GROWING FROM CONTAINERS AND BEDS

Deciding whether to grow from containers or garden beds is largely dependent on the amount of available space and sunlight that you have. The following are pros and cons of each:

  • Containers or pots provide more flexibility in terms of location (and subsequent changes of location), and also facilitate shifting of plants indoors during colder months. Containers are ideal especially if you have limited space, such as inside a house or apartment or outside on a balcony. However, key drawbacks to using pots is the need to water often, especially in hot weather (as soil dries more quickly), and rootbound as growing plants become constrained. One of our first and favorite book on container gardening is The Bountiful Container [McGee & Stuckey] as it covers ideal edible plants to grow from pots and tips on planting and harvesting, all in an easy-to-reference format.

  • Garden plots allow you to grow larger and more vigorous plants, as plant roots can take advantage of the broader store of nutrients and other benefits inherent in the “soil community”. And although it sounds like a lot of hard work and digging, it can take as fast as 15 minutes to set up a small patch of garden!

    The “no dig” method makes creating a garden bed very easy. With just a bit more work than it takes to plant in pots, a garden bed enables you to grow more and larger plants as plant roots have access to more soil nutrients and requires less watering as soil holds water better. The “no dig” method implies just that - there is no digging! Simply determine where you would like to place the garden, place recycled cardboard (e.g. used shipping boxes) directly on top of the grass, and poor soil or compost on top - and you’re ready to plant! Here are some videos that got us started, which shows a few approaches and helpful tips:

  • Raised beds combine the benefit of a container and garden bed. However, this option requires a little more effort to set-up and more soil or compost is needed to fill the raised bed. If using wood, cedar is preferred for a garden because it is naturally rot resistant.

We use a combination of garden beds and pots, both of which serve specific purposes and are easy to set-up:

“SIMPLE / QUICK”

  • Purchase seedlings that you can place on a sunny windowsill and immediately enjoy. We recommend that you start with herbs that you can toss into a salad or use in cooking, such as basil, dill, thyme, rosemary, chives and mint (also good seeped into hot water for an instant cup of mint tea).

  • Grow micro or baby greens, as these are easy to propagate and can be ready to eat in a week or so! All you need are seeds, some soil, and virtually any type of container (we use recycled plastic food containers). See Start with Microgreens

“SLIGHTLY MORE INVOLVED”

  • Grow food in pots: In order to grow larger plants, you need larger pots to enable them to have adequate room and soil to propagate. Aside from house plants and flowers, there are a number of fruits and vegetables that you can grow from pots and yield a decent harvest, including tomatoes, green onions, hot peppers, various salad greens (e.g. lettuce, arugula, spinach, dandelions), and herbs. You can purchase small seedlings and plant them into larger pots, or direct-seed into the pots (see Growing from Seeds or Seedlings).

    The cost of large terra cotta or other handsome outdoor pots can quickly add up, however a little creativity and a drill to create holes for drainage can convert almost any plastic or metal container into a pot, such as milk jugs with the top half cut off, commercial metal food cans, old buckets or basins, and even an old kiddy pool. You may also find used pots or other types of containers at yard sales and flee markets (anything from old tires to dresser drawers have been used).

“ALL IN”

  • Grow food in raised or in-ground beds: In order to grow larger plants, you need larger pots to enable them to have adequate room and soil to propagate. Aside from house plants and flowers, there are a number of fruits and vegetables that you can grow from pots and yield a decent harvest, including tomatoes, green onions, hot peppers, various salad greens (e.g. lettuce, arugula, spinach, dandelions), and herbs. You can purchase small seedlings and plant them into larger pots, or direct-seed into the pots (see Growing from Seeds or Seedlings)..

HELPFUL REFERENCES:

Container gardening:

Garden or raised beds: