Any success with veg containers?

Hi all.
Have any of you lovely guys and girls on here tried to go vegetables in containers and had any success with them?

I'm looking to grow quite a few in a kitchen garden but I just know I will have plenty of seedlings left and thought I'ad have a go at some in containers.

I know it all depends on the weather etc. but I'm more than willing to put extra time and effort in getting a good crop.
Helen.xxx.

 

Planted up four big pots with early potatoes and they did very well and produced early crops as they were started off in the GH and polytunnel.
I also planted about a dozen 'spare' tubers in a compost heap and they produced a tremendous crop.

 

The simple answer is 'NO'. Nothing I plant in pots seems to do nearly as well as others planted in the ground. I tried some courgettes in large pots this last season and they were a total failure whereas the ones I planted out were cropping up until the first frost. I planted french runners in pots and they did nothing, potatoes in pots wern't bad but not nearly as good a crop as the ones planted out. Obviously, my green fingers don't extend to container growing!

 

I have done carrots in 3ft long sections of soil pipe this was to get long carrots with no forking, the sections of pipe were filled with compost then partialy buried in the ground to prevent them blowing over,it did work so I suppose you could call it container growing.Spuds are good in pots as Dave says.

 

Thanks guys.
I remember Bob Flowerdue (I thinks that's his name)on Gardener's World some years back growing veg in old tyres as well as all manner of other things of course I don't want to go 'down that road' but I'm willing to try anything once.

I should amagine that almost anything will good well with plenty of feed.
Helen.xxx.

 

Hi Helen, We grew new potato's in used up compost bags, just turn them inside out so the black lining is on the outside and put some holes for drainage and off you go.

 

Helen, when it comes down to it, you can grow anything in pots. As long as you look after them properly you will have no problems. Tell me what you want to grow and I will tell you how to grow it in a pot.

 

Well David I have a great many packets of seed to sow and I know some will have to go in the ground but also I want to fill some containers with some veg.

I'm going to try some 'stuff' like Tumbling Tom Red tomatoes in hanging baskets but I would also like to try other things too in a basket maybe a salad basket or two, if you guys have any other ideas of stuff that would grow reasonably well in a hanging basket let me know as I have plenty of baskets to go round.

I want to try a few vegatables in containers David that would not only give a lovely display of foliage while they are growing but also yield something that could end up on the dinner plate.

How would say carrots and leeks do growing in large pots? or have these really got to go into the ground to have some decent crop from them?
Helen.xxx.

 

I have tried a couple of tubs of carrots, Autumn King I set a few weeks ago in the cold greenhouse....Dont know if anything will come of them,just an experiment.....I am hopeful....

 

I`ve grown carrots in pots with no trouble, what you have to make sure of is that the depth of pot is deep enough for the variety you are using. You could also try beetroot and ruby chard would look good. I grew runnmer beans in a 20 litre pot this year with some success. I only grow potaoes in pots now because I find it an ideal way of growing new potatoes.

 

Just a thought as I've never tried it, but I wonder how climbing french beans or runner beans would do growing down rather than up. They would certainly try to turn round to grow upwards but it might be worth a try.
Butternut squash plants trail along the ground so might be worth a try in baskets as might one of the smaller melons e.g. Ogen melon, provided you don't plant out too early.
A few strawberry plants would give you foliage, flowers and fruit. Radish will give foliage but have to be picked young. Chives, spring onions and silverskin onions would work as would parsley.
The thing you'd need to watch with veg in baskets is watering as they'll be very much thirstier than flowers.

 

Thanks Dave I'm willing to try anything once.

Watering isn't a problem as that is one thing my lovely husband Bob does without me asking him, see I'ave trained him well ... just hope this coming summer we don't have a hose pipe ban otherwise Bob would be lost without his hose! :D
Helen.xxx.

 

Dave, good idea but I don`t think you will get the depth of soil to sustain these plants in hanging baskets. Obviously, you can now get trailing tomatoes and strawberries. Beans, I think would fail. I would be inclined to use leaf veg and maybe herbs.

 

Re Container growing. I have had great crops of Gardeners Delight Tomatoes grown in suspended plastic bags in the greenhouse, dont do anything to them but feed and water

 

I really must try that Brian. What an innovative idea.