With all the recent food contamination scares, links between pesticides and ADHD, and general concerns over the quality of our food supply, more and more people are considering growing at least some of their own food. Urbanites feel a particular quandary over the dilemma of how to grow food with often very limited space. The fact is, almost anyone can grow an impressive amount of food in remarkably limited space with container gardening.
The first step is to evaluate the physical characteristics of the space you have to work with. Sunlight is the most critical element you will have to consider. Vegetables can’t live without it and it’s the one factor of container gardening you can’t control. You can water, feed, and protect from bitter cold, but you can’t create sunlight. Vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplant, and fruit need at least 6 hours of full sun a day, while lettuces, spinaches, chard, kale, and underground veggies like carrots and radishes can get by with three or four hours of sunlight.
To evaluate your sunlight quotient, take note of the sun patterns in your available space. Southern exposures get the longest prieod of strong sunlight. After that, a western exposure gets the next longest with afternoon sun. Eastern exposure gets the shorter morning sunlight, and a northern exposure gets the least amount of sun. Also take into account any nearby obstructions that will cast shadows on your growing spaces, like nearby buildings or a neighbor’s tree, tall hedge, or fence. In conjunction with sunlight, also consider prevailing winds as they can blow over top-heavy containers.
Next, do a little research on your hardiness zone. This is fairly easy to look up as the USDA (US Dept. of Agriculture,) has developed a nationwide system of cold-hardiness zones based on average winter temperatures. This system is continuously updated. Currently, there are 11 climates zones in the US, but be aware that you may live in a micro-climate zone that differs a bit from the general zone you’re in. If you have access to a county extension office, they should have additional information. The zone system is applied to perennials like fruit trees, berries, perennial herbs and flowers, since annuals don’t winter over anyway.
Perhaps this would be a good time to define a perennial and an annual. Examples of perennials are listed above. Annuals would be anything that dies at the first hard frost and that you would have to plant again the following spring. These would be things like lettuces, spinaches, tomatoes, eggplant, green beans, peas, broccoli, etc.
With that in mind, the next point to consider is how tall you can expect the plant to be at maturity and/or how big it’s spread. Some plants that might otherwise tend to take over can be pruned and trained to stay small or confined to a trellis. Vine type berries, squashes, cucumbers, and small melons come to mind. Even with an expansive yard, it is sometimes wise to confine these to containers or raised beds. Others, like lettuces, spinaches, and chards stay relatively short and are very manageable in containers or small garden beds.
The fourth consideration, related to the mature plant size, is the size and type of root system. Do roots want deep soil? Do they spread out? or both? What size will the root ball be at maturity? Generally, the size of the mature plant reflects the size of the root system, but not always. Shallow soil veggies include all of your leafy greens – lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, etc. Examples of deep root annuals are carrots, tomatoes, squash, cucumber, and melon. Except for the carrots, the rest are vine plants and tend to want to spread out. Vine and stalk plants, such as beans and peas, can be trellised to conserve space, but it is important to make sure they have deep enough soil and that they stay nourished. Compost tea is the best all around plant nourishment that I’ve ever used. It also doubles as a protectant against molds and other blights.
Now you’re ready to look for containers. You need not invest in expensive pots. Look around at what you’ve already got. Check thrift stores and garage sales for things that can be used as planters. Just be mindful of a container’s previous use. If it held toxic chemicals or petroleum products, it’s a no-go. Assuming that isn’t a barrier, make sure it’s something you can drill or cut drain holes into. Vegetables do not like wet toes. (Soupy wet soil.)
If you can get your hands on some used heavy plastic barrels, make sure they’re food grade and weren’t used to store any of those above no-no’s. Check with small food processors for these. Many times you can get them for $15 – $20 a piece. They can be cut in half vertically or horizontally and make great planters for either deep root plants or shallow root plants depending on how you cut them. You can also turn them into strawberry planters. I’ve got one now that will hold up to 66 strawberry plants. Not only does it take up at least a tenth of the space it would take to in-ground plant them, this handy planter also makes it much easier to harvest. I’ve got it on a couple palates, so there will be very little bending over.
Now that you’ve got your containers assembled, your next step is planning your planting. You need not always dedicate one planter for each type of vegetable. Companion planting the right combinations of vegetables can produce a surprisingly high yield in a small place. For instance, tomatoes and carrots can be planted together since they have similar sunlight, soil and moisture requirements. Lettuces, spinaches, and chards are compatible. Melons require a lot of water, but good drainage, as well as more soil, so they are a bit more challenging to grow in a container. Stick to smaller varieties of these and leave the large watermelons and pumpkins to people with a couple acres to spare.
Once you’ve got everything planted and growing in wonderful little communities, remember to feed them. They have limited soil from which to draw nutrients and those nutrients will need to be replaced periodically depending on how heavy a feeder your crops are. Perennials like compact blueberries are slow feeders and only require fertilization 2 – 3 times a year. They are happy growing in 15+ gallon pots for the duration of their lifetimes. Tomatoes are low feeders. Too much nitrogen will cause blossom end rot and too much water will cause the fruit to split.
There are many container gardening resource books available, but most deal with ornamentals. The best food container gardening book I’ve run across is The Bountiful Container, by Rose Marie Nichols McGee (of Nichols Garden Seed in Albany, OR,) and Maggie Stuckey. It’s amazing what you can grow on an apartment or condo balcony. I certainly encourage as many people as possible to grown at least some of their own food and to work in cooperation with like-minded neighbors. Nobody can grow everything, but in a community nearly everything can be grown.
Read more here: Container Gardening – 7 Pointers For a Bountiful Urban Garden
