container gardening

DIY Mason Jar Herb Planter

There’s something about having fresh herbs at your fingertips that can make all the difference in a meal. An easy Mason Jar Herb Planter will give you delicious fresh herbs, like aromatic garlic chives, rosemary, or basil to use in your tasty savory dishes. And even though wintertime is one of the most challenging times to keep fresh herbs around the house or garden, you’ll be covered! There are some hardier varieties such as parsley, oregano, or rosemary (in certain zones) that can survive outdoors, but what if want some useable herbs and table decor also? Check out my DIY Mason Jar Herb Planter.

Ideas from a Box

I had noticed these mini crates in the craft section of Wal-Mart and thought they were cute. I believe they’re a perfect size for cd’s, but not many of us still keep cds around anymore, so I searched for a use for the mini-crate. Of course, I’d already purchased it at this point because I knew I’d use it for something. (Raise your hand if you have a stash of craft or garden supplies that you just knew you’d use at some point! Me, too!) I’d already purchased one of the larger crates as a book box for our youngest gardener, so I knew it was easy to paint and pretty versatile.

At the time I purchased the crate, the girly gardener was making and selling jars of hot chocolate mix so she could send money to our sponsored child in Kenya. He really wanted a bike, and she was hard at work earning the money for said bike. (She did end up raising the full amount!) I noticed though during this time that in between batches of hot chocolate mix, she was storing the extra jars in the mini-crate. This got me thinking about what I could store in the jars and also have as a functional display piece on our table. The answer: herb planter.

DIY Mason Jar Herb Planter Supplies

Small wooden crate (From Wal-Mart, Michaels, or Hobby Lobby)
Spray Paint of your choice (I used Rustoleum.)
3 Pint Mason Jars (I used regular mouth, since that’s what I had, but the wide mouth would be even better!)
River Rock (or rocks you have laying around)
Brass name tag holders
Herbs of choice (I used rosemary and garlic chives)
Gorilla Glue (optional, see instructions below)

DIY Mason Jar Herb Planter Instructions

Take your small wooden crate outside and use your spray paint color of choice to paint all over and inside the crate. Let the crate dry, then apply a second coat.
Once the crate is dry, gather the rest of the supplies together. Begin by affixing the small brass labels to your box. Using a ruler, measure the front of your box and determine how far apart you want your labels. (Mine were 1 1/2 inches apart.) Use a pencil to mark where each label will go. The labels did come with small screws, which you can certainly use, but since the screws would have come through the other side of the wood pieces, I opted to use Gorilla Glue to adhere my brass labels.
While the labels are drying (if you use the glue), go ahead and begin preparing your mason jars for planting. Take a handful or river rock and place them in the bottom of each Mason jar. This is to promote drainage for your plants.
Then take your chosen herbs and remove them from the plastic containers they came in. You’ll want to gently break apart excess potting mix that won’t fit into the jar and get down to the root system of the plant. Gently push the plants into the jars and add additional potting soil where needed.
Create labels for your brass label holders by cutting small slips of paper from card stock or index cards. Label them with a Sharpie or other permanent marker and slide them into the holders.
Add your mason jar herbs to the crate and display! Keep your herbs watered (but not drowned), and be sure they have plenty of light.

Notes

For a temporary display, choose herbs that you will then be able to take outside and plant in the garden (weather permitting).
Use this for a fun centerpiece for your spring dining table or any table setting.
Once herbs are used, you can repurpose this Mason Jar Herb Planter into fun storage for pens, pencils, and markers, or any other supplies that may need a home. Simply rewrite the labels for whatever you are storing.

Although I am an avid gardener, I don’t always have the touch for indoor plants. So, I love it when I find an easy way to grow plants indoors, and have a fun way to display them like my DIY Hanging Succulent Planter. I’d love to know if you try this project and what herbs you decided to try! Comment below and let everyone know what tasty and fresh herbs you’ll be using. Have a great week and happy gardening!

by Courtney 2 Comments

5 Tips for Growing Tomatoes

Need some tips for growing tomatoes? I’ve got you (and your garden) covered!

Chances are if you’ve ever grown a garden, whether a traditional in-ground row garden, raised garden bed, or patio garden then you have tried to grow tomatoes. They seem to be a garden staple and for good reason. What other fruit can give you a juicy, red, plump tasty fruits in the span of one summer? Many kinds of fruit trees take years to produce, but the humble tomato, which is a staple in our summer kitchen for thick sliced tomato sandwiches with Duke’s Mayonnaise, are easy to grow in a span of months. But they can also be one of the biggest heartaches of the summer garden.

Tips for Growing Tomatoes

So, to save you from the fate of having beautiful plants and no fruit, or a lackluster plant with some fruit, here are my suggestions for how to get the best bang-for-your-buck when it comes to tomatoes. I have grown numerous varieties over the years, and tomatoes were a recent topic of discussion in my master gardener class. There have been great successes and great failures by all, so know that this these tips I’m about to share with you have been tested and tried by not only myself but other die-hard tomato gardeners like myself. Now, on to the tips.

Tip 1: Variety is Key

Choose your variety well. In plain English this means if you can start your tomatoes from seeds you choose yourself, then do it. The varieties of tomato you are able to purchase at your local hardware store or big-box store are going to be severely limited. There’s a chance you may be able to snag some quality varieties if you go to your local Cooperative Extension plant sale. However, choosing your own seeds and beginning them at home from a reputable seed company such as Baker Creek seed or Southern Exposure Seed Exchange will be your best bet for getting exactly the kind of tomato that works well for your garden.

Last year I discovered my tomato plants twisting and wilting. After some research I discovered that my plans were infected with fusarium wilt. As devastating as this may sound, I also learned at the same time that there are certain varieties of tomato seed I can purchase that are resistant to this particular disease. So guess what I’ll be buying this year?

Purchasing your own seed gives you the ability to choose the type of tomato you want. This isn’t just for disease resistance but also size, shape, and color. If you have super aggressive squirrels that love your big beefsteak tomatoes, then maybe you’re better off growing something smaller that you can harvest sooner and beat the squirrels to them. Maybe you’re interested in having a determinate tomato, which grows for a set number of weeks and then it’s done. This is perfect if you like to take vacation in the summer and aren’t home to water your plants. A determinate tomato grown when you know you’ll be home is perfect for you. And determinate varieities can be quite hard to find at the hardware store, so ordering your own seed is a great way to get exactly the type of tomatoes that you need.

Tip 2: Plant Them Well

This means planting tomatoes in rich soil and also planting them with the roots to the side. Be sure your soil has compost and is well draining. My DIY potting soil is perfect for containers or raised beds of tomatoes. As far as roots pointing to the side, this was something that my dad always did in his garden. I continued to do it because that’s the way I had been taught. I had no idea why. But it turns out turning the roots to the side when you place your tomato in the soil is logical. Tomatoes are a vine, and if grown in the wild, they would trail along the ground, not grow straight up as we have trained them to do. They can also be planted quite deep, only an inch or two below the lowest set of leaves. So plant tomatoes well for a good start to the rest of the growing season. (See my video snippet below. This was before I knew the science behind planting with roots to the side.)

Tip 3: Prune Your Tomatoes

Pruning your tomato plants initially allows them to focus on fruit production instead of getting bigger and bushier. I have a whole tutorial on how to prune your tomato plants. For determinate type tomatoes, you only need to prune the lower limbs, and then you can leave the plant alone to produce fruit. For indeterminate tomatoes, continually prune all season long, taking off suckers (rooting them for new plants), and trying to keep their size in check. Pruning these larger indeterminate types also helps for air flow to your plants and makes it easier to check for pests. Nobody has time for pests in the tomato bush. And be sure to use a good set of pruning shears or a sharp knife for pruning.

Tip 4: Water Consistently

If you have an irrigation system setup in your garden, then you’re probably good to go. But if you’re like me with no irrigation system and a reliance on hand-watering and good old mother nature, then there are a few rules you need to abide by. First is when you water your tomatoes, don’t wet the leaves. Water right down at the base of the plant so the water can get to those roots and not sit on the leaves of your tomato plant. You also want to avoid giving your plants excessive amounts of water and then letting them try out completely. This will contribute to your tomatoes splitting. Splitting tomatoes not only look unpleasant, but they can leave your tomatoes susceptible to pests. So be consistent in your watering and keep it contained to the bottom of the plant. Clearly the exception is rain… mother nature sends water where she wants, and that includes the leaves of your tomato plants.

Tip 5: Stake ‘Em

At your home and garden centers, you’ll see tomato cages in abundance. However, if you’re growing indeterminate-type tomatoes, then you may quickly discover that your tomatoes outgrow these cages quickly. For the past five or six seasons, I’ve been using long, 8-foot poles to support my tomato plants. These poles are driven into the ground near the plant. As it grows, the main trunk line of the tomato plant is then gently tied to the pole.

This serves two purposes. The first is you’re forced to prune your tomato plants so that there is only one trunk line, which is a good idea. Secondly, your plant has more room to grow up on this pole than a cage can provide. Remember that tomatoes are vines, so they will get tall (unless they’re determinate). It is possible to grow tomato plants that are 10-15 feet tall, and if you have the space and a ladder, great. But once your tomato plants reach the top of your pole, you can allow them to gently bend and start growing down toward the ground. A pole simply gives you more vertical space to grow your juicy tomatoes.

So as you embark upon your tomato growing season, I wish you all the luck and success! Whether you’re growing cherry tomatoes perfect for salads and/or large fruits for all those tomato sandwiches, with Duke’s Mayonnaise of course, these tips will help you be fruitful (pun intended). As for what I’ll be growing this year, I’ll be sticking with Jelly Bean tomatoes which have performed well for me over the last three or four years. I’ll also be picking up some Marglobe determinate tomatoes to see how they perform in pots on my patio. And I’m also using a Homestead which should be perfect for those tomato sandwiches. Let me know what you’ll be growing in the comments below! Happy Gardening!

by Courtney Leave a Comment

How to Grow Potatoes at Home

Potatoes, taters, spuds, tots… well, maybe not that last one. Knowing how to grow potatoes in your backyard garden is one of the first lessons I learned as a gardener. I was a brand new homeowner, my hubs had just tilled up a garden plot, and I grew at least seven hills of potatoes. The potato beetle did its best to ruin my harvest, but I won out thanks to some advice from an old-time gardener and fellow teacher. I ended up with a pretty large harvest of red potatoes! Now, storage is a different story. There are no cool root cellars in my area of North Carolina. It’s too damp and too warm… so those potatoes were a good lesson in planting what we (and our neighbors) can eat before they go bad.

How to Grow Potatoes

Potatoes are easy to grow in a home garden and one plant will produce a multitude of potatoes. (Take it from me, I know.) All varieties of spuds are easy to grow and can be grown in containers or raised beds. Here are some tips to help you know how to grow potatoes. Follow these and you’re almost guaranteed an abundant harvest this year!

Location

This isn’t just for realtors, y’all. While the actual potatoes grow beneath the soil, there is a green plant (a vine for sweet potatoes) that grows above the soil which needs plenty of sunlight. Select a location that is in full sun (6+ hours per day) for best results. Not sure which areas of your yard get the best sun? Try making a Sun Map of your yard, and you’ll always know the best place to grow full sun, low sun, and shade loving plants.

Growing Container

Potatoes can be successfully grown in traditional in-ground gardens, in buckets, stacks of tires (though I have reservations about what’s in those tires), special grow bags, barrels, raised beds, or any type of container that can hold soil and is at least 1 foot deep. Get creative when you consider how to grow potatoes. For the past several years, I have grown mine in containers instead of directly in my raised beds. This saves me space in the raised beds for plants that don’t do as well in containers. In fact, there are special bags just for growing potatoes, so they can be harvested as the plant grows. Amazing! I haven’t tried them yet, but my neighbor has enjoyed using grow bags for her tomato plants. If you’ve used them, comment below and let me know what you thought about them.

Getting Started

Seed Potatoes

The type of potatoes you use for planting are called seed potatoes. While I have had some friends who have had success using potatoes from their grocery store bagged variety, I like to head to our downtown hardware store and see the different varieties available there. Some varieties purchased at your local grocery store have been treated with growth retardant to prevent them from sprouting. (If you want to try those from the grocery store, stick with an organic variety, since they shouldn’t have been treated.) For your other seed potatoes, start with organic, certified disease-free seed potatoes purchased from a garden supply center or seed catalog. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is one of my favorite places to purchase seeds, and they have a great variety!

Cut and Cure

Seed potatoes need to be cut and dried prior to planting. When you pick out your seed potatoes, choose the ones that have the most eyes. Eyes equal plants. Cut large tubers into 3-4 pieces, making sure each piece has at least 1 ‘eye’ (sprout). Any tubers that are smaller than a golf ball can be left whole.

Place cut pieces in a single layer in the sun so they can cure. Or if the weather isn’t cooperating, leave cut potatoes on a paper towel on your kitchen counter for a few days. The cut sides develop a hard covering called a ‘callous’ during the curing process and will prevent the seed tuber from rotting after planting. This is important. Nobody has time for rotting tubers in the ground, am I right?

Planting

Soil Preparation

Potatoes grow best in loose, well-draining soil. A mixture of 50 percent soil and 50 percent compost is ideal to provide drainage, nutrition, and prevent soil compaction for growing spuds. My DIY Potting soil is perfect for in-ground gardens, raised beds, or any type of container you may be using. The potatoes need the loose soil for growing those new spuds!

Planting

Plant potatoes 3 weeks prior to last predicted frost date for your area. Potatoes need a bit of cool weather to grow well, since they don’t produce as well in the sweltering days of summer. To plant your potatoes, dig a hole 6 inches deep and place 1 seed potato cut side down (eyes facing upward) into hole. Gently cover tuber and water well. Space planting holes 2 feet apart. If you’re working with a container, don’t fill it all the way up. Instead make sure your container has 6-8 inches of space at the top after the tuber has been planted. This will give you room to “hill” your potato plant as it grows. You can also make potato towers, like Garden Know How, for a larger harvest.

Hilling

Developing spuds must be protected from sunlight and ‘hilling’ accomplishes this and promotes a larger harvest. When the plant is 8 inches tall, create a 4 inch hill around it by raking loose soil around it. You can also top that off with 2 inches of straw or leaves. It’s important to hill to protect those topmost potatoes from being exposed to sunlight. If you’ve ever seen green potatoes, then those are spuds that broke through and were exposed to sunlight too soon. Don’t eat green potatoes.

Repeat the hilling process again when plant grows another 8 inches.

Harvest Time

Small, new potatoes can be harvested when the plant flowers. To dig up the plant and potatoes in one large harvest, wait until plants die for large, mature potatoes. Harvesting new potatoes is a great way to enjoy some of your labor while the plant is still growing. My grandmother would always do this so we could have some new potatoes in with a pot of fresh green beans. Delicious!

Common Pests

The Colorado potato beetle is one of the most common pests that likes to destroy your potato plants. They arrive in the summer and lay yellow eggs on the underside of leaves of your potato plants. The striped backs of adults give them a very distinctive look, so be on the look out.

How to handle potato beetles:

For small gardens, seek and destroy is the best option. If you see a beetle, pick it up and put it in a jar of soapy water. Use a wet cloth to wipe the eggs off of the backs of leaves.
Be sure to check the backs of all leaves. A female can lay an enormous amount of eggs in her lifetime… who has time for that?!
Use Bacillus thuringiensis var. tenebrionis (BT), a naturally occurring bacterial disease. This will only be effective for the young larvae, not adult bugs. It’s the same spray I use to keep cabbage worms from destroying my brassicas.

And that’s it! All you need to know from start to harvest on how to grow potatoes. I can’t wait to see what kind of harvest you will yield and what type of potatoes are your favorites! Share below and tips you have and happy gardening!

by Courtney Leave a Comment

DIY Self-Watering Planter

I love a DIY self-watering planter. As the name implies, these types of containers make watering a cinch. Now, does the planter walk over to the faucet and water itself? No, but what most self-watering planters have is a reservoir at the bottom that holds water. This reservoir allows the plants to soak up water from the bottom up, just like in nature.

The Perfect Container Garden

One of my favorite self-watering planters is the Earthbox. Using an Earthbox is how I first started container gardening. Containers are notorious for drying out quickly, and if you’re not diligent about watering, your plants can suffer. You then have to worry about over watering plants once you finally remember about the whole watering thing. Well, a DIY self-watering planter takes the guesswork out of over watering, and it also cuts down on how often you need to water plants.

How Self-Watering Planters Work

Water Reservoir- Unlike a traditional flower pot or planter, a self-watering planter’s soil does not touch the bottom of the pot. Instead there is a barrier that keeps the soil raised above the bottom at least several inches. This reservoir beneath the soil holds the water.
Wicking Container- This wicking container is what will absorb the water and allow the plants to get water themselves.
Water Tube- This tube is put in place before the soil and allows the gardener to fill the water reservoir when it gets low.
Potting soil- A good quality potting soil will go a long way to a productive container garden! A trench of fertilizer is also a great idea in a self-watering planter. You can see how I put in a layer of fertilizer in my Container Salad Garden.
Landscape Fabric– If your soil and water separator is not a solid piece (mine had lots of holes in it) then landscape fabric can be added to keep your soil from falling directly into the water reservoir.
Optional Support- If the material you’re using to separate your soil and water reservoir is not quite sturdy enough, you can support this piece with small plastic containers (think 1/2 cup size or simply cut a plastic cup to 2-inch rings).

What You’ll Need:

Container- The sky is the limit. I loved the galvanized container I found at my local hardware store. You can find similar ones on Amazon. Any type of container will do.
Small plastic flower pot or container- this will be the wicking container
Plastic plant flat or any larger piece of plastic that can be used as a barrier between soil and water reservoir. (Your local nursery or hardware store has these and would probably be happy to give you one.)
1-inch PVC pipe, cut to height of container
Potting soil (purchased or make your own)
Plastic cups or containers for extra support (optional)

Here’s a quick video breakdown before the detailed instructions:

Building Your DIY Self-Watering Planter

Begin with a container you love. My dad built his self-watering planters using rubbermaid tubs following directions he found on Grow A Good Life. They work really well for him, but I wanted a more decorative planter that I could use on the front porch. So feel free to get a large container that may not really be for plants.
Grab a plastic lid or plant flat for your separator between water reservoir and soil. I used a flat that plants come on. I cut the corners, since my container was not a rectangle and placed it in upside down. The existing edges could be used to support the weight of the soil. (If you use a solid piece of plastic for this barrier, be sure to put holes in it.) Next, cut a hole in the middle of your plastic for the wicking container (small flower pot) to go into. And also cut a hole or space in the corner for your watering tube.
Grab your small plastic pot and punch or drill holes in it all around. You want water to be able to come into this pot from the reservoir. Place the pot in the hole you created in the middle of your plant flat. Now add your watering tube. Be sure it does not sit flush on the bottom. Water needs to be able to get into the reservoir. (My container had ridges at the bottom, but you could set your tube at a slight angle, or place something small under the edge of tube to keep it slightly elevated.)
NOT PICTURED: Before we go further, you’ll need to grab a drill and make several holes in the side of your container. Use a sharpie to mark on the outside of the container slightly below where your separator is sitting. Drill a few holes side by side in this area. These holes will allow you to know when your water level is high enough. When water comes out of these holes, you’ll know your reservoir is full.
If your reservoir separator needs extra support for the weight of the soil, use small plastic containers (think sour cream containers) that are cut to 2 inches high and place them under your separator so there’s no risk of it caving in. Then lay landscape fabric over your separator and cut the fabric so the wicking container isn’t covered.
Fill your wicking container with MOIST potting soil. You want to pack that potting soil into the container before you fill the entire thing.
Now you are ready to fill your container with potting soil, adding in a fertilizer trench if you’d like, and give your plants a new home! Many self-watering planters include some kind of covering that the plants stick out of, but I just mulch around my plants to keep the moisture in. Here’s my planter three weeks after making it and planting some salad greens. And if you’ve seen my Container Salad Garden post, then you know that these salad greens looked pitiful when I planted them. Yay for self-watering planters!

by Courtney 4 Comments

Container Salad Garden

Planting a container salad garden is a quick and easy addition to your porch or patio that also provides delicious lettuces and greens!

Salad, the types and varieties are endless. With a large selection of lettuces and greens, paired with an innumerable amount of toppings, every person can have their own preferences for what makes a great salad. My hubs loves a crunchy romaine topped with bacon, cheese, and sunflower seeds. I, on the other hand, love the peppery bite of arugula with chunks of feta, thin-sliced red onion, and fresh tomatoes. (Or strawberry salad, delicious!)

I’m willing to bet you also have your preferences for how a salad is constructed. Luckily, salad greens are some of the easiest things to grow in the garden and in containers. Whether growing from seed or plants from a local store, planting a container salad garden is fun and easy! And for instructions on how to make this particular metal tub planter, see my DIY Self-Watering Planter post.

Planting a Container Salad Garden

For those without garden space, or who just want to try their hand at a small salad selection, planting a container salad garden is the perfect solution. And if you’ve struggled a bit with a black thumb in the past, growing a container salad garden can help to ease you into gardening success! Here’s what you’ll need for your container salad garden:

Medium to Large Container (I used this fabulous metal tub) If you use a tub or bucket, be sure to drill holes in the bottom for drainage.
Quality Potting Soil (I made my own, and here’s the quick DIY Potting Soil recipe.)
Granular Fertilizer (Espoma or an organic fertilizer is my pick.)
Seeds or Plants (My favorites: Romaine, Kale, Swiss Chard, Arugula, Mesclun, Spinach, Buttercrunch, and Mizuna greens)

Creating Your Salad Garden (See video at end of post.)

Begin by making sure your container has adequate drainage. If you purchased an actual “flower” pot from the store, you should be good to go. If you’re using something that wasn’t intended for plants, you may need to grab a drill and make some drainage holes in the bottom. (For my steel tub, I actually made it into a self-watering planter, which I’ll post about later in the week.) Once you have your container chosen and ready, begin by filling 2/3 of the way up with potting soil.
Place fertilizer in the middle of your container. The amount of fertilizer depends on the size of your container (the fertilizer bag will have proportions). I put fertilizer in the middle, and once filled, will plant my greens along the sides, so the roots aren’t sitting on the fertilizer, but it’s still being released to the plants.
Fill your container the rest of the way up with potting soil, covering up your fertilizer.
Now comes the fun part, planting your salad! For seeds, simply follow the packet instructions for depth and spacing, and for plants, choose the varieties you like best and place them around the container, being aware of where your fertilizer is. Choose plants based on color, too. A variety of colors and heights will make for a beautiful, and tasty, container salad garden! (Here I am using Red Russian Kale, Buttercrunch, Mizuna Greens, and Swiss Chard.) Space your plants out so they have plenty of room to grow. You can always come back and add more later if there is room.
Water your seeds or plants, being careful to avoid wetting the leaves. Finally, if you’ve used plants, mulch around them, because this helps retain moisture, which is important when planting a container garden. If you have used seeds, you can sow thickly enough that the plants themselves will help to shade the soil and keep in moisture. Now sit back and watch your little babies grow!

Here is the container salad garden three weeks later! Harvest as the leaves get large enough and be sure to keep your salad well watered, but not swimming. I’d love to know what you choose to grow in your container salad garden!

Here’s a video of how I planted my container salad garden:

by Courtney Leave a Comment

The Best Vegetables for Container Gardening

Short on space? That’s no reason to not grow your own vegetables, fruit, and herbs! Growing vegetables in containers is a fabulous way to enjoy the fresh taste of homegrown food even when you don’t have land space. Container gardening is also an easy way to garden when you don’t want all the labor involved in a traditional in-ground garden, or don’t have the room (or desire) for raised beds. You can also use containers to supplement your current garden area. I use larger pots and two Earth boxes in my garden for more growing space without having to add another garden bed.

Container Gardening Favorites

While most vegetable plants can be grown in a container (my watermelon experiment did not end well last year), there are some that are more adaptive to life in a pot than others. The productivity of a container garden also improves when you utilize the vertical space. Using trellis to provide support to trailing plants and vines increases the produce yield. Get your containers ready and plant some of these vegetables that grow best in containers.

Using good quality potting soil, such as my DIY potting soil, and a high quality fertilizer are important elements to container gardening. Since you’re not growing in the ground where worms and other beneficial soil organisms live, you’ll need to amend the soil yourself. This just means more frequent watering and fertilizer use. A self-watering planter can help cut back on how much you have to water (and let you leave for vacation less concerned about your plants), but even traditional pots can be rigged with an irrigation system to make the watering issue not as big of a deal. And there’s always rain… But growing vegetables in containers is a great way to try your hand at gardening, or to get kids involved in growing some veggies and herbs of their own. So what grows best in Containers?

What grows best in container gardens?

Carrots

Carrots need a deep pot, moist soil, and cool weather to grow their best. This vegetable does great in a pot in spring, then after harvesting, use the same pot to plant a warm season vegetable. Be sure to thin out your carrot seedlings, since you want to give each carrot plenty of room to grow large. And kids love pulling carrots, so put little garden helpers to work!

Cucumbers

If you have the vertical space for a trellis, you can grow traditional vining cucumbers. If the vertical space is not available, plant a bush variety of your favorite slicing cucumber. You’ll need a large pot and full sun location for an abundant harvest. Here in the south, cucumbers grow abundantly well into the fall. I’m actually growing my pickling cucumbers in containers this year, and my slicing cucumbers are in the flower bed. A tomato cage can also come in handy to keep your container cucumbers supported.

Eggplant

These are heat-loving plants and need high temperatures both day and night, making them a suitable summer crop for container gardening. Just one plant can produce an abundant amount of eggplant, and the different varieties are so fun to try! (Southern Exposure Seed’s White Eggplant is my favorite.) But since eggplants can be such prolific producers, just plant one if your family isn’t crazy for eggplant… like mine.

Herbs

Almost all herbs, mint and lemon balm included, are fantastic to grow in containers. (Mint and lemon balm tend to go a little crazy, but better to have them contained!) Herbs are also a great introduction to gardening, and the flavor difference between garden fresh herbs and store-bought dried types is incredible. Many herbs can grow until you’re ready to use them (just watch for blooming and seeding), and they make a lovely decoration for any patio or porch. Did I also mention that most herb varieties help keep mosquitoes away? True story.

Lettuce

Lettuce is a cool season crop, so you can plant it in easily spring and enjoy several harvests until the weather becomes too hot for it to produce. Plant a warm season vegetable in the container for summer harvest, then follow that with a second planting of lettuce for a fall harvest. All varieties of lettuce work well for containers including romaine, butter crunch, spinach, arugula, mesclun, mizuna, kale, it’s all good!

Peppers

All pepper varieties grow on bush-type plants, making them an ideal choice for container growing. Peppers also enjoy the hot, dry conditions that are easy to achieve with a container. If the container is large enough, you may be able to fit two pepper plants! My favorite varieties are the Carolina Wonder from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and any variety of jalapeno peppers for making fresh salsa and grilled jalapeno poppers all summer long!

Peas

Start with a 12 inch deep pot, then plant a dwarf or bush variety of your variety green pea for a summer-long harvest. The deep pot will help you keep soil moist for better pea production. Also, once the plant is established, mulch around the base of the pea plant to keep moisture in the soil. (A great dwarf variety to try is the Dwarf Sugar Snap variety from SESE.)

Radishes

Radishes grow quickly and are well adapted to grow in a shallow pot. Plant radishes in a container 6 inches deep and enjoy a harvest in less than one month. Just like with carrots, be sure to thin out the seedlings so that the radishes have plenty of room to grow. A personal favorite is the French Breakfast Radish from Baker Creek Seeds.

Spinach

Spinach grows well in partial shade and can be grown indoors or outdoors. Use a shallow (6 inches), wide pot to grow spinach and enjoy several harvests before the weather gets too hot for it to grow. Once the weather warms, spinach can bolt and the flavor is affected. Bloomsdale is one of my favorite varieties to grow.

Tomatoes

Full size or salad size, red, yellow or pink, any variety of tomato grows well in a container. Select a bush or dwarf plant and a location for the container that receives at least 6 hours of sunlight each day. Tomatoes will benefit from a vertical support system such as a thick stake or stick. And for dwarf or patio varieties, also called determinate, don’t feel the need to prune them. Just let them do their thing. Here are our patio tomatoes so far this year. I like to plant them with marigolds to try to keep bugs at bay. If you do grow an indeterminate tomato plant in your container, be sure to prune them as they grow and provide them with lots of support.

A word about water

In container gardening, it can be easy for soil to dry out. Always keep an eye on your plants and a finger in the dirt. If your soil is dry and crumbly when you press your finger into the pot, then gently water your plants. If the soil is damp and dirt clings to your finger, then you can wait to water. Self watering planters, like the one I have above or the Earth box (which I keep in the garden area) are easy, no-brainer containers for growing amazing vegetables.

So even if you don’t have tons of space, container gardening can still help you grow food of your own. Try out several things, and also remember that each vegetable comes in numerous varieties. I’d love to know what you enjoy growing in containers. Comment below and let me know what you’ve had success with! Have a great week and happy gardening!

by Courtney Leave a Comment

Gardening in Small Spaces

No room for a large garden? No problem! Small space gardening is easy to do on a patio, porch, or balcony. Even if you have a large yard, what if you just want to start small? These tips are for you as well. Gardening doesn’t have to be a large venture. Start small and use your space wisely.

Vertical Gardens Produce More Vegetables in Smaller Spaces

A small space garden will produce more when plants are trellised and trained to grow upwards. The produce will also be bigger and healthier when grown in a vertical garden. To generate the most food from a small space garden, look for usable upward space and select the right plants.

Lift Up

By simply lifting the plants and produce off the soil and away from damaging moisture and pests they will have a better chance of survival. Upwards growing plants also receive more sunlight and air circulation, making them healthier and stronger.

Trellis Plants

A trellis can be anything that provides support to each plant and that is sturdy enough to support the weight of ripening vegetables.

Cucumbers, pole beans, peas, and melon plants send out tiny tendrils that will latch onto anything within reach and grow in that same direction, To get them to grow vertically, use support methods that provide something for the tendrils to reach up to and small enough for them to grip. Cane poles, metal or wood fence posts or wire fencing works great in the garden to support plants.

If you want to keep things even simpler, use my DIY Bean Teepee instructions to build your own or purchase a beautiful obelisk or trellis from Amazon or your local hardware store. Many obelisks can easily fit into larger pots, making them perfect for small space gardens.

bean teepee

Container Gardening

Containers are another great way to maximize growing area in a small garden space. Plants grown in containers may need to be trellised also for best production. A self-watering planter, like an Earthbox, gives plenty of growing area with an easy watering spout with no danger of overwatering. The Earthbox has an optional trellis kit, and comes with instructions that tell you exactly how many plants will fit in the box and where to place them. It’s easy gardening at its best!

Containers that can be attached to a vertical wood fence or stacked in a tier will increase vegetable growing space too. Or get creative and attach containers to the fence itself!

Feed the Soil
The soil keeps plants nourished and thriving and it must be very fertile to support vegetables growing in small spaces. Feed the soil before planting anything.

Use a quality potting mix that combines compost and peat, or use my DIY Potting Soil recipe. It’s easy to put together and can be stored in a rubber tub to make it easy to access when you need to fill a pot. Also, when using containers, you want to feed your plants with a quality fertilizer or plant food.

basil top

Small Space Vegetable Plant Choices

When selecting vegetable plants for small space gardening, look for ‘dwarf’, ‘bush’, or ‘compact’ varieties of your favorite vegetables. These varieties will provide the same full-flavor, full-size vegetable, but on smaller plants.

Succession Planting

Succession planting allows you to grow several different vegetables in the same spot and harvest multiple times from spring through fall. Start with a cool-season vegetable, like broccoli. When it’s finished for the season, plant a warm-season vegetable, like tomatoes, in the same spot. Follow that up with a planting of fall greens when the tomato plant is finished producing in the late summer. I even use succession planting in my raised beds to produce the most food in the smallest amount of space.

Succession planting will triple the amount of food produced in the same small space garden. Always add more compost to the soil between plantings to keep the soil fed.

So don’t limit your garden plans because your available space is small. Get creative, grow up, and use the same space throughout multiple seasons with succession planting. I’d love to know how large or small your garden space is and how you get creative with it. Happy Gardening!

container gardening

Ideas from a Box

DIY Mason Jar Herb Planter Supplies

DIY Mason Jar Herb Planter Instructions

Notes

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Tips for Growing Tomatoes

Tip 1: Variety is Key

Tip 2: Plant Them Well

Tip 3: Prune Your Tomatoes

Tip 4: Water Consistently

Tip 5: Stake ‘Em

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How to Grow Potatoes

Location

Growing Container

Getting Started

Seed Potatoes

Cut and Cure

Planting

Soil Preparation

Planting

Hilling

Harvest Time

Common Pests

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The Perfect Container Garden

How Self-Watering Planters Work

What You’ll Need:

Building Your DIY Self-Watering Planter

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Planting a Container Salad Garden

Creating Your Salad Garden (See video at end of post.)

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Container Gardening Favorites

What grows best in container gardens?

Carrots

Cucumbers

Eggplant

Herbs

Lettuce

Peppers

Peas

Radishes

Spinach

Tomatoes

A word about water

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Vertical Gardens Produce More Vegetables in Smaller Spaces

Container Gardening

Small Space Vegetable Plant Choices

Succession Planting

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