If your garden is a small one or you want to extend your vegetable garden into the paved area, than you can grow you vegetables in containers. You can also use containers to grow your greenhouse vegetables or if your garden soil is infected with soil-borne diseases and is impractical to sterilize or to replace it.
Compared with flowers grown in containers, vegetables need a richer growing medium and more consistent and thorough watering, so they are a bit harder to be grown in containers unless you offer them careful maintenance.
For well results choose your vegetables right. The best vegetables to be grown in containers are compact, quick-maturing plants, such lettuces, radishes and beetroot, or robust, undemanding, leafy vegetables, such as peppers, aubergines and tomatoes. Dwarf cultivars are also excellent to be grown as container vegetables since they do not need support. Do not try to grow vegetables that are deep-rooting, slow to mature, very large or tall, or gross feeders, like brassicas, parsnips or celery.
It is better to use the largest containers that you can, so they will have a grater volume of compost or soil. You can choose from: pots, troughs or growing bags. They also need to be strong and stable. Good drainage is also essential for container grown vegetables. If there are no drainage holes, make several of at least 1 cm diameter in the base of the container, than cover them with crocks to prevent blockage.
The soil or compost must be light and well aerated, since frequent watering will compact it. You can make your own potting mixture by mixing lighten garden soil with well-rotted compost and some coarse sand and peat substitute or peat.
In hot and windy weather containers dry out quickly by evaporation through the top and the sides also if the containers are not made of plastic. To minimize this effect do not put them in exposed sites or at the foot of a hot wall. Line non-plastic containers with plastic sheeting perforated with drainage holes.
It is better to raise plants for containers in modules. Sow cut-and-come-again seedling crops directly in the container. For early crops you can start your containers in a glasshouse, conservatory or porch. If your crops are growing until late in the season in containers and frost is likely to appear, then cover the plants with horticultural fleece and move the containers to a warmer, sheltered place.
