Potted gardens....

Hi friends,

I grow a lot of stuff in pots here, and the best place I've found to put them is under our ONE oak tree in the backyard beside the patio. Some of them are plants I brought from my old garden, some are new, some were given to me by friends, some I grew from seed. I like to mix things up. In these hot summers, the plants love the shade from the tree, and have no problems with it. I have everything from peppers, to tomatoes, to some tropicals to prickly pear cactus growing there!

Here's a successful experiment...a corn plant in with a potted holly bush! and yes, those are two little ears of corn. These are actually growing better than the corn I planted out in the "real" garden.



I also have a bell pepper plant growing in with a zinnia (an almost dead rescue I bought for 25-cents at Lowe's Garden Center).


and a mandavilla growing beside a tomato plant, but not in the same pot this time:



So you see, you don't need seven acres to grow some veggies for your kitchen!

dig it!

bobbi c.

Growing veggies in pots and containers

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

Yesterday, a reader asked me if I had any suggestions for growing veggies in pots. As a matter of fact, I just got a new packet of lettuce seeds that are great for growing in pots and small containers. Specifically, the seeds are for Garden Babies Butterhead Container Lettuce, and are available from Renee’s Garden seeds. The Baby Butterhead lettuces are a new variety, originally developed for the Japanese luxury salad market, where flavor and quality are very important.
Here’s a specific link to more info. about the lettuce.



I potted up some seed into small peat pots, and they sprouted within a week. Once they get larger, I’ll put them outside in a semi-shady spot in a small pot. They don’t get huge, and supposedly are bolt resistant, which means they can take a little heat, unlike a lot of other lettuces.

Other than these specific lettuces, there are lots of veggies you can grow in containers. Cherry tomatoes, bush beans, bush cucumbers, miniature eggplants, etc. Most large seed catalogs have a section specifically for the smaller plants. Just remember, if they’re in pots, they’ll dry out faster. You might want to put one pot inside another, that will help with the watering because the inner pot won’t get so hot. Water them daily, keep an eye on them for insects, feed them with a good organic fertilizer such as liquid seaweed (my fav) or fish emulsion, and harvest when the veggies are young and small.

Enjoy, and dig it!

bobbi c.
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