Im trying to grow some vegetables in Clay pots and plastic pots.
The veggies i have chosen are Tomato's chillies, and few herbs.
My question is, can i grow most of the vegetables in Pots, provided
that i take extra care of the plants.
Im planning with Egg plants, Beans, and Lady's finger.
What should i concentrate more on, if im able to grow vegetables in
container gardens.

On Jul 12, 3:59 am, wrote:
Im trying to grow some vegetables in Clay pots and plastic pots.
The veggies i have chosen are Tomato's chillies, and few herbs.
My question is, can i grow most of the vegetables in Pots, provided
that i take extra care of the plants.
Im planning with Egg plants, Beans, and Lady's finger.
What should i concentrate more on, if im able to grow vegetables in
container gardens.

Yes. My largest pots for tomatoes are about 20 inches across.
Eggplants and peppers will grow in smaller pots. I grow regular size
plants. I use cheap bagged topsoil. They require a lot of watering and
tomatoes need calcium to prevent blossom end rot. Getting ready to
pick my first red tomato and have peppers and eggplant that could be
picked at any time.
Frank

wrote in message
ups.com...
Im trying to grow some vegetables in Clay pots and plastic pots.
The veggies i have chosen are Tomato's chillies, and few herbs.
My question is, can i grow most of the vegetables in Pots, provided
that i take extra care of the plants.
Im planning with Egg plants, Beans, and Lady's finger.
What should i concentrate more on, if im able to grow vegetables in
container gardens.


This may not seem relevant, but are you home all day, or gone at work?

On Jul 12, 1:40 pm, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
wrote in message

ups.com...

Im trying to grow some vegetables in Clay pots and plastic pots.
The veggies i have chosen are Tomato's chillies, and few herbs.
My question is, can i grow most of the vegetables in Pots, provided
that i take extra care of the plants.
Im planning with Egg plants, Beans, and Lady's finger.
What should i concentrate more on, if im able to grow vegetables in
container gardens.

This may not seem relevant, but are you home all day, or gone at work?

Well ill be at work, but My mom can take care of it all day. Keeping
the Soil moist and other things as such.

wrote in message
ups.com...
On Jul 12, 1:40 pm, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
wrote in message

ups.com...

Im trying to grow some vegetables in Clay pots and plastic pots.
The veggies i have chosen are Tomato's chillies, and few herbs.
My question is, can i grow most of the vegetables in Pots, provided
that i take extra care of the plants.
Im planning with Egg plants, Beans, and Lady's finger.
What should i concentrate more on, if im able to grow vegetables in
container gardens.

This may not seem relevant, but are you home all day, or gone at work?

Well ill be at work, but My mom can take care of it all day. Keeping
the Soil moist and other things as such.


OK - that's half the battle. Containers can dry out VERY fast. Faster than
makes sense just by looking at them, especially clay pots. Besides frequent
watering, another way to minimize the problem is by using enormous pots, but
those can be difficult to move.

The other issue is that most plants don't want the soil to be hot. If the
plants are in the sun, the pots will be at least as hot as the surrounding
air, sometimes hotter. Find a way to shade the pots, but not the plants
themselves. Use the bigger ones to shade the smaller ones, for instance.

Charlie wrote in message
...
On Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:16:27 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:


The other issue is that most plants don't want the soil to be hot. If the
plants are in the sun, the pots will be at least as hot as the surrounding
air, sometimes hotter. Find a way to shade the pots, but not the plants
themselves. Use the bigger ones to shade the smaller ones, for instance.


Not to nitpick, but you can also use the smaller ones to shade the
larger ones. I elevate some larger pots, then have medium ones in
front and small ones on the third tier down. The foliage from each
lower tier shades the upper tier. Use small pots at the lower level
with draping foliage to shade their own container.

The point being the same as yours.

I have one pot of currant tomatoes, large pot at that, that needs a
minimum of two waterings per day. I tried more cherry tomatoes in a
five gallon bucket. They are doing well, but it takes at least three
waterings per day.

Charlie


A former neighbor used RIT dye to make burlap a bit closer in color to the
bricks behind her potted plants, and draped it over the pots for shade.
Worked nicely. Burlap is a highly underrated tool for the gardener. I gave a
roll to a beginner gardener as a housewarming gift, and got a "what's this
for?" reaction. (I think she was more impressed with the Tupperware and wine
glasses from other party guests). But, a year later, she commented that the
burlap gets used for all sorts of things.

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:

The other issue is that most plants don't want the soil to be hot. If the
plants are in the sun, the pots will be at least as hot as the surrounding
air, sometimes hotter.

That's not true. Some pot materials may heat up but so long as the
soil is moist there will be no heat build up around the plant's roots
whatsoever... as the water evaporates the soil will actually cool.
Were your fercocktah theory true plants wouldn't survive, and of
course would turn science on its head. The main purpose of clay pots
is that they absorb water and permit air to penetrate, they act like
air conditioners. What you never want to do is to place potted plants
near any wall that reflects the heat of the sun (if you must better a
dark colored wall that absorbs heat than a light colored wall that
reflects), radiant heat will cook the foliage even though their
watered roots remain cool.

Growing vegetables in pots is very easy. Try to stay away from
plastic and metal pots, better to use clay and wood. Stay away from
those resin pots that resemble concrete, they're plastic. Thick
walled concrete pots are not very good either, they are too
impervious.

"Sheldon" wrote in message
ups.com...
"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:

The other issue is that most plants don't want the soil to be hot. If the
plants are in the sun, the pots will be at least as hot as the
surrounding
air, sometimes hotter.

That's not true. Some pot materials may heat up but so long as the
soil is moist there will be no heat build up around the plant's roots
whatsoever... as the water evaporates the soil will actually cool.
Were your fercocktah theory true plants wouldn't survive, and of
course would turn science on its head.

Your comments are based on assumptions which are unlikely to be dependably
true.

In article says...
Yes. My largest pots for tomatoes are about 20 inches across.
Eggplants and peppers will grow in smaller pots. I grow regular size
plants. I use cheap bagged topsoil.

Topsoil is the worst medium for growing plants in containers. Because
containers are an isolated environment, many gardening techniques are
completely different than techniques for in ground plants. The most
important aspect of containers is the growing medium which needs to
drain well, provide air to roots, and retain water somewhat. You need
to use a potting mix, not potting soil that is sold in bags or
especially not topsoil. You can buy potting mix in bags at the big box
stores -- there are several brands including Miracle Grow. I mix my own
using pine bark fines, peat moss, perlite, and slow release fertilizer.

That said, things will grow in containers filled with topsoil but they
will grow much better with a better growing medium. I used to use
topsoil and potting soil in my containers until one year we had a bad
drought and my plants suffered greatly because my growing medium was
unforgiving. Then I read this:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/...12896.html?121

My container plants, especially tomatoes, have done much better in the
last few years after mixing my own potting medium.

On Jul 14, 5:59 pm, Mark Anderson wrote:
In article says...

Yes. My largest pots for tomatoes are about 20 inches across.
Eggplants and peppers will grow in smaller pots. I grow regular size
plants. I use cheap bagged topsoil.

Topsoil is the worst medium for growing plants in containers. Because
containers are an isolated environment, many gardening techniques are
completely different than techniques for in ground plants. The most
important aspect of containers is the growing medium which needs to
drain well, provide air to roots, and retain water somewhat. You need
to use a potting mix, not potting soil that is sold in bags or
especially not topsoil. You can buy potting mix in bags at the big box
stores -- there are several brands including Miracle Grow. I mix my own
using pine bark fines, peat moss, perlite, and slow release fertilizer.

That said, things will grow in containers filled with topsoil but they
will grow much better with a better growing medium. I used to use
topsoil and potting soil in my containers until one year we had a bad
drought and my plants suffered greatly because my growing medium was
unforgiving. Then I read this:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/...1290112896.htm...

My container plants, especially tomatoes, have done much better in the
last few years after mixing my own potting medium.

Your mix sounds fine but I'm doing OK. I do need to amend soil with
lime and fertilizer and keep adding them. As others point out, a lot
of watering is needed - in very hot weather sometimes twice a day.
Four tomato's, three peppers and two eggplants give wife and I all
summer vegetables we can handle. I used to have a big garden in the
back before shade and deer did it in.
Spent a lot of time gardening and needing to freeze/preserve/can the
excess. In my golden years, it is much more satisfying to grow stuff
on my deck but I'm not going to do it in a high intensity way that
takes more work than visiting local farm markets
Frank