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Container Vegetable Gardening
by Stephanie Suesan Smith, Ph.D., author of Preparing 'A Vegetable Garden From The Ground Up'

Want fresh vegetables but do not have the space for a garden? Try growing them in containers.  You would be surprised at how much food you can produce in containers over a season.

Containers can be any size any shape you fancy.  However, a container one foot square and two feet deep is ideal.  If the container is that deep, you can grow root crops as well as things such as tomatoes or peppers.  If you do not have space for that large a pot, you need to get one at least a foot deep.  Vegetables are heavy feeders and it is just too hard to keep them fed and watered in anything smaller.

Next, you need to make sure that the place you intend to put your containers can hold them.  Balconies may not be strong enough for containers full of dirt and water.  Falling balconies tend to annoy the people under them, so see what weight you can safely place on them before proceeding.

Now that you have the container, and a safe place to use it, it is time to put something in it.  A potting soil mix for general use will work fine.  So will topsoil.  However, to avoid introducing diseases and weeds into your life, use a mixture that has been sterilized or pasteurized.  It should say so on the label.  Also make sure that any containers you use have been washed in a solution of one part bleach and nine parts water, then rinsed in clean water.  That way, no diseases will be introduced from other plant material.

Container gardening calls for intensive gardening to make the best use of the limited space you have.  You can plant several different vegetables in each pot, but group plants with similar water needs together.  Group acid loving plants in separate containers from plants that prefer a more neutral or alkaline soil.

This is what you can plant in a one foot square by two foot deep container:

- One large plant such as a tomato or pepper

- Four plants such as leaf lettuce

- Nine plants such as bush beans

- Sixteen small plants such as carrots

By planting in succession, you can often get two or three crops per growing season from each pot.  Lettuce can give way to tomatoes or peppers.  Radishes give way to bush beans, and so on.

In summary, remember that vegetables need a minimum of six hours of sunlight, so place your containers where they can receive that.  Because you are farming intensively, you need to fertilize more often.  The easiest way to do that is to buy a water soluble fertilizer and both water and fertilize at the same time.  Keep these things in mind and there is no reason you cannot grow plenty of vegetables to feed your family.

About the author - As Victory Gardens come back into fashion, food prices skyrocket, and even the White House has a kitchen garden, Stephanie Suesan Smith, Ph.D. has written a guide for those who want to grow food but do not know how.  Preparing a Vegetable Garden From the Ground Up allows you to start with a lawn and end with a harvest. Increasing food security, providing plentiful, nutritious food for less, and combating childhood obesity, home gardening has few negatives. The knowledge gap is the major obstacle for most families.  Preparing a Vegetable Garden From the Ground Up is the answer.

Stephanie Suesan Smith, Ph.D. is a master gardener, writer, and photographer.  She writes nonfiction articles and takes plant and animal portraits. Her book, Preparing a Vegetable Garden From the Ground Up (ISBN 978-0557863891), is available from Amazon.com and most other booksellers. Learn more at www.StephanieSuesanSmith.com

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Big Blend Radio Interview

Stephanie Smith discusses
Vegetable Gardens!