How to Practice Vegetable Container Gardening
Transform an ordinary patio or balcony into a productive green space, and you'll have fresh foods at your fingertips.
Up next in Vegetable Gardening (24 videos)
Get your vegetable patch started with these gardening tutorials.
You Will Need
- 6 hours of sun daily
- Container
- Vegetable seeds or seedlings
- Soil
- Gravel
- Water
- Fertilizer
- Partial shade (optional)
- Recycled bushel baskets, barrels, metal drums, and wooden crates (optional)
Steps
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Step 1
Evaluate available sunshine
Evaluate the available sunshine, keeping in mind most vegetables require about 6 hours of full sun daily to make container gardening viable.
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Lettuce, carrots, and onions tolerate partial shade.
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Step 2
Choose container
Choose a large container that provides plenty of room for growth and good drainage. Line the bottom with 1 inch of gravel.
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Recycle bushel baskets, barrels, metal drums, and wooden crates for use in your container garden.
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Step 3
Purchase soil
Purchase sterilized soil from a garden center, which is made to hold moisture for the best results when container gardening. Now fill the containers with the soil.
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Step 4
Plant
Plant high yield varieties of vegetable seeds or seedlings to maximize the space, keeping in mind almost any garden vegetable thrives best in a properly cared-for container.
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Bushy vegetable plants are best suited to the practice of container gardening.
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Step 5
Apply fertilizer
Apply fertilizer to your vegetable container garden every two to three weeks, making sure it provides nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
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Step 6
Check daily
Check the plants each morning to see if they require watering. If the soil is not moist, then water when needed.
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Step 7
Harvest
Harvest vegetables when they reach peak maturity to enjoy fullness of flavor, texture, and high nutrition. Now, share the goodness with family and friends by preparing your favorite vegetable dishes.
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Heirloom vegetables varieties are those that are pollinated naturally and have been around for 50 years or longer.
