University of Maryland AAEP2-WIA Container gardening

Getting Started Container Gardening Advantages Drawbacks Selecting Containers Growing Media Fertilizing, Watering and caring for your plants

Container Vegetable Gardening

Container Garden Video d&v=S8g5Pyvub5c

What to grow Many species adapt well to containers including just about any vegetables or herb, as well as flowers, green ornamentals and succulents. Some of the more popular container crops are salad greens, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, beans, chard, beets, radish, squash and cucumbers. More challenging crops include melons, corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. The key is to experiment.

Choosing a Container Containers can be temporary, practical, whimsical, artistic, expensive or free. Commercially produced containers can be purchased at garden centers and through mail order catalogs. Objects can be recycled or transformed into suitable containers – 5 gallon plastic buckets, truck tires, wooden crates, barrels, nursery pots, plastic trash bags, and plastic storage containers. Avoid treated lumber products and be aware that plastics not made for outdoors use can become brittle from exposure to the elements.

Choosing a Container All containers should have holes or slats in the bottom to allow water to drain out. Dark colors will create higher soil 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.

Choosing a Container Barrel - 1 to 2 plant capacity8 cu. Ft. of growing media

Planting & Care Keep those plants growing! Three-season planting (a.k.a. “succession planting”): When spring lettuce or radishes are spent, re-plant the container in late May with pepper plants, beans or cucumber seed. In early fall you can plant kale, lettuce or broccoli raab to finish out the season. Don’t forget to fertilize after each crop! Give them support. Cucumbers, pole beans, peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant will all benefit from some type of vertical support. Move plants around if containers are portable to maximize sunlight (for heat-loving crops) and shade (for summer-grown salad greens).

Temperature Plants prefer temperatures between 12.5 and 25° C. Container plants are more susceptible to extreme temperatures

Watering Apply water until it runs out the drainage holes. The growing medium should always be moist, but not soggy. Early morning and late afternoon are the best times to water to decrease evaporation losses. Containers can be easily set up with drip irrigation. Adding mulch helps maintain water content and reduce evaporation losses. Use a watering can or nozzle on the end of a hose that produces a soft stream of water. Be careful not to use hot water! It can burn leaves and young roots. Plants in containers generally need more frequent watering compared to plants in the ground.

Fertilization Even “quick” crops like leaf lettuce that mature in days should be fertilized once or twice. Long-season crops like tomato, cucumber, eggplant, and pepper may need to be lightly fertilized every 2 weeks or so, to produce a continuous harvest The fertilizer can be organic or synthetic It should contain the major nutrients - nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.

Making Compost Tea Place 2 to 4 liters of compost (such as worm castings) tied up in screen material (like a tea bag) and suspend for hours in 16 liters of water Then dilute the tea with water and apply to root system

Soil or Growing Media Growing medium has three main functions Some good media mixtures for container vegetables: 1. supply roots with nutrients, air, and water, 2. allow for maximum root growth, and 3. physically support the plant. 100% compost 100% soil-less mix 25% garden soil + 75% compost 25% soil-less mix + 25% garden soil + 50% compost 25% garden soil + 75% soil- less mix 50% soil-less mix + 50% compost

Sunlight The amount of sunlight that your container garden spot receives may determine which crops can be grown. Southern and western exposures will be the sunniest and warmest, while northern and eastern exposures will be shadier and cooler. 6-8 hours of direct sun for warm-season crops (tomato, pepper, eggplant, squash) and 3-5 hours of direct sun for cool-season crops (lettuce, spinach, Asian greens).

Ideas for Container Gardening

Self-Watering Containers

Salad Table

Potato sack or Tower