Published By The D. Landreth Seed Company  60 East High Street, BLDG #4 New Freedom, PA  17349  800-654-2407

All of the vegetables, flowers and herbs pictured above were grown in containers

Most of our customers grow something in containers. More and more of our customers are doing all of their gardening in containers or small gardens and for good reason. Almost any vegetable or flower and many fruits can be grown in containers. Plants grown in containers on decks or other protected areas are less susceptible to damage from deer, squirrels, rabbits, woodchucks and other animals. Container gardens keep weeding to a minimum and use less water to maintain. Finally, container gardens can extend the growing season by 1-3 months.

Because of the interest in container gardening, we decided that all of our trial gardening would be done in containers. For the past five years, we have cultivated approximately 100 containers with 300+ varieties each year, and these experiences have greatly enhanced our knowledge of container gardening. In this newsletter we will share some of what we have learned about container gardening.

Lettuces grown in Lettuce Bowls

CHOOSING THE RIGHT POT

One of the questions we receive most frequently is, “What size pot do I use?”. We have found that there actually are some optimal sizes for growing various types of vegetables. At Landreth, we use five different pots for growing vegetables and flowers:

8 inch lettuce bowls
6 inch pots
10 inch pots
14 inch pots
18 inch pots.

Lettuce bowls are round, shallow pots made of plastic. They measure 8 inches in diameter and are 5 inches deep. Our lettuce bowls have saucers. The saucers are very helpful because the shallow depth of the lettuce bowls causes them to dry out quickly.

The 6, 10, 14, and 18 inch pots can be made of any material. Generally, a 6 inch pot is 5-6 inches deep. The 10, 14 and 18 inch pots are 8-14 inches deep. The pots we use are the black plastic landscapers’ pots. These pots are inexpensive and hold up well. They do not have saucers.

Landreth's Container Bean Garden

Container gardens can often be an eyesore because of the mishmash of containers used. We recommend choosing one color, dark colors are best, and keeping most, if not all, of the containers that color. When containers are all the same color, the eye is attracted to the diversity and beauty of the plant material and away from the chaos of the containers.

Container Grown Danish Ballhead Lettuce

PLANTING DENSITY

The question that we are asked most frequently is how many plants can I put in one pot. The answer varies widely depending on the size of the pot and what is being planted. We have experimented over the past five years, and our recommendations are organized in the following chart:

GARDEN MANAGEMENT

There are some absolute rules when it comes to container gardening. Follow the rules and it will make your life easier and your garden more productive.

RULE #1: If possible set up a drip irrigation system for your containers, because watering is a time consuming and often daily process.

RULE #2: ALWAYS fertilize with full strength fertilizer at least every 2 weeks. We tend to be really lazy, so we use the same fertilizer for everything. It is tomato plant food, something like 5-10-10.

RULE #3: Never use time release fertilizer on container grown vegetables. It can work with some flowers, but not with vegetables.

A Trellised, Container Grown Lemon Cucumber

RULE #4: Choose pole varieties over bush varieties for containers.

RULE #5: Container tomatoes must have at least three applications of bone meal, applied every 2 weeks for the first 6 weeks of the growing season.

RULE #6: Onions, garlic and shallots will rot quickly if they are watered near maturity. Do not water these vegetables within 3 weeks of harvest.

Container Grown Shallots

SOME OBSERVATIONS AFTER 5 YEARS

Some plants seem to prefer containers to the open ground. We do not know why. It could be because in the containers their roots are kept warmer and they are not exposed to as many soil borne pests, but we really do not know. We have found that

                Peppers, especially Hot Peppers

                Eggplants, especially Asian Eggplants

                Heirloom Tomatoes

Seem to prefer containers.

Container Grown Black Pearl Hot Pepper

All of the varieties that we have grown mature more quickly in containers, taking from 10%-25% less time to ripen. Because of this, most crops can have at least 2 harvests in a growing season.

Plants grown in container gardens, when properly fertilized and watered, produce as many vegetables/fruit as plants grown in the ground. Sometimes the fruits/vegetables are smaller. This is especially true for watermelons, large melons and squash and gourds.

Containers truly do extend the growing season. In a Zone 5-6 environment, we have had spinach, kale, beets and carrots winter over. We have had peas producing in December.

Container Grown Beets

Harvesting Container Grown Beets

Containers make the joy and pleasure of gardening available to everyone: seniors living in assisted living environments, retired folk with decks or patios for backyards, working families with no time for weeding, urban dwellers with a metal fire escape for a garden. Everyone can garden from a pot. Some of the most rewarding plants that we have grown are included in a list below. This spring try a pot full of basil or a tomato or some lettuce. Start small with something easy. This just may be your kind of gardening.

Container Grown Carrots

Some of the Nicest Container Plants We Have Grown

Harvest from the Landreth 2007 Container Gardens.jpg

Container Gardening

Things Every Container Gardener Should Know