New To Growing !! please advice me on Container growing !What can i Grow now?

[juliet]

hi

As my title says never grew anything myself, have a small balcony and thinking of Contianer growing..
What do i need for contianer growing, container,potting soil,compost,,what else did i miss?

What can I grow now?i heard radishes are easy to grow and they can be grown in any season? any other veg?
what about herbs?

do i need to keep the container warm? sunlight?

Any advice is much appreciated

juliet

[saankiip]

Hi Juliet

I am new here too but to give you an answer, it really depends on where you are in the world (ie what season you are in).

But generally, you cannot go wrong with herbs. Lettuce is good in cooler climes, while mini peppers, and cherry tomatoes are good for warmer climates.

It's Spring here now (I am in Australia) and I am having great luck with baby carrots, red lettuce (more resistant to heat), bok choy, tomatoes, peppers (both chilli and sweet varieties) and herbs of all descriptions (mainly chives, Italian parsley and basil).

Hope that gives you some ideas.

As for what you need, pots of varying sizes (the deeper the better) and make sure you use premium potting mix - you can get potting mix now which has slow-release fertlilzer already in it. And maybe buy or borrow a good book on container gardening. I recommend "McGee & Stuckey's Bountiful Container: Create Container Gardens of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers".

Cheers!

Russ

[paulsherwin]

As a general rule, there's not much you can grow outdoors in containers over the winter in Britain. Most veggies are germinated indoors in early-mid spring and put out into containers in May after the last frosts. I don't think you'll have much success with radishes now, but you could always have a go.

Tomatoes grow well in containers if you remember to water them every day. All containers need a lot of watering during the fruiting season, so you need to make friends with your neighbours if you go away a lot

Paul

[juliet]

Originally Posted by saankiip

Hi Juliet

I am new here too but to give you an answer, it really depends on where you are in the world (ie what season you are in).

But generally, you cannot go wrong with herbs. Lettuce is good in cooler climes, while mini peppers, and cherry tomatoes are good for warmer climates.

It's Spring here now (I am in Australia) and I am having great luck with baby carrots, red lettuce (more resistant to heat), bok choy, tomatoes, peppers (both chilli and sweet varieties) and herbs of all descriptions (mainly chives, Italian parsley and basil).

Hope that gives you some ideas.

As for what you need, pots of varying sizes (the deeper the better) and make sure you use premium potting mix - you can get potting mix now which has slow-release fertlilzer already in it. And maybe buy or borrow a good book on container gardening. I recommend "McGee & Stuckey's Bountiful Container: Create Container Gardens of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers".

Cheers!

Russ

Hi Russ,well i am in Uk Now so i am guessing ur growing will be going much better than mine,consioderring the weather we are having here in britain i didnt buy a potting mix,i bought compost,i thought that was enough to grow in the container??? i have a quiet deep container and bought some coriander and cress seeds..so will see wht happens....thanks !
j

[juliet]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

As a general rule, there's not much you can grow outdoors in containers over the winter in Britain. Most veggies are germinated indoors in early-mid spring and put out into containers in May after the last frosts. I don't think you'll have much success with radishes now, but you could always have a go.

Tomatoes grow well in containers if you remember to water them every day. All containers need a lot of watering during the fruiting season, so you need to make friends with your neighbours if you go away a lot

Paul

hi Paul ,yea i didnt buy radishes,thought i wll stick to easy cress growing and also have sme coriander seeds,,,so u say i can sow tomatoe seeds now?..btw do i need pebles? i went to homebase and they only sell Huge amounts of pebles,,and i obviously dont need that much...they should have small bags for home Growers ..

[stupo74]

Hi Juliet,
I don't think Paul means that you can sow seeds now for tomatoes, i think he was saying that toms are a good crop for containers, that give good results if watered and fed well during the growing season. However i stand to be corrected, if wrong.
The only seeds that i am planting at the moment are, chillis, that i hope to germinate, (i have a few just coming up) to keep indoors over winter, to try and get a good headstart for the spring to come.
Good look with your new ventures, keep popping back, with questions over the next few months, then when the next season arrives, you should be well clued up and prepared. Regards Paul (stupo)

[paulsherwin]

Yes, you can't plant tomatoes now. We are entering winter and very little germinates and grows then. The best approach is probably to wait until next spring before planting anything. If you try to grow from seed outside now, you'll probably fail and become disheartened.

Paul