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Why Container Gardening?

• Fun way to grow edible crops in just about any situation. • Easy to get started. • Cure “brown thumb.” • Availability of edible containers of herbs and salad greens near the kitchen. Vegetable Container Gardening

Tracy E. Ore, Ph.D., St. Cloud State University

Growing Advantages Growing Advantages

• Perfect for everybody - kids, people with • Temporary or permanent containers can physical limitations, novice gardeners, a be fitted in any location. gardener wanting to downsize and save • Locate containers where they are most time convenient. • No digging or tilling • Better control over growing conditions • Weed free (mostly) water, sunlight and nutrients. • Inexpensive to start up • Overcome typical garden complaints: - too shady for tomatoes - poor quality soil - persistent soil-borne disease

Growing Advantages Why Grow Organic?

• Easier to protect plants from • Improves the soil over time through the extreme weather conditions, insect pests addition of organic material. and bigger critters • Biological and genetic diversity to help • Vertical growth saves space and allows with disease and insect problems. space of exterior walls • Start earlier in the spring and extend • Reduces your exposure to chemical growing season into fall pesticides. • Ideas: use recycled containers, make your own compost, plant flowers to attract beneficial pollinators.

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What you will need… Location

• A little bit of room—patio, deck, steps, etc. • Containers can be placed on any level surface - decks, balconies, along • Sunlight (at least 6 hours) driveways, side walks, hanging baskets • Containers (that drain!) and window boxes. • Growing medium • 6-8 hrs sun for warm season crops • Access to water - some containers will • Water need water every day. • Nutrients • The water that drains from containers can • Attention and care stain concrete and wood decking. • A 20-inch container filled with moist growing medium can weigh 100 pounds!

About Containers

• All containers should have holes or slats in the bottom to allow water to drain out. • Dark colors will create higher soil Containers come in all shapes and sizes… temperatures that could injure young tender roots and prevent the full development of a plant’s root system. • Containers made from porous materials (clay, ceramic, concrete, and wood) will dry out more quickly than containers made from plastic, or metal.

Getting the “dirt” Why not to use garden soil…

• Select light and fluffy growing media for • It is very compact, which can hold water good aeration and root growth. and nutrients very well, but can drown • Add last season’s growing media to your roots growing in a container. garden, but not in your containers. It • Diseases and weed seeds can be a could be re-used for containers but problem. nutrients will be depleted and particle size and pore spaces decreased.

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Using Commercial “soil-less” Mixes Most people use synthetic soil. • Lightweight, drains well, holds water and nutrients, and are generally free of weeds, insects, and diseases. • May include sphagnum peat moss, perlite, vermiculite, compost, coir, and small amounts of lime and fertilizer. • Organic soil-less mixes contain no chemical wetting agents and substitute organic for chemical fertilizers. Lightweight; holds water and air; ideal for plant growth. • Examples of soil-less mixes are: ProMix™, ReddiEarth™, Jiffy Mix™, and Sunshine Mix™

About Compost About Compost

• Compost is the dark, crumbly, earthy- • Compost contains all the major and smelling product of organic matter minor nutrients that plants need for good decomposition. growth. This makes it an excellent • Leaves, grass clippings, wood waste, and substitute for sphagnum peat moss, farm animal manures are some of the which has very few nutrients (although it common ingredients that are combined does hold water better than compost). with water in piles or windrows and • Composting effectively recycles the digested by huge populations of oxygen nutrients from gardens, landscapes, and loving microorganisms. farms, thereby reducing nutrient pollution of waterways.

Creating the Right Mix Water

• Some good media mixtures for container • The limited volume of growing medium vegetables are: available to container vegetable plants • 100% compost makes it critical to keep the root system • 100% soil-less mix moist at all times. • 25% garden soil + 75% compost • Watering needs will vary depending on • 25% soil-less mix + 25% garden soil + 50% compost container size, ambient temperature, • 25% garden soil + 75% soil-less mix wind, sunlight, and humidity. • 50% soil-less mix + 50% compost

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Make sure those roots are Water happy!

• Count on watering most container • Eating quality and yield are greatly vegetable plants daily during the reduced by wilting from a lack of water. summer months. The growing media • Drought stress will kill feeder roots and should always be moist, but not soggy. slow plants down. • Use a watering can or nozzle on the end • Small containers dry out more quickly of a hose that produces a soft stream of than large containers. water. Be careful not to use hot water! It • Use a saucer to catch excess water. can burn leaves and young roots.

Make sure those roots are Feed your plants happy!

• Large, mature plants need more water • Regardless of the growing medium used than seedlings and young plants. you will need to fertilize plants regularly. • Nitrogen, required in large quantities by • Micro-irrigation with soaker hoses and vegetables, is easily lost in the water that drip emitters is efficient, convenient, and drains from the bottom of your relatively inexpensive. Consider a containers. combination of drip emitters plus timer for automatic watering.

Feed your plants… Feed your plants

• How much and how often to fertilize • Liquid sea kelp and fish fertilizer, and depends on many factors: type of compost tea are excellent organic fertilizer, plant needs, type of container, fertilizers that are mixed with water and etc. poured around plants. • Even “quick” crops like leaf lettuce or • Examples of dry organic fertilizers: that mature in 35-45 days may need to be Blood meal, composted chicken manure, fertilized several times. nitrate of soda, cottonseed meal, alfalfa • Long-season crops like tomato, meal, worm castings. cucumber, eggplant, and pepper may need to be lightly fertilized every 2 weeks or so, to produce a continuous harvest.

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What can I grow? Planting & Care

• Just about any vegetable or herb! Recommended media depth: • Popular, easy container crops: salad • 4-6 inches: salad greens, Asian greens, greens, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, mustards, garlic, radish, basil, cilantro, beans, chard, beets, radish, squash and thyme, mint, marjoram. cucumbers. • 8-12 inches: beans, beets, chard, carrots, • More challenging crops include melons, chard, cabbage, pepper, eggplant, corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. tomato, squash, rosemary, parsley, • Look for “bush” or “dwarf” varieties , lavender, fennel. esp. tomatoes, cucumbers, squash. • The key is to experiment.

Planting & Care Planting & Care

Required pot volume: • Don’t fill the bottom of the container with pebbles, gravel, or rocks unless you • 1-3 gallons: herbs, green onions, radishes, need the added weight to prevent onion, chard, pepper, dwarf tomato or tipping. cucumber, basil. • Cover drainage holes with mesh, gravel, paper towels, or a coffee filter, to prevent • 4-5 gallons: full-size tomato, cucumber, soil from washing away. eggplant, beans, peas, cabbage, and • Prior to planting, use a trowel or your broccoli. hands to thoroughly work water into the growing medium. This is especially important for soil-less mixes containing peat moss.

Planting & Care Planting & Care

• Fill loosely (don’t cram!) to within an • For attractive and versatile containers, inch or so of top of container. Follow mix herbs and annual flowers in with the seed packet directions for planting, vegetable plants. spacing, and care. • Herbs such as lavender, thyme, oregano, • Plant seedlings (except tomatoes) at same marjoram, and chives require a loose level as they were growing in pot or six- growing medium, and dry conditions. pack. Tomatoes can be planted deeper, for stronger root growth. Plant them together in porous clay pots and add some sand to the mix. • Keep containers together to increase humidity and water retention.

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Planting & Care Self-Watering Containers

• Succession planting. Materials: • 5- gallon plastic bucket and lid (food • Give them support. grade). • Move containers around. • 7.5-inch section of 4-inch diameter perforated drain tile • 6-inch section of ½ inch (inside diameter) plastic tubing • 1 ½ inch wood or decking screw • electrical tape • empty 1-gallon milk jug

Self-Watering Containers

Tools: • Saber saw, drill, 5/16 inch and 3/4 inch drill bits, utility. • knife, hacksaw.

Go to: http://www.nicolelitton.com/self -watering-planter/

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Resources Resources • Contain Yourself, Kerstin P. Ouellet, 2003. Ball Publishing. • The Edible Container Garden- Michael Guerra; 2000; Fireside. • Fleet Farm: http://www.fleetfarm.com • The Bountiful Container, Rose Marie Nichols McGee and Maggie Stuckey; 2002; Workman Publishing Co., Inc. • Woods Farmer Seed: http://www.woodsfarmerseed.com • Container Gardening for Dummies, Bill Marken; 1998; IDG • Seed Savers Exchange: http://www.seedsavers.org Books. • Windowbox.com: http://www.windowbox.com • The Contained Garden, Kenneth Beckett, David Carr, and David Stevens; 1992; Penguin Books. • Gardener’s Supply Company: http://www.gardeners.com • Movable Harvests, Chuck Crandall & Barbara Crandall; 1995; Chapters Publishing • Drip Works: http://www.dripworks.com • Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers, 2006; Edwin C. Smith; Storey Pub.

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