Can you imagine having a whole vegetable garden in a single container pot? It's not like plowing the back 40 and planting corn, but really most of us just want a few of our favorites, anyway. If you want to grow everything you need in one pot then there are two important points to think about:
- A big planter will work the best
- Pick only your favorite plants for the season
That's right, you only need to grow the plants you want for the season you are coming into. The reason is because you will be able to start a whole new batch for the next upcoming season, and most of us can grow in a container for at least 3 seasons of the year, maybe 4.
[vop id='64']
Growing Different Veggies In Different Seasons
You can replenish your garden plants several times per year, then grow the perfect plant mix for each season. Grow the plants you love to eat and eat them in the “season thereof”, when they are most nutritious.
Spring Mix Vegetables – The Time For Greens
The spring season is a great time for growing greens, no matter where you live. Baby salad greens, like you buy prepared in the store are actually grown together in the fields and harvested that way, so you can do the same in your container garden.
Baby romaine, oak-leaf lettuce and Lollo rossa, a mild lettuce with curly, red-tipped leaves, adds color to spring mixes. Baby spinach, peppery arugula add to the mix, and Red chard is similar in flavor to spinach but has red stems and veins.
Mizuna has feathery green leaves and contributes a mustard flavor. Frisee is a springy, slender, pale-green salad with yellow leaves. Radicchio adds a stunning purple-red color with thick, white stems that add crunch to the salad mix. Grow your favorites in one pot together and harvest by clipping with scissors. When they start to bolt it's time to start with a summer crop in your container garden.
Summer Is Time For Festive, Healthy Crops
A good combination for summer gardening is cherry tomatoes, tomatillos, miniature ornamental hot peppers and cilantro. All these can share a pot together and make a great Mexican theme planting.
Vining plants, like cucumbers, squash or pole beans work great by using a ladder form trellis. That still gives you plenty of room to fill in around the outside of the pot with smaller plants like bush beans, or root crops like beets and radish.
Fall Gardening In Your Container Pot Is Too Often Overlooked
Fall is a time to grow crops that may have a hard time in your area when planted in spring. One example is cole crops like broccoli, cabbage and brussels sprouts. Timing is the key here, though because if you look at the time to maturity you will probably need to start from seed in August.
You can start your plants in peat pots in mid August and grow them in a shady place, but where they can naturally harden in breeze and light wind. They will sprout and grow until early October when your summer crops are done. Then transplant your seedlings into the pot and mix some of your favorites that mature well in cooler weather.
Winter Gardening Is When Containers Really Shine
Many plants that grow well through the summer and fall will over winter if they are protected. If you plant your vegetable garden in a single pot you can move it into the porch for winter. Here your plants will get plenty of sunshine but be protected from freezing temperatures.
One example is bell or hot peppers – in their habitat of warmer climates they will live and produce for several years. If you plan well so that you can over winter your veggie pot safely you may have plants that produce for several seasons.
Try mixing your favorite seasonal vegetable mix in one growing pot and see how it works for you. If you use the felt growing containers, like the DIRTBAG you can easily move your garden around, keep it watered perfectly and grow crops all year around.