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Fruits and vegetables in containers.
Trying to grow most fruits and vegetables in a standard pot with drainage holes in the bottom can be very time consuming. In the heat of summer they often need to be watered several times a day, otherwise you'll get a lower yield, you might not even get a crop if you just miss a couple days watering.
One way around the problem of having to water so often is to buy commercial pots with a reservoir, often the bigger the reservoir the better. The reservoir should be able to hold several days worth of water, at the very least it should be big enough that you only have to water once a day, saving a lot of time.
Another method is to make your own pot. The simplest way that I have done this is to just take a 5-gallon bucket and drill small holes all around the pot. These holes are about an eighth to a quarter inch in diameter and are one to two inches up from the bottom, providing a one to two inch reservoir.
Now the pots should be filled with a good potting mix. I'm not going to get into the many different recipes for potting mix, which range from entirely home made to the hydroponic method of using straight perlite or rockwool. Just remember, the less nutrients in the potting mix, compost being the most common ingredient to add nutrients to a potting mix, the more fertilizer you'll have to use in the form of water soluble or a slow release form.
Growing fruits and vegetables is quite a big subject, yet if you learn some of the basics of what plants need to grow well, you'll be able to get a nice yield from a plant on your patio.
2 comments:
I recommend using a good quality fertilizer like one of the ones Advanced Nutrients makes. That's what has helped me to grow bigger and tastier vegetables than any of my friends or family.
I just grow in containers using hydroponics and Advanced Nutrients, that way I can avoid most of the problems you describe here.
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