felicitation ! You decided to start your own container vegetable garden .
But where do you begin ? What pitfalls should you avoid ?
You ’ll have a lot of question . But do n’t worry .
In this post , countenance ’s look at all the whole step you need to design your container veggie garden . This will aid you be after your garden and take legal action to progress one .
Let ’s begin .
1. Design the garden on paper or tool
I favor to design the garden layout on paper or a pen tablet because it give a good eminent - layer view . you could contrive the localization of the vegetables as you see fit .
It aid you see the different areas of the garden look on the sunlight , wind and drain weather condition . So you could project the plants , support , and security as ask .
you’re able to use newspaper publisher , a digital drawing tool , or a garden contriver software depending on which is comfortable .
Once you have contrive the container veg garden on paper , it saves prison term and vitality once you start the literal work . You do n’t need to guess how many containers you need and where you ask to put them .
If certain works do n’t work out out in your original layout , you’re able to easily adjust them without throw to start from scratch .
To get start up with designing your container vegetable garden on report or digitally , begin by measure the area where the garden will be located . Include any obstacle that might strike the placement of containers such as trees and nerve tract .
2. Choose the right location for the garden
You ’re growing a veggie garden , so it ’s important to choose a location that gets just sunshine . Some vegetable such as tomatoes , squash want at least 8 - 10 hours full sunlight . Someleafy vegetableslike Spinacia oleracea , lettuce may need at least 6 - 8 hours of sunlight .
So consider the useable space , and how the sunlight strain the different areas of this space . You ’ll need to plan which plant life you arise in them based on the sunlight .
Check for place where there may be sun shine from mirror or glass , cause it to become very spicy . There may be wind flowing through sure areas that can damage the plant , so consider that as well .
It ’s important to pick a location that has a water source such as a tap nearby . You ’ll have to water the plants and do n’t want to take the air a long aloofness every time . Even if you use a drip mould irrigation system , it will be easier to set up when the weewee rootage is close to the container garden .
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3. Select the vegetables and plants you want to grow
This is a crucial part of designing your container veggie garden . The selection of veg will charm many thing , like the type of containers you foot , the emplacement and locating of the containers .
break up veggie you enjoy eating , but commend to consider the hardiness zone of your area . This will influence the type of veggie that will grow well in the region .
I would suggest choosing dwarf or bush sort of vegetables if that is possible . It help oneself the plant maturate well in containers and makes it easier to handle . Tomatoes are one such plant where you’re able to get a bush assortment .
You ’ll also require native and flowering industrial plant that can attract pollinator and good insects to help oneself and protect vegetable plants .
4. Plan the correct placement and spacing of the containers
you’re able to start by planning the tall vegetable plant at the north end of the container garden . And then go forward placing the smaller plants in the next row as you move towards the south side .
This plan helps all the plants get the maximum potential sunshine during the day as the tall plants are at the back and wo n’t blank out sunlight .
I would suggest finding out the spacing your veg plant would necessitate and planning that as well . you could notice this on seminal fluid packets , seedling tags , or research on the cyberspace .
It ’s undecomposed to keep sufficient spacing between the container plants so they get the required sunshine and aeration . It aid them grow well and protect them from fungal diseases have because of humid condition . Do consider space between the plant life so you find it comfortable to move around and maintain them . Typically , spacing of 1 - 2 foot between the container should be sufficient .
Thebenefit of container vegetable gardeningis you could move the container around if you feel the posture is not correct .
5. Select the required containers for the garden
I would suggest deciding on the type of containers you ’ll use as part of your garden design . The first ingredient would be your budget because shaping containers will be cheaper than ceramic or metal 1 .
Then you should consider the size of the containers you ’ll take . This will count on the case of plants you ’ll grow and their width and height requirements .
you’re able to find fault containers with different colors depend on how attractive you want to make your container garden . Do note that black containers will engross more warmth than other colors , so do n’t use them if your garden arrest very hot .
I would see to it the containers have sufficientdrainage hollow , otherwise you ’ll have the extra piece of work of drilling them .
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6. Plan the required drainage
You may have planned the container veggie garden in your backyard . Or it may be in your house , such as the patio or balcony .
It ’s important to design the container garden so the drain water does not damage the floor . When the container veggie garden is outdoors , this is well-situated to do . you may send a layer of crushed rock before keeping the containers . The space between the drainage holes and crushed rock will aid drain the excess body of water away from the ground .
If the container garden is going to be on a terrace or balcony , you need to take concern it does not damage the flooring , especially if it ’s made from wood .
If there are a few container , you could apply tray underneath them and hold the collected water supply . But this is not an option if you are growing many vegetables . You ’ll demand to be after a drain organization so the water flows out without affecting the flooring .
7. Plan the required vegetable plant support
You’llneed to plan some supportfor growing veggie that are vining or weak stem , such as tomatoes , squash , and beans .
you’re able to use reenforcement such as stakes , trellis , or cages depending on the plant and usable quad . The welfare of using a treillage is you may put it against a bulwark and mature the climbers on it .
8. Get the required gardening tools
One benefit of container gardening is you do n’t need many shaft . But there are some that you may chance useful .
A trowel is one of the versatile horticulture cock for your vegetable plant . you could utilise it to dig , mix , add compost , fertilizer , take away weeds , or activate the potting soil .
A watering can is useful when you have a few veg plants . But if there are many , you could endue in a drip irrigation organization .
You may find a tramcar utile for transporting plants , container , fertilizer or compost bag if you have a big garden blank space . If you design to move the flora around , it would be practiced to place each of those on a dolly .
A lopper or scissor is utilitarian to prune the vegetable plants and to glean the vegetables .
9. Figure out the required potting soil
Once you make out the type of vegetables you need to uprise and the telephone number of container , you may figure out how many bags of potting filth you ’ll need .
There is a table below that will help oneself you get an close together estimation of how much potting land is required depending on the container size .
There is also a potting territory calculating machine you may expend to figure out the how much volume you require .
10. Figure out the required fertilizer
You do n’t need to use plant food at once if you ’re starting seeds . But if you are institute seedlings , you may need it .
You do n’t need to use fertiliser very often . Adding it every 15 - 30 day should be sufficient for most vegetable plants .
The eccentric of fertiliser you use would reckon on the growing stage and type of plants . You involve a N - fertile fertiliser when the plants are produce foliage . Later you could trade to one that is rich in phosphorus and atomic number 19 for fruiting vegetables like tomatoes and peppers .
I would intimate using organic plant food as you have less risk of over - fertilize the plants . For each container veggie plant , you’re able to take close to 100 grams for each software . So you could judge how much fertiliser you would need ab initio by number of plant x 100 g .
So if you are planning to grow 20 works you would need 20 x 100 = 2000 grams = 2 kg ab initio .
11. Identify common pests and diseases that may affect the garden
I face this job , as does any container vegetable gardener . You ’ll findpests and diseases attack your container gardenonce you grow veggie .
So it ’s safe to make a plan on how you ’ll tackle these problem after setting up the garden . I would advise a schedule every day where you check each of your plant .
This help you to receive out such issues as soon as they bechance and you could take the right actions before it becomes a big issue .
There ’s no worldwide solution to pests and diseases . You ’ll need to take care of each one by one . But you could get an idea of the pests and diseases that are common in your region and prepare consequently .
you may get this information from local gardening books or the cyberspace oncommon pestsand diseases in your orbit . This will help you understand what safeguard you may take and what pace to get free of them .
In my case , I feel aphids andwhitefliesare a vulgar trouble , especially on my pepper plants . The best solution I find is tospray neem oilsolution until the trouble goes away .
Further Reading
I would commend the next affair you should study is about the basics of set up a container vegetable garden . This contains all the information such as how much space is require , when to imbed veggie , how many vegetables to grow in a container , what type of containers and soil to use , how to prepare the container and a good deal more .
Fact Checked , Written , and release by Kevin Rodrigues
Kevin is the beginner of Gardening Mentor , a web site that aim to learn people to grow their own food for thought in a modified blank space . As a self - taught gardener , Kevin has spent several years growing plant life and creating horticulture content on the website . He is certified in Home Horticulture and Organic Gardening from Oregon State University . He has a Post Graduate Diploma in Horticulture and Landscape Gardening from Mumbai University . learn more
