Container Vegetable Gardening
For Kids
Healthy Harvests from Small Spaces
Kent Phillips
kent.a.phillips@gmail.com
2
Container Vegetable Gardening
Let’s Start
Growing Vegetables in
Containers is
•
•
•
•
Easy
Fun
Can be done anywhere
Great way to start growing
vegetables
• Vegetables taste great and
are good for you
Why Containers?
•
•
•
•
No digging
Weed free
Cheap to start up
Grow vegetables from
April until December
Getting Started What Do You Need?
•
Sunlight
•
Container(s)
•
Growing medium
•
Water
•
Nutrients
•
Tender loving care
Container Location
• At least 8 hrs. sun for
fruiting season crops
(tomatoes, peppers, etc.)
• 4-5 hrs. sun for leafy
crops (lettuce, kale, etc.)
• Level space
Container Types
• Plastic
• Wood
• Clay
• Free
• Recycled
• Paint them
Bag Container
Swimming Pool Container
Self-Watering Containers
• Self-watering containers conserve water and
nutrients
• You can make your own from a 5 gallon bucket.
See HGIC publication HG600
• Or you can buy a commercial self-watering
container but they can be expensive
Self Watering 5 Gallon Bucket
Homemade Salad Table™
• The Salad Table™ HGIC pub 601
• Great for growing shallow rooted plants
• Build it deeper for plants like beans, beets, kale
What’s the “Dirt” on Growing Media?
• Supports plant’s root
system
• Holds water and
nutrients
• Permits drainage
• Need to be light and fluffy
Growing Media
Commercial Soil-Less Mix
• Excellent
• Lightweight
• Drain well
• Holds water and nutrients
• Proper pH
• ProMix™, ReddiEarth™, Jiffy Mix™, and
Sunshine Mix™
Stay Away From
Garden Soil
• Heavy
• Brings in weed seeds and soil
diseases
• Doesn’t drain well in containers
Don’t use bags of
•
•
•
•
Top soil
Planting soil
Planting mix
Potting soil
Adding Compost to Media
• Highly recommended
• Adds additional slow release nutrients
• Increases water and nutrient holding
capacity of media
• May have to add perlite to lighten mix
• If you don’t have compost,
LeafGro™ is the next best
commercially available product.
Media Mixtures
Some good media mixtures for container vegetables are:
•100% soil-less mix
• 75% compost or LeafGro + 25% perlite
• 50% soil-less mix + 50% compost
Happy Roots
• Watering needs vary depending on
• container size
• ambient temperature
• wind
• sunlight
• humidity
• type of plant and its size
• Media in container should be kept moist at all
times but not soggy
• Test growing media using your finger
• Most containers will need to be watered daily in
the summer
• Use a water breaker or watering can for soft flow
Fertilizers
• Containers require regular
fertilization
• Water soluble fertilizers
• Every two weeks
• Immediately available to
plants
• Organic varieties are
ready available
• Always follow label
instructions
What Can I Grow
• Just about any vegetable or
herb!
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Lettuce
Peppers
Eggplant
Tomatoes
Beans
Cucumbers
Broccoli
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes.
• Look for “bush” or “dwarf”
varieties , esp. tomatoes,
cucumbers, squash.
• Have fun
Size Matters
• Match container depth to plant
size
• 4-6 inches: greens, small herbs
• 8-12 inches: beans, beets, large
herbs
• 1-3 gallons: green onions, chard
• 4-5 gallons: cucumber, eggplant,
beans, broccoli, patio tomato,
pepper
• 15 gallon full size tomato
Planting Time
• No pebbles, gravel, or rocks unless you need the weight
to prevent tipping.
• Cover drainage holes with fiberglass screen or other
material
• Thoroughly work water into the growing medium
• Fill container to inch or so of top of container.
• Don’t compact media
• Follow seed packet directions for planting, spacing, and
care.
• Plant seedlings (except tomatoes) at same level as they
were growing in pot or six-pack.
• Tomatoes can be planted deeper, for stronger root
growth.
Make Attractive Containers
• Paint them
• Mix herbs and annual
flowers in with the
vegetable plants.
• Keep containers together to
increase humidity and
water retention
Keep those plants growing!
• Succession plant
• Spring - lettuce or
spinach
• Summer - pepper,
beans or cucumbers,
tomato
• Fall - kale, lettuce or
broccoli
• Don’t forget to continue
to fertilize each crop!
• Trellis tall or climbing plants
• indeterminate tomatoes
• pole beans
• cucumbers
Plant Care
Diagnosing Plant Problems
• BUGS
• Wilted leaves – not enough or too much
water - How do you tell?
• Yellow leaves/no growth – fertilize?
• Inspect your plants daily
• Go to plantdiagnostics.umd.edu for
additional help in diagnosing vegetable
problems.
Season’s End
• Discard the plant and soil from the pot.
• Do not reuse the same soil for a second season
– Infected soil or mix will spread disease into the second
season unless it is properly composted
– Properly composted planting media can be reused.
• Store pots to prevent freeze damage
This program was developed Maryland
Master Gardener Program University of
Maryland Extension Baltimore County
and modified for this presentation by
Kent Phillips