If you don’t have land, don’t want to or can’t join a community garden, Small Space Urban Farming, Sustainable Containables may be perfect for you! Check what the curbside use rules are for your city. You might be able to use that space too! The number of containers is completely flexible. Have as many as you have time and energy for.
I discovered container gardening through the amazing book Bountiful Containers by McGee & Stuckey. I first wrote about container gardening in November 2012. Now there is a feast of books written on the topic. Learning container gardening principles taught me a lot about how to use precious space productively no matter what size your garden!
Containers give you complete flexibility. Have as many or as few as you want, put them wherever you want, move them, remove them, replace them! If it’s too hot or too cold, bring ‘em inside, no greenhouse needed, but if you have one, all the better!
Garden in anything! From grow bags, hanging bags to pots. There are containers of any size, shape, material or color, some are even self watering! Some are spiffy new, others are what you have around at the time, maybe an old favorite or an old wooden bucket, the wheelbarrow with holes in it.
Most of all, the Beauty of Using Containers is You can plant!
You can make them, paint them!
They can get you outdoors
There’s no digging
You eat better food, fresh basil for your fresh salad.
Often, no slugs or snails, avoids soil-borne fungal diseases
Rarely any weeds
You can give them away
You can instantly remove and replace problem plants, or redesign your layout!
You can move them around for more sun or shade, for warmer or cooler
You can take them with you when you move!
No packaging, or food miles!
Location, location, location – Garden anywhere!
Balcony, Rooftop, along Stairs
Patio, Deck
Along a Wall or Fence, on top of the wall!
Backdoor, Front door
By Kitchen, in a Window
Box hanging from fence, a basket hanging from the upstairs neighbor’s balcony or a tree
A lovely raised bed in plenty of sun is a large container!
What can you plant?! Light makes a difference! 6-8 hrs Sunlight
Everyday edibles to fruit & nut trees, minis to full size! Flowering plants, water plants, and fruiting vegetables require eight hours of sunlight each day to grow well. Root vegetables can do well with six hours though slower; leafy plants and herbs should get at least four hours.
As a general rule leafy vegetables such as cabbage and lettuce can tolerate the most shade, while root crops such as beets and carrots will need more sun. Fruiting vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers need the most sun.
If you don’t have enough light, paint a wall white, put a free standing white reflective screen behind your plants to capture light.
Put your planties on a rolling cart, table, on plant dollies and move them with the sun during the day!
Move them from your front porch to your backdoor during the rainy or cold season, or indoors during a frost. Dollies raise your plants so your wooden containers and deck don’t rot.
Too hot? Double pot – one inside the other. Too cold? Use black containers, wrap your pot with dark fabric, a blanket, burlap.
- Dwarf & semi-dwarf trees, shrubs, grapes
- Beets, chard, cucumbers, dwarf sunflowers, eggplant, dwarf kales, bush beans, green onions, green peppers, HOT peppers, leaf lettuce, mini melons, garden purslane, radishes, spinach, smaller varieties of summer & winter squash, strawberries, determinate and dwarf tomatoes!
- Herbs and edible flowers too!
- Select smaller veggie varieties that are bred for productivity, disease and pest resistance, slow bolting, heat and/or cold tolerance, drought tolerant
- Pick varieties that tolerate your conditions – sun/shade, wind, water, time of year
- Find plants that match your diligence, time available to care for – do you like to prune or deadhead?
- You can plant a container Orchard! Dwarf is the key word! Dwarf figs, ‘cados, citrus, plums, etc! Grafting 3 types that come in early, midsummer and fall on one tree gives you all season fruit for the space of one tree!
Designing your Container Garden
Questions & Options!
Will my deck, balcony or roof support the weight of watered plants?
Do I want to get a bunch of small containers or two really big ones, or a combo of sizes?!
Can I place pots around my regular garden? Would the pots look better on my deck or around my copper beech tree?
Can I grow herbs and flowers or should I stick with one type of plant?
Will someone trip over those small herb troughs near my narrow pathway or underneath my garden arbors?
What complementary plant colors will look best in my sunny office? Or in or around my house?
Are these plants pet and child safe?
Will the draining water rot wood, drip on my table, cause mold or mildew, be tracked indoors? Drip on your neighbor’s patio or balcony downstairs?
Do most people like the scent of that herb, society garlic? Allergies?
Containers along a Spiral Staircase can be alternately planted with veggies, companion plants, herbs, more flowers for pollinators!
Design for Beauty and fit There are wonderful design programs online! Or start with one container and see what happens from there.
If you want to, sketch it out – summer, winter layouts
Pencil in your largest plants first
Tall plants against the fence, wall, to the back, north if possible, short in front, vines spilling over front
Stagger the heights of containers
Elevate with concrete blocks
Purchase just a few containers at first to get the hang of it
Mix colors luxuriantly!
Mix veggies, companion plants, pollinator attracting edible lowers and herbs mercilessly!
The simplest space saver is to go Vertical! Hanging baskets & grow bags, tiered planters, strawberry pots, pallets, gutters affixed to a fence (slope to one end for drainage & cover the low end to keep the soil in), put a trellis in a rectangular basket or oblong galvanized container, hang planters on a fence or up a wall!
Each Container is a miniature garden! Select plants with the same watering requirements.
- Thrillers: the tallest, most noticeable or unusual plant. Put pots with melons, cukes, beans, near a trellis or fence.
- Spillers: plants that “spill” over the edge of the pot. Even if you are using a spectacular container, you do not want all of the plant material to only go up. Strawberries….
- Fillers: plants that tie your container together, providing a backdrop for your thrillers to shine.
Theme Gardens are special!
One color
Pink! Chard, chives, dianthus – an edible flower, monarda – an herb, pansies, sage
One type plant – a lettuce box or basket
Ethnic
Asian — Japanese Eggplant, Chinese Cucumber, Sugar Lace Peas, Broccoli, Thai Chile Pepper, Chile de Arbol Pepper, Bell Pepper, Cabbage.
Greek and Middle East — Tomato, Eggplant, Cucumber, Shallots, Garlic, Onions.
An era like Victorian – Lavender, roses, sage, scented geraniums, thyme, tulips, with violets, violas, pansies
For kids! Radishes, Thumbelina small round carrots, pansies (cat faces), purple-podded beans, dwarf sunflowers, Wee-Be-Little pumpkins!
To attract pollinators, butterflies, wildlife, hummingbirds! POLLINATION is Vital & Easy to Do! Grow a Pollinator Meadow at Home in Your Veg Garden!
Design for Companion Plantings for many reasons! Here are just a few to get you started! There are many more combinations you will discover!
Pest prevention Some plants emit allelochemicals from their roots or leaves, which repel pests. Oregano repels insects that bother broccoli! Borage repels tomato hornworms.
Enhance each other: Oregano enhances the flavor of beans. Carrots stimulate peas (onions stunt peas). Chamomile is called the Plant Dr!
Some plants attract butterflies and bees to pollinate your plants! Feverfew repels bees.
Others are great trap plants – they are more attractive to pests than the plant you want to save. Calendula traps aphids, whiteflies, and thrips!
Choosing the perfect magical container …from found reusables, on the cheap, humble homemades, to extraordinaire, there are multitudes of beautiful materials!! Shop, scavenge, everywhere!
Start with the Standards
1. Traditional Terracotta: has good air circulation, dries out fast, degrades, and is easily breakable, charming old world outdoor look, least expensive.
2. Ceramic: hardier, retains moisture better if glazed, myriad of colorful choices and shapes.
3. Plastic, Resin, Fiberglass: long lasting, lightweight, good for balcony & rooftop plantings or where weight is a factor. No air circulation. They can be inexpensive to very expensive. They are an excellent liner pot. Be sure what you choose is FDA approved for growing food.
4. Untreated Wood Boxes/Barrels: natural look, dries out fast, line with water barrier or use a sealant, use peat for insulation & to hold moisture. If use a water barrier, cut holes for drainage.
5. Magical Metals: keep moisture in
Drainage holes are a must! Ask the nursery if they will make some for you if there aren’t any. Usually there is no charge.
Pros/cons of Fabric containers Select bags made of breathable and strong fabrics. Some are washable, reusable and biodegradable. Avoid ones made with plastics. Fold and store for later! They generally last 2-3 years. They need lots of watering, which can leach nutrients from your soil. However, the chance of root rot is little.
Excerpts adapted from SpringPot: The most unique feature of fabric containers is the prevention of plants becoming root bound, they call it ‘air pruning.’ In pots, the roots of plants tend to grow in circles entangling themselves leading to less water and nutrient intake. This increases the likelihood of having oxygenation or water stagnation issues, especially in larger pots that lack proper drainage. In fabric grow bags when the roots meet the edges of the fabric pot, they sense the drier soil that is exposed to the air. At this point, they know they have reached their growth limit. The roots become “air pruned” which is vital to growing healthy plants in containers. You will also get many more fibrous roots when air pruned. A more fibrous root system (many small root tips) allows the plants to take in more nutrients and water.
If you want prettier, most of the bags are black or gray, Simply put it in another larger container! If not protected in a container, the black ones can get too hot, put shade cloth around them (added expense and time), but you have healthy roots!
Be creative! Use what you have at hand or experiment!
Pots, baskets, boxes, grow bags, nested burlap bags, shoe bags, plant sacks, bowls, buckets, plastic containers
Plant right in the compost bag!
Bathtubs, sinks
Drawers – use untreated wood, no paint
Drums, ½ whiskey barrels
Wheelbarrow, wagon
Built-in deck planter, top of rail/wall planter
Hanging, upside down toms
Recycled anything – old garden boots, laundry basket, wheelbarrow
Greenhouses themselves are the perfect winter container or for all year Veggies!
If you like wooden troughs or baskets, make sure that your wood is of a solid quality. Finish the wood with a veggie-safe preserver. If you use wine barrels, make sure the hoops are secure. Wood containers fare well in colder weather, provide more insulation than clay pots.
To retain moisture and prevent freezing and cracking, seal your clay pots inside and out with a veggie safe sealant.
Lettuces, peas, beans and cukes require the least depth; tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, broccoli, the most.
You’ll need some fail-proof saucers to capture that loose soil and dripping water that escapes from the bottom of any container. Plastic saucers don’t get damp as do terra cotta ones.
Making a Home for your Plants Soil, Filling Your Container, Seeding, Transplanting
Soil Selection is critical; a workstation is optional but very nice!
A high-quality potting soil works, choose ones with time release nutrients!
Use all potting soil, or add the very best compost!
Topsoil alone is too heavy, doesn’t drain well, too dense for tiny roots to get through
Soilless mixes are two to three times lighter weight
Each year use fresh soil mix when you plant
Put drainage holes in your container if they aren’t there already. 3 to 5 is good, use your judgment.
For less weight on a balcony or the roof, line the bottom with capped plastic bottles or insert a smaller upside down pot, put your soil on top. It uses less soil, weighs a lot less, especially when wet.
OR, install a self watering system, sub irrigation.
Fill with your soil – lace it with slow release organic fertilizer (and a ¼ cup lime for tomatoes)
Install trellises as needed for beans, cukes, toms, melons, squash, grapes
Anchor pots and trellises securely if your plant will get tall or is in a windy spot, on a balcony
Seeding, Transplanting
Partially fill your container, put your central or tall back plant in, fill around it. Add any peripheral plants.
Water gently so you don’t wash the soil away from the roots, add more soil if needed as the soil settles.
Plant seeds according to the instructions on their packet in 6 packs or right in your container!
Water again with a watering can so as not to wash the seeds away or cause them to get uncovered, or covered too deeply with soil. KEEP them moist!
Top dress, mulch with wood chips or as you like, about 1” deep. Less weeds, saves water, keeps your soil moist. Keeps roots cool in summer, but remove in winter so your soil will be warmer. Cocoa mulch is toxic to dogs. Mulching ~ Why, When, With What, How Much?!
Self watering, save-water Sustainable Container Technology! You can use this in any small container to kiddie swimming pool containers used in rooftop gardening! The principles are the same. If you decide to purchase, there are multitudes of amazing, and even lovely, self watering containers available! Or get a DIY kit, or simply DIY! There are various techniques. See more
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If it is hot weather or you may be away, try these bottles with watering spikes to keep your plants moist..
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Fertilizing, Side-dressing
Since potting mixes drain water rapidly, fertilizer will be leached out of the container as you water.
Avoid contaminating vegetable plants with manures (use only if well aged and incorporated in your soil weeks in advance), teas, or organic emulsions. Do not use manure foliar teas on veggie leaves that you will eat, like lettuce. Not recommended by UC Master Gardeners. Instead, use a dilute liquid fertilizer with every other watering, maybe every two weeks. Liquid fish emulsion is smelly but good. Liquid seaweed/kelp are great plant boosters, add trace elements.
If you have predators like skunks or raccoons, be sure your plants are enclosed so they can’t dig them up.
Remember that you need to provide your plants with a variety of nutrients.
Compost and/or worm castings are tasty additions!
Or use organic time release pellets when you build your soil!
Check the labels on the products in your garden center to be sure that they contain a complete, balanced solution that includes trace elements. Be sure you get the right season or use a specific mix. Early on you want Nitrogen for leaves, but not too much or you get all leaf, no bloom. Be a bit careful with phosphates for bloom…not all soils need it added.
Contact your local extension office to inquire about soil testing. Many municipalities offer soil testing free of charge.
Special Care for Your Tomatoes – the most popular container plant!
Scout around for a good container tomato soil mix or build your own! See Tomato Dirt! They do not recommend to scoop up your ground soil – ‘It compacts making it difficult to water and keep aerated by mid-season. Also, garden soil is infested with fungi, weed seeds, and pests, which can wreak havoc in your containers…’
IF your soil is acidic, add a ¼ cup lime (calcium) when making your soil mix
And a tablespoon of Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom salts), both to prevent blossom end rot
Secure your plant so it won’t topple in the wind when laden with tomatoes
When the plants are flowering, give the stems a sharp rap about 11 AM to help pollination along.
Common Problems Help List – Be vigilant, Remove diseased plants ASAP! If you are trying to save a weakened plant, move it away from your other healthy plants. Weak plants are vulnerable to pests and diseases.
Your harvest! Harvest, Seed Saving, Sharing the Bounty
DO harvest! When the time is ripe, do it, don’t let it go to waste. If you don’t pick, ask yourself why. You don’t like that veggie as much as you thought you would? You planted too many plants and you are tired of it! Your recipe is too time consuming or intimidating? Harvest is too labor intensive? This is all a natural part of the live & learn gardening experience. Plant something different, differently next year, a different variety perhaps.
Keep picking, especially beans, cukes and peas, or your plant thinks it is done and stops producing. Pick daily, don’t ‘store’ on your plant. Cut & come again plants are a true value! Take lower lettuce, chard and kale leaves and the plant will grow more; cut off bunch onions 1-2″ above ground and they will grow back! Several times! When the radishes are pulled, plant more or something else right away!
Seed saving is your 2nd harvest!
If you have a plant, that does terrifically, you might want to save some of its seeds! Or sow them immediately for continuous harvest!
Tie ribbon around a plant you choose to save seeds from to remind you once it has stopped producing, you don’t accidentally remove it.
Let it flower – the bees love it, let it seed.
Let the seeds, or your bean pods, dry on the plant. Tomatoes get a different treatment. SeedSaving! An Easy Annual Ritual & Celebration!
Harvest the seeds midday on a dry sunny day.
Label your envelope – save date, plant name, special info about it.
Store in a cool, dry place.
Some seeds have a short shelf life, only 1 season, so check to see if you should be sure to plant them next year or give them away to someone who will!
If you have extra, share your seeds at a neighborhood garden exchange, Seed Swap, or give some away as holiday or birthday gifts!
Organize your garden seeds during our cool season. It is an inspiration for spring planting!
Container Gardening can be one of the most creative experiences you will ever have! Exercise your options! Have fun and be healthy!
Wherever you are, enjoy growing the most colorful tasty organic veggies!
Updated 5.29.23.
Love your Mother! Plant bird & bee food! Think grey water! Grow organic! Bless you for being such a wonderful Earth Steward!
The Green Bean Connection started as correspondence for the Santa Barbara CA USA Pilgrim Terrace Community Garden. Both Santa Barbara City’s remaining community gardens are very coastal. During late spring/summer we are often in a fog belt/marine layer most years, locally referred to as the May grays, June glooms and August fogusts. Keep that in mind compared to the microclimate niche where your veggie garden is.
I love smart pots! I like to put the big ones on furniture dollies so I can move them to sun, shade, or to a dry area from overnight drizzle for certain plants. Often the smart pots only come in black, so I use shade cloth around the bottoms of the pots to keep the roots cool when needed. (I haven’t done this for the past few years because we had cool summers here), I also like resin pots which are supposed to be FDA approved for growing food, unlike some plastic pots. I have lost many clay pots in rainy years and they do break, so it ends up costing and making a mess. I also finally got food grade hoses, which were available from Walmart online for a good price. I got some resin pots from home depot delivered, and got a good deal on smart pots from Amazon. HAPPY GARDENING!
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Wow, Laurie! Thanks for all those marvelous infos and tips! With your permission, I’ll weave them into the post in case people miss your comment! Big hugs and Happy Summer Solstice!
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