Container gardening is a great way to grow veggies if you’re short on space. If you live in an apartment or only have a small balcony, you can still enjoy heirloom tomatoes, fresh greens, and crunchy cucumbers.
Gardening always comes with a learning curve, though. Container gardening is no different. The five most common mistakes you’ll make when you’re growing vegetables in containers are: putting too many plants in one box, not having any drainage, not watering enough, mixing unfriendly plants in a small space, and using poor soil.
Soil quality is always a factor in gardening, but it’s imperative if you’re growing vegetables in containers. There is some possibility that plant roots can stretch out to find the nutrients they need in the ground, but they can’t do that in a container.
Watering a container garden is another big one. The simple fact is that water evaporates much more quickly from the soil in containers. And some popular containers, like terra cotta, absorb water quickly. Of course, this is easy to remedy—plan to water your container garden more frequently and make sure you have proper drainage.
Whether you have a tiny balcony off your fifth-floor apartment, a concrete driveway, or a sunny spot on your deck, container gardens are a valid option for anyone. You can build your own vegetable garden box out of wood, buy a galvanized steel version, or even use an old five-gallon bucket for a “folksy” look. A lot of people seem to think using a box limits what you can grow, but that’s only partially true, and it really depends on all sorts of circumstances in addition to what container you use.
In the articles below, we dive into all of these approaches to container gardening, and you can learn more about it in our How to Grow a Vegetable Garden: 10 Things Every Gardener Needs to Know Before Starting a Food Garden freebie. Enjoy!
I love growing vegetables in containers. Don’t get me wrong; I couldn’t be happier to have the space to grow a big garden in my backyard, but I’ve always loved having a few or more containers full of vegetables on the porch or decorating the front steps. Flowers are nice, but I’ll take a planter full of rosemary any day.
I’ll be blunt; if you enjoy cooking, you owe it to yourself to have a garden. I realize not everyone has the space for a big garden in the backyard. An edible front porch garden or balcony garden is a lot more attainable. In fact, even if you do have space for a big garden, there are some distinct advantages to growing your herbs and veggies right outside your door.
I love window boxes – especially those DIY window box planters I come across now and then. They’re just bursting with personality. I saw a fantastic steampunk window box a few years ago that I wish I would have taken a picture of. The box itself was ordinary, but it was embellished with these amazingly detailed metal gears, copper piping, and even a few pocket watches thrown in for good measure. Naturally, there was garlic growing in the box.
I’ve always loved deck rail planters and window boxes. They’re kind of quaint, and they can bring some natural beauty to a space that’s usually ignored. It’s always nice to walk by a house and see lots of colorful flowers hanging over the railings of a front porch or balcony.
If you’re done with rabbits eating your kale, deer munching on your tomatoes, skunks enjoying your cucumbers, and slugs eating your lettuce, you’ll want to know about the Vegepod Raised Garden Bed. What’s a Vegepod, you ask? It’s understandable if you aren’t familiar with the Vegepod Raised Garden Bed. I’ll admit that I only heard […]
Have I told you how much I adore container gardens? Container gardens are the quiet MVP of the vegetable gardening world. Container gardening provides accessibility to everyone. If you rent a house or apartment, a traditional garden bed might not be feasible. With the help of containers, you can turn a porch, deck, or balcony into a lush vegetable garden. (All without losing your security deposit!) Before starting out, it’s important to learn how to fertilize container vegetables.
In some universe, there’s an older version of me sitting in a rocking chair on a big farmhouse porch, looking in disbelief at the latest gardening catalog. I can hear myself now: “Fabric grow bags? What’s with all these newfangled things. Back in my day we just put seeds in the dirt.”
Plants don’t just absorb nutrients from their environment; they actually filter them out too! That’s why we’re able to grow plants using manure, for instance. If you’ve inherited old pots from previous owners, you may be wondering what was used inside them before they were yours. Plastic—which certainly has its own risks—can be washed down […]
You’ve probably heard that using old wood pallets isn’t the best idea, because you never know what they were carrying and could be filled with poisons you don’t want leaching into your soil and food. So then, if the most Pinterest-ed DIY project is null, what are the best containers for container gardening when you grow food? Mason jars. That’s the end of the list. Pure glass, no plastic.
Is there anything better than sitting on a porch, drinking a glass of fresh-squeezed lemonade, and reading a good book? I love a good porch sit but what I love even better is utilizing porch real estate as bonus garden space. I’ve written about the joys of container gardening before and how it’s a great gardening entry point, but we shouldn’t forget to think vertically too.
