fluffy netting has never worked well for me, as the deer inevitably get caught in it and bring it all down. Plus, you can really see it.

Mac