Container Garden

There are lots of container kits you can buy but what we did was use plant pots that were in our shed. We have nice plastic ones that are pretty cheap. We have I think 7 planters total and they are lining our walkway in the backyard so they are in the sun.

I have never been able to have a garden sucessfully. I can grow just about anything inside the house but if you put it outside then be prepared, it's going to die.

A few years ago I tried container gardening and bought a small childrens stiff sided pool. I drilled holes in it around the bottom edge and in the b\very bottom too. We used gravel, manure, soil, etc...my friend that helped me has a tiny back yard and has a wonderful garden every year. Needless to say, I got absolutley nothing out of it and spent so much money. I find it easier to just buy what I need...LOL.

My recommendation is to use the square foot gardening method. I think you can find it at www.squarefootgardening.com. It's about using a 4 foot by 4 foot box, that is only 6 inches deep. The mixture inside is peat moss, compost and vermiculite (1/3 of each). My daughter and I did this last year, and the veggies grew GREAT!

I got the book from the library. The newer version says to use boxes that 6 inches deep, the original book said 12 inches deep.

My husband built me one box that was a foot tall, and we grew carrots in it - it was awesome.

I'd recommend getting the book (hopefully your library has it). The book is a bit on the info-mercial side of things, but it can be a fast read on what to do.

The soil mixture is great - it's very light weight would work well for container gardening.

Good luck!

Hi !

You could consider attaching window boxes to your garden walls and grow small tomatoes , herbs , carrots , beans ( you will have to add sticks and string so that they can climb.) you could grow anything really....also you could consider using hanging baskets .

Try creating Earth Boxes - we grew veggies & fruit in them last year on our rooftop and they worked great. Here's a link with everything you'll need to set them up. Have fun! http://www.earthbox.com/consumer/what_is.php

You can also google or bing "earth box" and get lots of tips from other people who use them. Happy gardening!

Better Homes and Garden has a good web site bhg.com that you can search for container ideas....as well as lowes.com and I think I saw something on the This Old House web site too toh.com.

Most of your gardening centers at Lowes, Home Depot, Menards, or even places like Walmart and Kmart would have things to use for a container garden. My brother grows tomatoes quite well in short trashcans, squash in short wooden barrels, and so on....just make sure to put drain holes in the bottom and places them somewhere you don't mind a dirt ring forming from the drain. You have to water a container garden more often because they dry out quickly.

You could even try google.com and enter container gardens to see what you come up with.

I'm reading a book right now called Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail that addresses this very question. I definitely recommend it. The author also wrote You Grow Girl, which has an accompanying website with lots of tips, etc. http://yougrowgirl.com/. Have fun!