Simple Vegetable Gardening on your porch!
May 30, 2013 22:18:11 GMT -5
Post by Trinna D. on May 30, 2013 22:18:11 GMT -5
Container gardening for a sunny porch!
If you would like to have a small garden this year, but don't want to have the hassle or expense often associated with one, you may want to consider starting a container garden on your porch. This year, we planted a traditional garden that involved the usual plowing, discing, hoeing and planting. We planted several rows of white potatoes, onions, radishes, spinach, turnips, corn, tomatoes, peppers and sweet potatoes. We still plan to add cucumbers and zucchini. We also have another plot prepared and are getting ready to plant some watermelons (sugar baby and yellow moon and stars). We also have a small herb garden. We have spent much time preparing the garden, weeding some, putting landscape fabric down (newspapers work also), watering etc. The point is that traditional gardens do take time and can be a little more costly than you may think. (Water!)
If you want a few veggies but don't have that much space or want to expend so many resources, container gardening can be a great choice. This year, in addition to the traditional garden, we decided to try our hand at container gardening as well. So far, we have only purchased five 5 gallon buckets, potting soil (Happy Frog brand), and 3 tomato plants, a green pepper plant and a banana pepper plant. To prepare the buckets for drainage, we drilled four 3/8 in. holes in the bottom of each. We put about 4 in. of rocks from our driveway in the bottom of each bucket. You can also purchase rocks from any garden center. Next, we added the potting soil, plants and watered!
The beauty of this gardening method is threefold. First of all, it costs very little. The buckets were about $3 each. These can be used again next year. 1 1/2 bags of potting soil were needed (about $22) and the cost of the plants. I imagine the amount of water required will be much less with this method since the water will go directly to the plant instead of some of it being lost in the ground in a traditional garden. The second advantage to this type of gardening is that it took very little physical work. Traditional gardening can be back breaking, whereas, the hardest part with container gardening is lifting the bag of potting soil. (That reminds me. Be sure to prepare your containers close to or on your porch. They can be heavy when filled with rocks, soil, plants and watered.) The third advantage to this method is maintenance. It is virtually maintenance free as far as I can tell. I check the plants daily and water as needed, but do not have to weed them or worry about deer or other unwanted "guests" dining on my veggies without an invitation. We will need to stake the plants as they get heavy with veggies and possibly tie them to the porch rail.
The plants all get about 6 hours of sunlight each day (which is vital) and have already grown several inches. Some of the plants have blooms and will be producing delicious veggies for my family soon. I look forward to the fact that I need only walk out my front door to grab a few tomatoes or a pepper for the burgers or salad! Maybe you would like to try this simple gardening method out for yourself this year as well. This is a type of garden that even an individual without much space can try. All you really need is a sunny porch and a few minutes a day! Happy gardening friends! (Let me know how this works out for you if you try it or have tried it. Feel free to share any tips you may have on the subject.)
If you would like to have a small garden this year, but don't want to have the hassle or expense often associated with one, you may want to consider starting a container garden on your porch. This year, we planted a traditional garden that involved the usual plowing, discing, hoeing and planting. We planted several rows of white potatoes, onions, radishes, spinach, turnips, corn, tomatoes, peppers and sweet potatoes. We still plan to add cucumbers and zucchini. We also have another plot prepared and are getting ready to plant some watermelons (sugar baby and yellow moon and stars). We also have a small herb garden. We have spent much time preparing the garden, weeding some, putting landscape fabric down (newspapers work also), watering etc. The point is that traditional gardens do take time and can be a little more costly than you may think. (Water!)
If you want a few veggies but don't have that much space or want to expend so many resources, container gardening can be a great choice. This year, in addition to the traditional garden, we decided to try our hand at container gardening as well. So far, we have only purchased five 5 gallon buckets, potting soil (Happy Frog brand), and 3 tomato plants, a green pepper plant and a banana pepper plant. To prepare the buckets for drainage, we drilled four 3/8 in. holes in the bottom of each. We put about 4 in. of rocks from our driveway in the bottom of each bucket. You can also purchase rocks from any garden center. Next, we added the potting soil, plants and watered!
The beauty of this gardening method is threefold. First of all, it costs very little. The buckets were about $3 each. These can be used again next year. 1 1/2 bags of potting soil were needed (about $22) and the cost of the plants. I imagine the amount of water required will be much less with this method since the water will go directly to the plant instead of some of it being lost in the ground in a traditional garden. The second advantage to this type of gardening is that it took very little physical work. Traditional gardening can be back breaking, whereas, the hardest part with container gardening is lifting the bag of potting soil. (That reminds me. Be sure to prepare your containers close to or on your porch. They can be heavy when filled with rocks, soil, plants and watered.) The third advantage to this method is maintenance. It is virtually maintenance free as far as I can tell. I check the plants daily and water as needed, but do not have to weed them or worry about deer or other unwanted "guests" dining on my veggies without an invitation. We will need to stake the plants as they get heavy with veggies and possibly tie them to the porch rail.
The plants all get about 6 hours of sunlight each day (which is vital) and have already grown several inches. Some of the plants have blooms and will be producing delicious veggies for my family soon. I look forward to the fact that I need only walk out my front door to grab a few tomatoes or a pepper for the burgers or salad! Maybe you would like to try this simple gardening method out for yourself this year as well. This is a type of garden that even an individual without much space can try. All you really need is a sunny porch and a few minutes a day! Happy gardening friends! (Let me know how this works out for you if you try it or have tried it. Feel free to share any tips you may have on the subject.)
