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Container gardening
University of Maryland
AAEP2-WIA
Getting Started
 Container Gardening
 Advantages
 Drawbacks
 Selecting Containers
 Growing Media
 Fertilizing, Watering and
caring for your plants
Container Vegetable Gardening
Container Garden Video
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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedde
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What to grow
 Many species adapt well to containers including just
about any vegetables or herb, as well as flowers, green
ornamentals and succulents.
 Some of the more popular container crops are
salad greens, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes,
beans, chard, beets, radish, squash and
cucumbers.
 More challenging crops include melons, corn,
potatoes, and sweet potatoes. The key is to
experiment.
Choosing a Container
• Containers can be temporary, practical,
whimsical, artistic, expensive or free.
• Commercially produced containers can be
purchased at garden centers and through mail
order catalogs.
• Objects can be recycled or transformed into
suitable containers – 5 gallon plastic buckets,
truck tires, wooden crates, barrels, nursery pots,
plastic trash bags, and plastic storage containers.
• Avoid treated lumber products and be aware that
plastics not made for outdoors use can become
brittle from exposure to the elements.
Choosing a Container
 All containers should have holes or slats
in the bottom to allow water to drain
out.
 Dark colors will create higher soil
temperatures that could injure young
tender roots and prevent the full
development of a plant’s root system.
 Containers made from porous materials
(clay, ceramic, concrete, and wood) will
dry out more quickly than containers
made from plastic, or metal.
Choosing a Container
Barrel - 1 to 2 plant capacity
8 cu. Ft. of growing media
Planting & Care
Keep those plants growing!
• Three-season planting (a.k.a. “succession planting”):
When spring lettuce or radishes are spent, re-plant
the container in late May with pepper plants, beans
or cucumber seed. In early fall you can plant kale,
lettuce or broccoli raab to finish out the season.
Don’t forget to fertilize after each crop!
• Give them support. Cucumbers, pole beans,
peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant will all benefit
from some type of vertical support.
• Move plants around if containers are portable to
maximize sunlight (for heat-loving crops) and shade
(for summer-grown salad greens).
Temperature
 Plants prefer temperatures
between 12.5 and 25° C.
 Container plants are more
susceptible to extreme
temperatures
Watering
Plants in containers generally need more frequent watering
compared to plants in the ground.
 Apply water until it runs out the drainage holes.
 The growing medium should always be moist,




but not soggy.
Early morning and late afternoon are the best
times to water to decrease evaporation losses.
Containers can be easily set up with drip
irrigation.
Adding mulch helps maintain water content and
reduce evaporation losses.
Use a watering can or nozzle on the end of a
hose that produces a soft stream of water. Be
careful not to use hot water! It can burn leaves
and young roots.
Fertilization
 Even “quick” crops like leaf lettuce that mature in 35-45 days
should be fertilized once or twice.
 Long-season crops like tomato, cucumber, eggplant, and pepper
may need to be lightly fertilized every 2 weeks or so, to produce
a continuous harvest
 The fertilizer can be organic or synthetic
 It should contain the major nutrients - nitrogen, phosphorous,
and potassium.
Making Compost Tea
Place 2 to 4 liters of compost
(such as worm castings) tied up
in screen material (like a tea
bag) and suspend for 12-24
hours in 16 liters of water Then
dilute the tea with water and
apply to root system
Soil or Growing Media
Growing medium has three
main functions
1. supply roots with
nutrients, air, and water,
2. allow for maximum root
growth, and
3. physically support the
plant.
Some good media mixtures
for container vegetables:
 100% compost
 100% soil-less mix
 25% garden soil + 75%
compost
 25% soil-less mix + 25%
garden soil + 50% compost
 25% garden soil + 75% soilless mix
 50% soil-less mix + 50%
compost
Sunlight
 The amount of sunlight that your container garden spot
receives may determine which crops can be grown.
 Southern and western exposures will be the sunniest and
warmest, while northern and eastern exposures will be
shadier and cooler.
 6-8 hours of direct sun for warm-season crops
(tomato, pepper, eggplant, squash) and
 3-5 hours of direct sun for cool-season crops (lettuce,
spinach, Asian greens).
Ideas for Container Gardening
Self-Watering Containers
Salad Table
Potato sack or Tower