# container gardening



## sgtrunningfool

I am setting up a container garden for the spring. How do I estimate how much to plant in order to provide us with at least a 4-6 months supply. We plan on dehydrating some and canning some. Thank u


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## cqp33

I have a great book called "self sufficiency on 1/4 acre". it describes different techniques for planting the seeds in small places, gives charts on estimated yields, proper seed spacing as well how much each person would need for a year, just a wealth of information. the book is in all color and will forever be a reference on my shelf. The book is about $20 if I remember correctly but if mine came up missing I would buy it again!


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## JustCliff

Not to be a smart ass but, Plant as much as you can take care of and that you can afford to put into it. 
I am going to try it this year with my back yard. It measures 130X85. Im going to use ground cover after I level it out so i'm not dealing with weeds. This company is local for me: http://www.berryhilldrip.com/home.php?cat=
They have a pretty nice setup for their fall mums. It's a large area covered with ground cover and has pots in rows. Thousands I would guess. They have drip irrigation set up for all of it. They water and fertilize this way. They use only a fraction of the fertilizer and water that normal growing systems do and they don't have to babysit it as much. I use their drip tape products and like them very much. 
It will cost you some money starting out but, the payoff comes in reduced labor, reduces fertilizer and water use and higher yields. I bought my Chemilizers off Ebay for a fraction of new and 2 of them were new.


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## sgtrunningfool

My problem is I live on a military base with a very very small backyard which gets almost no sun. So I have to use containers in the front of the house because we are not to plant in the ground in front. I am making lots of self watering containers and planters.


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## kejmack

I don't want to rain on your parade, but you are going to need a boatload of containers to grow enough for 6 months of food. Seriously, I have raised beds equaling more than 1800 sq ft of growing space and I barely have enough space. I am adding more over the winter. 

Generally, you need 6 peppers per person and 5 tomato plants per person, etc etc. You can see how it adds up. If you are growing tomatoes for just two people, you will need 10 pots of tomatoes. 

You might supplement what you can grow with trips to the farmer's market. Keep us posted on how it turns out.


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## AuroraHawk

If you plan to grow varieties that have a bush/low growth habit and a climbing/vine version, grow the climbing/vine version. You will be able to plant and grow more if the plants don't take up much space on the soil. I have multipurpose plant cages made from panels of re-mesh/wire used for reinforcing sidewalks and driveways. Lowe's sells panels of the mesh in 42" x 8' pieces and in 6' x 100' rolls. We bought the panels this year but I plan to get a roll next year. My tomatoes, cucumbers, muskmelon and beans needed taller cages. Using these cages allows for planting 2-3 tomato, 4 cucumber, 4 muskmelon, and 8 bean plants per cage.

If you can afford it, buy subscriptions to Mother Earth News and Organic Gardening. Both will have articles about gardening in containers and under many different conditions. I have bought several good gardening books at Lowe's. Check their book/magazine racks near the check-out aisles. 

Good luck and have fun.

Dawn


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## sgtrunningfool

I realize that it would take alot of containers but I thought if I could figure how much was needed we could work our way up to it at our next location. Hopefully we will move back to Texas next move or at least close


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## sgtrunningfool

The maintenance is a big reasoon for container gardening. I am putting as much as I can in self watering containers and using store bought potting soil mix too minimize the weeds


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## *Andi

cqp33 said:


> I have a great book called "self sufficiency on 1/4 acre". it describes different techniques for planting the seeds in small places, gives charts on estimated yields, proper seed spacing as well how much each person would need for a year, just a wealth of information. the book is in all color and will forever be a reference on my shelf. The book is about $20 if I remember correctly but if mine came up missing I would buy it again!


Sounds like a cool book ... wonder if my library has a copy?


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## kejmack

sgtrunningfool said:


> The maintenance is a big reason for container gardening. I am putting as much as I can in self watering containers and using store bought potting soil mix too minimize the weeds


Potting soil doesn't really have the right balance of nutrients for veggies. I suggest you mix at least half with composted cow or horse manure. Horse manure is higher in nitrogen. Plus, bags of manure are WAY cheaper than potting soil.

Maintenance is the main reason that I switched to raised beds years ago. Bending over row after row of veggies and pulling weeds was inefficient and bad for the back. Raised beds are very low maintenance and the yields are fantastic.

If you are interested, I have a list of how many plants per person you need. I'd be happy to dig it up and post it for you.


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## Startingout-Blair

kejmack said:


> Potting soil doesn't really have the right balance of nutrients for veggies. I suggest you mix at least half with composted cow or horse manure. Horse manure is higher in nitrogen. Plus, bags of manure are WAY cheaper than potting soil.
> 
> Maintenance is the main reason that I switched to raised beds years ago. Bending over row after row of veggies and pulling weeds was inefficient and bad for the back. Raised beds are very low maintenance and the yields are fantastic.
> 
> If you are interested, I have a list of how many plants per person you need. I'd be happy to dig it up and post it for you.


I would also be interested in that information Kejmack! Sounds like good info!


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## DJgang

sgtrunningfool said:


> My problem is I live on a military base with a very very small backyard which gets almost no sun. So I have to use containers in the front of the house because we are not to plant in the ground in front. I am making lots of self watering containers and planters.


I'm going to try some square hay bale gardening this year.

Would lining bales of hay along your house be against the 'code' ? Lots cheaper than containers.


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## sgtrunningfool

I am sure the hay would be out of the question. Do you have to do anything special to the horse manure to use it? A friend of mine has horses


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## AuroraHawk

You need to be certain that the horse manure has been composted and broken down. Using fresh manure will burn your plants and, possibly, kill them. Rabbit manure can be used without the need to compost.

All of my gardening is container or raised bed gardening. I didn't have a compost pile to use last spring so I bought garden soil, peat and steer manure from Lowe's and mixed an 80 lb bag of garden soil with a 20 lb bag of peat and another of cow manure. My plants loved it.


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## webeable

Might want to try just doing some spuds 20 buckets @5 lb average harvest would give you 100 lbs. Makes harvest easy dump accross hardware cloth.


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## AuroraHawk

If you want to get a bit creative and do some decorating with your container garden, you can cut the legs off old blue jeans/BDUs, sew the legs shut, fill cut-offs with soil and plant potatoes in them. Potatoes like loose, light soil, and air around the roots, so they appreciate the air that gets through the fabric of the cut-offs. At harvest time you can put hardware cloth (Thanks for reminding me of the hardware cloth, webeable) across the top of your wheel barrow, dump everything out of the cut-offs and have fun gathering the potatoes.

We have a wood privacy fence and I plan to decorate it with several pairs of old blue jeans. I'm going to sew across the jeans just under the butt area, then again half-way down the thigh, again just below the knee, and a last time at the bottom. Once sewn I am going to cut from the out-seam to the in-seam just below the cross-stitching at the butt, thigh, and knee. I'll pack soil in all of the newly created pouches, plant potatoes in the top, and annual herbs in the lower pouches. We have a drip irrigation system and it will be expanded to irrigate my fence art.


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## sgtrunningfool

My wife wants me to herbs in boots hanging on the fence


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## kejmack

Herbs are easy, easy to grow and you can't beat fresh herbs for cooking!


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## kejmack

DJgang said:


> I'm going to try some square hay bale gardening this year.
> 
> Would lining bales of hay along your house be against the 'code' ? Lots cheaper than containers.


Being in Texas where hay is scarce, I can't imagine "wasting" hay on a garden. But, my biggest question is about weeds. Hay is full of weed seeds. How does it not get into your garden? Why don't you just line the garden with cinder blocks instead? Why hay?


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## DJgang

kejmack said:


> Being in Texas where hay is scarce, I can't imagine "wasting" hay on a garden. But, my biggest question is about weeds. Hay is full of weed seeds. How does it not get into your garden? Why don't you just line the garden with cinder blocks instead? Why hay?


I think, now have not tried it at all, but I think, you put just enough soil to plant in the bale, then the roots grow in the bale. I think not enough soil for weeds to grow. does that make sense? There is a friend of a friend around here that did this last year, she had wonderful yields, so I'm going to talk to her. You keep planting in the bales for as long as they will last. I don't know how long that would be. 
Also, it's a suggestion for folks who do not have a tiller or can not physically take care of a real garden or physically make a raised bed or as in this case, can't dig into the ground at all for a garden.

Every idea helps and maybe mine did help someone.

Here http://strawbalegardens.com/

http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/straw-bale-gardening.html

I think it's a good idea for people who have physical limitations or have crappy soil to have a garden.


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## AuroraHawk

sgtrunningfool said:


> My wife wants me to herbs in boots hanging on the fence


And you haven't started yet?


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## sgtrunningfool

AuroraHawk said:


> And you haven't started yet?


No expecting to get snow soon


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## AuroraHawk

Well dang...you could have planted garlic in those boots. I planted my garlic about 2 weeks ago and it is about 2 inches tall now. I'll have garlic to harvest late next spring.


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## Bobbb

sgtrunningfool said:


> My problem is I live on a military base with a very very small backyard which gets almost no sun. So I have to use containers in the front of the house because we are not to plant in the ground in front. I am making lots of self watering containers and planters.


If you have space limitation AND you can't dig into the ground AND you want a lot of produce, THEN all of these conditions begin to restrict your range of options. It looks to me like the only way to achieve all of your conditions it to go vertical.

To begin with here is a video:






Here are some photos:


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## kejmack

DJgang said:


> I think, now have not tried it at all, but I think, you put just enough soil to plant in the bale, then the roots grow in the bale. I think not enough soil for weeds to grow. does that make sense?


Thanks for the links, DJgang. I had never heard of this. Crazy!


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## DJgang

kejmack said:


> Thanks for the links, DJgang. I had never heard of this. Crazy!


Yeah we were just going over your rule of thumb number for tomato plants.... We would need about 25, husband said, we don't have room for that many and I don't think that I could take care of that many, so I may do some bales with tomatoes... Two per bale, so I think I could easily get 10 plants going along the side of my back deck.


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## kejmack

DJgang said:


> Yeah we were just going over your rule of thumb number for tomato plants.... We would need about 25,


The 5 per person rule of thumb includes your needs for canning and making your own spaghetti sauce and ketchup. If you buy that stuff, then you won't need as many plants. In my book, nothing beats homemade sauces but I know a lot of people don't have time or interest.


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## DJgang

kejmack said:


> The 5 per person rule of thumb includes your needs for canning and making your own spaghetti sauce and ketchup. If you buy that stuff, then you won't need as many plants. In my book, nothing beats homemade sauces but I know a lot of people don't have time or interest.


Yep, I definitely end up buying and we do about 10 plants a year. To double up would be good for us, I think we're going to try that this year! :2thumb:


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## kyredneck

In all my years of gardening this was the first season that I've ever done a container grown plant. I don't need to use containers for gardening, I just think it's interesting, and fun to see just how much you can get from it by 'babying it'. 

I picked up these leaky 15 & 17 gal tubs at an estate sale late this summer with the intent to grow.....something..... in each of them just for fun and to see how much could be produced.

I'm pretty sure I'll do a teepee of Fortex beans in one, and probably beets in another to see how much beet kvass can be produced from one tub.

Anybody have suggestions?


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## DJgang

kyredneck said:


> In all my years of gardening this was the first season that I've ever done a container grown plant. I don't need to use containers for gardening, I just think it's interesting, and fun to see just how much you can get from it by 'babying it'.
> 
> I picked up these leaky 15 & 17 gal tubs at an estate sale late this summer with the intent to grow.....something, in each of them just for fun and to see how much could be produced.
> 
> I'm pretty sure I'll do a teepee of Fortex beans in one, and probably beets in another to see how much beet kvass can be produced from one tub.
> 
> Anybody have suggestions?


No idea what else to plant in them but....don't you just love fortex beans????
:2thumb:


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## kyredneck

sgtrunningfool said:


> I am setting up a container garden for the spring. How do I estimate how much to plant in order to provide us with at least a 4-6 months supply. We plan on dehydrating some and canning some. Thank u


I don't know how large of containers you're able to use, but Bobbb is right, to increase production it's neccessary to go up.

Imagine a tub as in my previous post.

A = Pi x r squared

Area = 3.141593 x (1 x 1 ) = 3.141593 sq ft

The area of the 24" dia tub is Pi, or, 3.141593 sq ft.

According to traditional 'square foot' gardening spacing 24 (8 per sq ft) pole bean plants could theoretically be grown on 3.14 sq ft of container space.

Now imagine a teepee kinda like in the photo below constructed in the tub for these 24 pole bean plants to grow up. I think you would be pleasantly surprised at the amount of beans one such container could produce. I intend to find out next year. Just for fun.


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## kyredneck

DJgang said:


> No idea what else to plant in them but....don't you just love fortex beans????
> :2thumb:


I've never tried them before, just read lot's of good things about them.


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## sgtrunningfool

Am I the only one who gets a little overwhelmed by the varieties of seed and plants available?


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## DJgang

sgtrunningfool said:


> Am I the only one who gets a little overwhelmed by the varieties of seed and plants available?


No, not at all!


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## Grimm

I have a rather small balcony attached to my apartment. Right now I have a kettle bbq, a mother-in-laws tongue plant, and various odds and ends like bbq tools and a sand table for Roo. I am going to have a container garden when the weather warms a bit. I am going to turn the sand table into an herb bed and have our puppy's potty patch under it. I currently have 2 blue berry bushes and 2 raspberry bushes in grow bags on our front porch. I'll be planting peas and potatoes in grow bags too. The grow bags are great because if you move they are lightweight empty or full.


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## Bobbb

Grimm said:


> Right now I have a kettle bbq, a mother-in-laws tongue plant.


Wait. Tell me more. How can I get my mother-in-law's tongue out of her mouth and stuck on a plant? Can this be permanent? Does this mean that the plant now talks to you or is the tongue silent because there in no sound cavity in which it can form words?


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## kejmack

sgtrunningfool said:


> Am I the only one who gets a little overwhelmed by the varieties of seed and plants available?


After you get a few seasons under your belt, you will learn what kinds you like and what grows best in your area.

I, personally, like heirlooms. They don't always look the greatest but the flavors beat any hybrid! Plus, you can save your own seeds each year.


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## Grimm

Bobbb said:


> Wait. Tell me more. How can I get my mother-in-law's tongue out of her mouth and stuck on a plant? Can this be permanent? Does this mean that the plant now talks to you or is the tongue silent because there in no sound cavity in which it can form words?


I wish! Its a neat looking plant that my DH likes and can't kill. We got one when we got married and it now lives at my parents' house due to space at our last apartment. We got a new one when our neighbor moved. She left it on the porch so I took it or the landlord was going to throw it away.


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## pixieduster

kejmack said:


> The 5 per person rule of thumb includes your needs for canning and making your own spaghetti sauce and ketchup. If you buy that stuff, then you won't need as many plants. In my book, nothing beats homemade sauces but I know a lot of people don't have time or interest.


Must tell us more! I've written down all your rules of thumb. Obviously your background has given you a wealth of useful information.


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## kyredneck

sgtrunningfool said:


> Am I the only one who gets a little overwhelmed by the varieties of seed and plants available?


"...And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food: and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for food: and it was so....."

It's called selective breeding and it's been going on for a long time now. 

Besides, variety is the spice of life, count your blessings and dream of next year's garden....


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## sgtrunningfool

I am making a garden plan over the next few days. I will figure something out. Lol


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## kyredneck

I'm searching through some of my 'outdoors' photo folders and ran across this (probably 2004-05); a 'side bennie' to a pole bean teepee is to plant shade loving lettuce inside it. Works like a charm.


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## sgtrunningfool

kyredneck said:


> I'm searching through some of my 'outdoors' photo folders and ran across this (probably 2004-05); a 'side bennie' to a pole bean teepee is to plant shade loving lettuce inside it. Works like a charm.


I like that. I will have to try it. I am thinking of doing a small patch of the three sisters concept


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## kyredneck

Many corn plants are required and must be grown in very close proximity in order to assure decent pollination and full ears of corn. Also, sweet corn 'ain't gonna get it' with three sisters, it's not strong enough to carry the pole beans, has to be a good strong field corn variety like Hickory King or Bloody Butcher, etc..

Now, growing pole beans up sunflowers in a small plot, that's a different matter....


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## sgtrunningfool

I like the sun flower idea because my girls love flowers. You guys have me looking for all sorts of ways to expand my initial plans


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## ashley8072

Have you looked into the A-frame container garden? A-frame built out of wood. Bottles laying on sides with section cut off. Holes drilled throughout the bottom for draining. I seen them last week online. I wish I could find some pics for you. They had actually done this is another country where food is vacant.


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## sgtrunningfool

I have and I love the idea but base housing would throw a fit because the only place I get sun is in the front yard. So I would have put the A frame a there


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## kyredneck

Well looky here what Burpee has introduced this year, the first ever sweet corn bred for container growing! I might actually try it myself:

http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/corn/corn-on-deck-hybrid-prod003168.html


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## Grimm

kyredneck said:


> Well looky here what Burpee has introduced this year, the first ever sweet corn bred for container growing! I might actually try it myself:
> 
> http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/corn/corn-on-deck-hybrid-prod003168.html


I am! I have been trying to figure out how to grow corn on my patio...


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