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Container Vegetable Gardening By: Peter Doyle  |
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One of the biggest reasons that people site for not growing their own vegetables is a lack of physical space on their property to have a garden. The second biggest reason is the hard work involved in digging up the garden plot. But there is a way to have a robust vegetable garden that doesn’t call for a lot of space or the back breaking work of turning over soil.
The answer is container vegetable gardening.
Container vegetable gardening is essentially the same as regular gardening but instead of planting your vegetables in the ground, you plant them in containers and plant potters, which can be easily manipulated, and even moved around if necessary.
Container vegetable gardens can be located just about anywhere as long as the area gets enough sun. I have seen incredible container vegetable gardens located anywhere from apartment balconies to condominium patios.
When choosing a potter, just make sure you get something large enough to not only support a full grown plant but also the potter must be deep enough to comfortably contain the root system of the vegetables you plant. If you don’t want to buy the container, old 5 gallon buckets and even cut in half 55 gallon plastic drums work great. *Note: if your going to use old buckets and containers you find around the house, just make sure to cut a few small holes at the bottom so that extra water can escape the container.
If you plan to locate your container vegetable garden on a balcony, just remember to put a saucer under the container, or to buy planters with a built on saucer so that escaping water doesn’t drip down on the balcony below you.
When it comes to choosing soil, honestly, any healthy soil will do, but if you have never gardened before, you may want to choose a product like Miracle Grow’s Vegetable Mix. It comes ready to use and has all the nutrients necessary to grow health, productive vegetables.
Ultimately it comes down to what you want to grow. And while almost anything will grow in a container, some vegetables definitely perform better than others. Here’s a quick list of vegetables that are common favorites and that traditionally grow very well in containers:
Broccoli
Basil
Carrots
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Leaf Lettuce
Parsley
Peas
Peppers
Spinach
Tomatoes
If you have never had a vegetable garden before, container vegetable gardening is a great way to get started. Container vegetable gardening is easy and fun and anyone can do it. It just takes a little time, space, and making sure all your plants get a little water everyday.
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