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smoke
02-13-2009, 12:12 PM
Does any body here garden in containers my soil is not good and I would Like to rais my own vegy's. Have any of you had success at this. Or would I be better off taking adding soil to the grounnd that I have? Any input is appreciated.

Hawgs_Fan
02-13-2009, 12:58 PM
Check out this website: http://www.josho.com/gardening.htm
It should fit in with your ideas. Of course, you could always start small and build up from there. I built two last summer for tomatoes and worked great. I plan on building two more this year. Hope this helps. :)

Rick
02-13-2009, 02:27 PM
Use the search button. There are several posts on container gardens.

crashdive123
02-13-2009, 02:44 PM
Does any body here garden in containers my soil is not good and I would Like to rais my own vegy's. Have any of you had success at this. Or would I be better off taking adding soil to the grounnd that I have? Any input is appreciated.

Yep - use them quite a bit. I make homemade earth boxes (got the plans on the web) There are a few pictures posted of em floating around. I get a higher yield from the plants in the earth boxes than I do from the plants in the ground.

crashdive123
02-13-2009, 03:11 PM
Here are a couple of pics from last spring.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii67/crashdive123/garden001.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii67/crashdive123/garden006.jpg

Stairman
02-13-2009, 04:09 PM
I love container gardening but Im not set up like Crash.It seems like the bugs arent as bad as in the ground.I use just about anything to plant in except pressure treated lumber.Last year I had peppers out the yingyang.Try it this year,youll like it.

Rick
02-13-2009, 05:57 PM
I did some container gardening last year as a trial. One large pot of carrots and one large pot with a tomato plant. They sat outside all summer and then I moved them inside in the fall. The tomato plant crashed right away. Not to mention it was loaded with white flies and aphids (which my wife was ever so quick to point out). The carrots did just fine and we are still picking some of them. The greenery was also infested with white flies and aphids. I told my wife to talk to them. She might talk them to death. (looks quickly over his shoulder before hitting send button).

crashdive123
02-13-2009, 09:22 PM
Here's some good info on container gardening. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/container/container.html

vthompson
02-13-2009, 09:35 PM
Last summer my wife and I planted some tomatoes and mild peppers in containers and had good results with them. We planted them in large pots and then we let them set on the railing on our front porch. We plan on doing it again this year also.
As a matter of fact, we are trying something new this year. I got 3 pots ready this afternoon with fresh cow manure in them and tonite we are planting peanuts in them. My wife wanted to try to raise some so she bought the seeds at the store.
Also this year we plan on expanding our pots to plant more tomatoes and peppers and I am wanting to try to raise some carrots.

Runs With Beer
02-15-2009, 10:14 AM
Here are a couple of pics from last spring.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii67/crashdive123/garden001.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii67/crashdive123/garden006.jpg

Nice tomato plants, My wifes wanting to try that this spring.

dominored
02-15-2009, 11:16 PM
I think the answer to your original question depends on how much land you have to work with and how large of a garden you would like. If you have a lot of land, it is more cost-effective to add organic matter (manure, compost etc.) to it each year and build a better soil. If you don't have much space, the container gardens work fantastic, but there is a little up front expense.

crashdive123
02-15-2009, 11:32 PM
Actually, if you make your own the up front expense is fairly low.

klkak
02-16-2009, 02:06 AM
So container gardening is basically growing stuff in a flower pot?

crashdive123
02-16-2009, 07:24 AM
So container gardening is basically growing stuff in a flower pot?

Yep, but not all flower pots are created equal.

Riverrat
02-16-2009, 07:37 AM
We had two types of gardens last year, and will again this year. The normal in ground type, and raised bed gardens. I prefer the raised bed type as it did not have 1/4 of the weeds, very few bugs, and the plants grew faster and stronger. This year, if things work out right, we will only plant the potatoes in traditional gardens, the veggies will be in the raised bed type.

Chris
02-26-2009, 11:18 AM
Container gardening can be expensive and the performance usually isn't as good. You gotta buy the containers, water more often, and of course the potting soil. Regular garden soil will not fly in containers, it doesn't hold the water and it compacts like crazy in a pot.

Raised beds are far easier and better, even if you have bad soil. Build a box out of 1x12 cedar (or another wood) with 4x4s in the corners for stability, just 1 board high is enough (though, I have one 3 feet high so I don't have to bend over), and you're good to go, dig out a small patch of ground, lay it level, and fill with compost and garden soil.

If you want to avoid all digging you can make lasagna.

Put your box on the ground, on top of grass, it doesn't matter. Put down a thick layer of newspaper or cardboard. Put down a layer of organic matter or compost, another (thinner, all rest will be thinner) layer of newspaper or cardboard. Another layer of organic matter, etc until you reach the top. Over the course of the summer continue adding layers until fall, when you top with a final layer of wood mulch. Come spring, it'll be ready for planting. No digging or sod busting required.

You can also consequently do this with retaining wall bricks, dry stacked stone, etc, it doesn't always have to be wood.