Vegetables in containers.

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Vegetables in containers.
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snowball
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 6246
Location: swindon

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 05 8:27 am Post subject: Vegetables in containers.
I'm planning to grow a lot of my salad veg in large containers this year. It has worked quite well in the past with radish, beetroot, spring onions, lettuce etc. But, what about root veg? How well can they grow in pots (very big ones)? Any suggestions please.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45668
Location: Essex

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 05 8:29 am Post subject:
Short rooted carrots, and radishes will do well, I think they do mini beetroots as well nowadays and mini leeks are handy too

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 05 8:34 am Post subject:

At Wisley they have grown all sorts of veg in large containers and I'm planning to grow salad this year in a large tub about the size of a large barrel end (Wickes builders trug, only about �5

). If there are any slug problems I'll run a ring of copper tape round the lip.

They have grown leeks & chillies in the tub and there may be details in an issue of 'The Garden' I could dig up if you're interested.

As Tahir says beetroots would be good, especially as I think you can eat the leaves. If the tub is deep enough and filled with good soil I'd emagine normal carrots would grow well as 'show carrots' are often grown in long pots.

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28233
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 05 8:45 am Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

(Wickes builders trug, only about �5

)

Will have a look in Wickes today, containers is definatley the easy answer round here, as the soil is stoney rubbish.

jema

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 05 8:49 am Post subject:

jema wrote:

Treacodactyl wrote:

(Wickes builders trug, only about �5

)

Will have a look in Wickes today, containers is definatley the easy answer round here, as the soil is stoney rubbish.

jema

I'm never too sure of which plastic is suitable for growing and which maybe harmful. I have used a Whickes tub for more than 5 years as a patio pond and there's plenty of life in it so I don't think it can be bad.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 05 11:33 am Post subject:

I've grown spring onions, carrots, tomatoes, runner beans, salads and herbs happily containers on the patio - so it's got to be fairly fool proof. The carrots were most successful - I just shoved them in a tomato pot - obvioulsly they were baby carrots, and there weren't very many, but I plan to expand this year by growing all my salads, baby carrots, baby beetroot, tomatoes, chillis and aubergines in polystyrene meat boxes (you can get them from fishmarkets and restaurants too!) I've made woodend boxes out of old pallets (look nice stained or when they weather a bit) and have covered cardboard and polystyrene boxes with hyperturfa, so they look like stone troughs (I won't do this again as hyperturfa has peat in - I didn't know any better then - I suppose you could use coir instead) I've heard you can get wine cases from threshers and the like for a donation to their charity box, so I plan to try that as well, as I think they look pretty. Don't forget hangin baskets for strawberries and tomatoes - keeps the slugs off! You do need to water every day though, so one of those bigg drippa things might be a good idea to save time/backache

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 05 6:17 pm Post subject:

I've grown small carrots and radishes in containers with great success. I've also grown Hamburg roted parsley in a container, which worked but I found the vegetable uninspiring.

The pots for smaller carrots and the like don't have to be all that big, and oyu can grow spring onions in very little soil.

I can't think of any other root vegetables I've grown in pots, but with salad vagetables there's a VAST number of things you can do in pots.

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28233
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 05 7:16 pm Post subject:
Aside from the plants what goes into your pots? A bit of a newbie question I know jema

Deedee

Joined: 10 Jan 2005
Posts: 250
Location: Surrey

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 05 8:22 pm Post subject:
I actually had a better success with growing my courgettes in buckets last year than I normally get growing them in the ground.Just used the size pot I'd usually use for tomatoes

nettie

Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 5888
Location: Suffolk

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 05 9:20 pm Post subject:

jema wrote:

Aside from the plants what goes into your pots? A bit of a newbie question I know

jema

Round my way loads of ######## in the bottom to stop the blimmin' things blowing away!

snowball
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 6246
Location: swindon

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 05 10:32 pm Post subject:

Quote:

Round my way loads of ######## in the bottom to stop the blimmin' things blowing away!
That/s useful, because we've got half a bathroom to get rid of somewhere

alison
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Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 05 10:33 pm Post subject:
Nettie, I hate your computer!!! I can never work out what the banned words are. Too nieve.

nettie

Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 5888
Location: Suffolk

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 05 10:59 pm Post subject:
h-a-r-d-c-o-r-e!!!!!

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 05 6:24 am Post subject:
I couldn't work out that for a month of Sundays.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 05 9:13 am Post subject:

jema wrote:

Aside from the plants what goes into your pots? A bit of a newbie question I know

jema

I use mostly peat-free growbag compost with some well rotted household compost added. Seems to work well. Once its been used it gets thrown onto the vegetable patch in the garden for overwintering, with extra household compost flung on when its ready. Then the worms do their business on it.

You can also mix in compost and soil (as long as the soil ain't bad); that'll work fine too. If I used really, really big pots that's what I'd do, rather than paying for all that compost. Just make sure that the mixture is neither cloyingly water-logged or prone to drying out too much.

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