Container Gardens

Tips and Tricks for Starting Your Own Patio Produce Patch

Speak­ing of plant­i­ng seeds, spring is the per­fect time to do that not only fig­u­ra­tive­ly but lit­er­al­ly in your very own gar­den, too! Not every­one has the space or sun­shine to grow a full gar­den, com­plete with rows of toma­toes, pep­pers, let­tuce, and cucum­bers. But every­one has the space and time to grow some­thing, so we are going to give some ini­tial point­ers for how to start a con­tain­er gar­den, which can be done on a bal­cony or even a front stoop, with very lit­tle space required.

First, plant your gar­den fol­low­ing know the old adage “don’t bite off more than you can chew” by not plant­i­ng more than you can grow!  Know your space, and know your expe­ri­ence lev­el. If this is your first time attempt­ing to grow fruits and veg­eta­bles, then start with only a cou­ple of con­tain­ers with a few small plants. If you only have a small space, don’t buy 5 huge planters with dreams of start­ing a road­side veg­etable stand!

Sec­ond­ly, grow what you are excit­ed to grow! No mat­ter how deli­cious home­grown toma­toes are (and trust me, they are so much bet­ter than store bought), if no one in your house likes toma­toes, don’t plant them! Who wants to spend time and ener­gy water­ing and car­ing for a plant only to nev­er enjoy the lit­er­al fruits of your labor! This goes for flow­ers, also. A friend of mine loves the scent of jas­mine and she has a large jas­mine tree in a huge planter that she brings out­side for spring and sum­mer, and inside for fall and win­ter. It is a true labor of love, but when it blooms twice a year, it is well worth the work.

Third, know how much sun­shine you get. This one is more impor­tant than novice gar­den­ers usu­al­ly real­ize. Many flow­ers and most fruits and veg­eta­bles require a lot of sun. Find a loca­tion where you can get the most sun pos­si­ble if you are try­ing to grow any­thing that requires it.

Fourth, have a water­ing plan. Con­tain­ers need more water than gar­dens plant­ed direct­ly in the ground because they only have so much soil, and the soil can dry out very quick­ly. At the height of sum­mer, most con­tain­ers need to be watered dai­ly, espe­cial­ly in the sun. Do you trav­el a lot? Is there any­one around who can help you water your plants? Con­tain­ers can be watered at any time of day, with morn­ing being the best time and mid-after­noon being the worst time. Will your con­tain­ers be near a hose? If not, do you have a water­ing can? And are you will­ing to make that many trips back and forth to the sink?

Once you have made all of those deci­sions, buy some con­tain­ers and get start­ed! I high­ly rec­om­mend buy­ing the plants direct­ly from your local farm­ers’ mar­ket. Most farm­ers sell seedlings and small plants in April and ear­ly May until they have their own pro­duce to sell. Not only can the farm­ers answer any ques­tions you have about plant­i­ng, water­ing, and car­ing for your new, young plants, but they are usu­al­ly much hardier and health­i­er because they are local to your spe­cif­ic area and per­fect for your cli­mate. You are also sup­port­ing your local econ­o­my, which makes it a true win all around!

You will need to buy pot­ting soil and the actu­al con­tain­ers at your local hard­ware store. When you are first start­ing out, plant one veg­etable plant or a few small­er flower plants per con­tain­er. I know that the mag­a­zines are filled with beau­ti­ful over­flow­ing con­tain­ers with sev­er­al lev­els of plants coex­ist­ing togeth­er in har­mo­ny, but save that for your sec­ond (or third) year of con­tain­er gar­den­ing. Some plants do work well togeth­er (marigolds and toma­toes, for exam­ple, as marigolds are a nat­ur­al bug repel­lent), so if you are feel­ing adven­tur­ous, you can try those togeth­er. How­ev­er, it is very easy to over­crowd a con­tain­er and have too many plants com­pet­ing for the resources in the water and the soil. Always start small and build from there!

Now, if all of this is just too much, you can also con­sid­er an indoor tow­er gar­den. While these can be a lit­tle pricey, you get fresh veg­eta­bles all year round with­out hav­ing to wor­ry about sun/shade, water­ing, or over­crowd­ing. Check out the excel­lent Jui­ce­Plus+ Tow­er Gar­den.

Don’t for­get to share pic­tures of your gar­dens — tow­er, con­tain­er, or oth­ers — at our Face­book com­mu­ni­ty as you are har­vest­ing all of your healthy plantings!