Useful Hints on Container Gardening
Posted on 08. Feb, 2010 by admin in Gardening Articles
Useful Hints on Container Gardening
1. Choosing suitable containers.
Many flowers and vegetables can be grown in containers successfully providing the chosen container is of adequate depth and size to accommodate the plants to be grown. Plastic containers (with drainage hole or holes are preferable as they dry out much less readily than ceramic, even more easily and do not fracture. Better quality containers simulate ceramic and are just as attractive in any garden patio or balcony situation.
A rough guide to aid your choice.
1. Cress can be grown in shallow soil 2 in. deep. Sprinkle liberally onto 1inch compost, press seeds down into compost with flat hand. Water well and keep moist. Place in plastic bag in warm conditions, remove bag when seeds germinate, keep damp and warm. Cut with scissors as required.
2. Lettuce, Radish. Spring onions, carrot and beetroot. Ideally bed type container needs to be 9 inches deep. Sow lettuce and radishes ,cover very thickly. Spring onions thinly in rows. Carrots and Beetroot thinly in rows. Thin out carrots as they grown. Thin out Beetroot and replant seedlings taken out to finish with plants 2 inches apart in rows 4 inches apart. Cover all small seeds except cress with ¼ inch fine compost on planting. Keep moist.
3. Runner Beans and Dwarf Peas (e.g. Early Onward) Sow in 12 inch deep trough containers. Beans along the length of the container in a row 5 – 6 inches apart and 2 inches deep. When plants are 2 – 3 inches tall put up a 6 ft.cane to each plant and secure against a wall or trellis, train plants up cane. Sow 2 or 3 spares.
Dwarf or French Beans. Sow singly in rows 6 inches apart and six inches between rows. Sow 1 ½ inches deep. Need no support. Please note Beans (both varieties) are grown smooth side uppermost, the little white seed downwards. Peas are sown in …………… containers, ideally broadways across the width, push in each one or cover over to a depth of 1 – 1 ½ inches. Restrain using sticks canes or strong briarwood twigs pushed down each side of the container.
4. Potatoes, leeks, Onions, Cabbage, Celeriac, Brussels (may need to support) Celery, Cauliflower, Curly Kale and Spinach, Potatoes are best grown in pots with adequate drainage, about 12 inch diameter and 20 inches deep. Place 1 well chatted potato onto 4 inches of compost, shoot uppermost, cover with 4 inches of compost and as shoots appear keep covering them with compost gradually, up to a depth of 18 inches.
Leeks (available as seedlings at your Garden Centre) sow in rows in 12 inch deep container 5 inches apart.
Onions (available as onion sets from your Garden Centre) sow in 12 inch deep containers in rows, plants and rows 6 inches apart.
Cabbage, Calabris, Brussels (Choose a dwarf variety) Cauliflower, Curly Kale and Spinach. All available at your Garden Centre ready to plant. Plant in 12 inch deep containers 12 inches apart (Cauliflowers about 14 to 16 inches apart)
5. Tomatoes, Ridge Cucumbers, Courgettes
For all tomatoes other than Bush Tomatoes use pots of ideally 8 – 10 inches, plant onto about 6 inches of compost and as the plants grow top up with more compost as each plant forms.
Bush Tomatoes can be successfully grown in 9 inch troughs, plant onto 5 inches of compost and top over two or three times as the plant grows.
Ridge Cucumbers and Courgettes require a bed type planter 9 inches deep; give each at least 24 inches of space.
Regrettably soil fertility decreases with crop size. Soil or compost needs changing every 2 or 3 years. Spent soil can be used to lighten outdoor flower beds or as a winter dressing for lawns and brushed well in.
Plants need Nitrogen (N) Phosphate (P.O.) Potash (K.O.) but in varying amounts. As a guide the following table shows the values of the fertilizers you will be offered:-
Nitrogen Phosphate Potash
Slow Release Pellets 14 13 13 )
Grow more 7 7 7 )
Chicken Pellets 4 2 1 ) shown
Hoof & Horn 13 – – ) on
Bone Meal 3.5 2.0 – ) pack
Blood Fish & Bone 3.5 8 -
Animal Manure 0.6 0.1 0.5
Garden Compost 0.5 0.3 0.8
A simple basic guide to maintain soil fertility is to use Growmore for all general purposes but do us this quite sparingly on Carrot, Radishes, Courgette and Ridge Cucumbers, Onions and Tomatoes, which all require less Nitrogen. For higher Nitrogen users such as Cabbage, Brussels, Cauliflower, Calabris, Beetroot, Celery etc and even late crop potatoes use slow release pellet fertilizer.
Start slowly with simple lettuce and radishes, sow seeds thinly and keep moist and you will have lettuce for yourself and friends. You will be amazed at the interest your children take in growing things.
Flowers
Grow in………………………….. planters for balcony or patio. All suitable flower plants will prosper in containers (obviously, very tall or perennial plants are not really suitable) and very often produce a better show than those in the open garden. Take your pick from your Garden Centre, plant closely enough to ensure total coverage, mix a little slow release fertilizer with the soil and you will have the show of a lifetime. Keep moist, guard against Slugs.
Small Shrubs & Miniature Fruit Trees need individual pots of a sensible size 12 – 14 inch diameter. Do not try to economise on pot size. If a plant becomes too large for its pot at an advanced stage it becomes very difficult to repot into a larger container without damage.