Saturday, March 12, 2011

Why Grow Plants in Containers ?

Saturday 12th March.

I am often asked "Why grow plants in containers ?"
well my answer is quite simple it is a lot easier to most type of plants in containers especially if you have a small garden or find it difficult to get down to the ground....
Vegetables grow very well in containers, I use them for courgettes, lettuce, tomato's and potato's, carrots, Apple trees and mint and horse raddish and many other herbs ....
I use large 75 litre or 100 litre pots for my apple trees and 20-40 litre pots.

I find it much easier to grow all this plants in pots and I can have them where I want around the garden and nursery...I grow some of my fruit bushes in pots too...It's nice to walk around in the summer munching frehly picked fruit and vegetables .....

I also  mix my own potting compost for my pots and make sure I also put in water retaining granules to help out in the summer with watering as pots / containers do tend to dry out faster than the vegetable boxes. And the granules certainly do help with keeping some moisture in the soil...
I will give you a good recipe for compost on another page...

Hopefully as last year I will have a good crop of vegetables and fruits which I grew in pots....
All you have to remember is to water them in the morning and in the evening and check regularly for the fruit and vegetable that have ripened and pick them as soon as they are ready...
Lady Sarah.

5 comments:

  1. Sunday 13th March.

    A little more about growing in containers / pots.
    I have to say that I do fing it much easier to look after the plants I have growing in pots and there are so many different types to choose from round one square ones small and great big 200-300 litre pots...And I find it does make areas that can be quite dull in the garden alot brighter...I have lots of different sized and shaped pots for all kinds of plants to grow in...and my compost does work very well inthem too...John also makes my any unusual pots that I may need at his GRP unit I tend to buy 1 pot then John will make me as many of that type as I need....And I always have plenty of pots in stock from 2 inch up to 50 litre...which I use for my fruit trees...I grow all my tomato's in pots and some of my lettuce in pots too I use large troughs for them as I can usually get 2 side by side and 8-10 in 1 line...and there habdy for growing the lettuce in during the winter months too....Lady Sarah.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Friday 18th March.

    Back to container / pot growing plants...
    I have for many years grown alot of my plants in large pots last year I bought 3 small apple trees they were all planted up in 20 litre pots and this year they have all had to be re-potted some in much larger pots as there roots had become pot bound which can always be a bit of a problem when you grow any plant in a pot...

    I do check all my plants to see if they need re-potting throughout the year and always have a good selection of many different sized pots....
    And I always have a good supply of potting compost which at this time of year I get through a great deal of....

    My apple trees are now nicely settled in to there new pots now and the buds have just started to break ready to open in the next few weeks....I may jus be getting a few more new ornamental trees over the next week or two...I'd like a flowering cherry...Prunus...and I seen a few other s that will grow well here in cheshire..So I'm going to be busy again potting up and planting some mor enew trees and shrubs...Lady Sarah.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sunday 20th March.

    Growing and propagating Heathers in pots.
    Heather are very eay to grow but can be quite difficult to get propagated properly..
    You will need a peat based compost several 1 litre pots. and some labels and a marker pen and some thin gardening wire for making staples with.

    I usually by heathers at this time of year they come in 9cm pots and I get many different types
    At the moment I have 12 different types but I will get a few more over the next few weeks.

    So Propagation of heathers
    1. Fill up your 1 litre pot to around 3/4 full of compost.
    2. Tap out the heather and place on the compost.
    3. Fill up the pot around the heather with compost and firm down around the plant.
    4. Cut the wire into 3 inch lengths and fold in half make around 6-10 for each plant.
    5. Pin down the small branches with 1 pin per branch around half way along the branch.
    6 Then gently water each plant and place in a cold frame or cold greenhouse for several months.
    7. Check once a month to see if any of the branches have rooted.
    8. If they have then you can cut them from the parent plant and plant them in a 9 cm pot with a peat based compost to grow on for next year...

    You can also grow heathers from seed but this does take a very long time..around 2 years to get a decent sized plant...

    I will put some more information about growing these plants at a later date..Lady Sarah.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Friday 25th March.

    Today I will be potting up one of my new fruit bushes it is a "Goji" berry I think it comes from Asia but not quite sure I'll have to check up on that...
    I've just read the label and it's fairly esay to look after needs some very well drained soil and I think I will protect it next winter...
    Like a lot of other new plants I have it will probably spend the winter in the house on a big display table John bulit me a few years ago...It also says to protect the fruit from birds I think they must like tham too...
    The label also says it will fruit this year...we'll just have to see if it does...
    Lady Sarah.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sunday 15th May.

    I've started to grow lots more vegetables in pots this year, as I find it much easier to look after them, today I planted up some dwarf beans called "orinoco" they have yellow pods... And I have now potted you my sweet potato slip, and a new tomato varity called "pick a tom"...

    I'm really happy with how everything is doing out on the nursery and in the garden and the warm weather has really helped and so has the damp wet weather we've had this week...

    We're all really looking forward to eat lots of fresh vegetables, and I'm looking forward to all the beautiful flowers that I've grown.. Lady Sarah..

    ReplyDelete