May 24th, 2009
Try Container Vegetable Gardening for a Bumper Crop
Container vegetable gardening has so many benefits, it’s hard to believe more people aren’t doing it. Container vegetable gardening is a great way to make the most of the limited space you have. If you live in a home with a tiny yard or even an apartment, it can be hard to find a place for a vegetable garden. Containers allow you to have a garden on your patio, on the porch, or even inside of your home.
Some people have these gardens in their sunroom, in the kitchen window, or even in the window of a spare bedroom. Others utilize a closet space to grow plants by using a grow light.
Another major benefit of container gardening is the ability to move plants if you need to. If you’re growing your plants outdoors and bad weather comes, you can bring them inside where they’ll be safe. If your vegetables are getting too little sun or too much, you can easily move their containers to a better location. And you can even move your plants on a whim if you decide they’d look better elsewhere.
Vegetables grown in containers don’t have the same issues with diseases that traditionally-grown plants have. Although some container-grown plants do get diseases, it is far less likely than it would be if those plants were grown directly in the soil. Potting soil is generally free of disease-causing organisms, so your plants will be safer.
It’s easier to feed your vegetables when they’re in a container. You can make sure that the fertilizer you put in with the plants will get to them. When you use fertilizer on plants in traditional gardens, often it will end up going to other plants or just drain away. When the plants are in containers, this is not as likely to happen.
You do have to remember that because there is less soil, the fertilizer may drain out much faster. So you need to remember that the frequency of fertilizing will be increased as opposed to what you would do in an outdoor vegetable garden. But on the plus side, plants will be able to use more of the fertilizer you apply because it is less likely to wash away.
The growing season is extended when your vegetables are grown in containers. You can keep the soil of your potted plants warmer by wrapping them in blankets or any other insulating materials. Your plants can be started sooner indoors or in a cold frame and then be transported outdoors to larger pots when the weather is more permitting. After the first frost, your container vegetable garden can continue to grow by applying careful insulation and bringing them indoors when it becomes too cold.
One of the biggest benefits of growing your vegetables in containers is the fact that it makes gardening accessible to almost anyone. Handicapped individuals find growing their plants in containers makes it easier to locate plants where they can easily reach them. Many people in wheelchairs like to place their pots on a low table to make them more accessible. Elderly people who can’t work traditional gardens may find container gardening to be an excellent way to once again enjoy their favorite hobby. Even children find container gardening to be much easier than traditional vegetable gardening, because they don’t have to weed, rake and hoe, and they don’t have to have an adult till the soil for them.
So, if you don’t have room to grow your own traditional vegetable garden, you can still easily grow the garden you want when you go with a container garden.
I love the fact that gardening can be done by anybody, no matter how much space you have. In some ways container gardening can be a little easier as well because you are able to adjust the soil so that your plants have the perfect conditions for growth. plants