Ijust seem to have a black thumb

[BigM]

Well, I've killed about everything I've started this year all ready. I'm just terrible at this! I really wish Dh would get my boxes ready for Square Foot Gardening. I do much better at things in the "ground" than containers.




Me

[Granny Smith]

I can't grow things in pots, either. I have a cold frame and things do much better in that.

[carla]

Okay ladies, you're worrying me. I'm going to get my veggie containers started in a couple of weeks (as soon as plants are out at Lowe's). I need positive thinking on this!

[Granny Smith]

Carla, big containers are much easier than starter pots. In the summertime, my porch looks like a jungle.

[Fla Gal]

Carla, when I had my container garden I bunched the containers together on pallets in rows. It helped keep the containers from baking in the sun. You can also cover the soil with a black plastic lawn and leaf bag. Cut slits where you want the plants to be. You can top water the container. The black plastic helps hold moisture.

Edited to add: I could put four containers to a pallet. I put them on pallets because my postage stamp sized yard, in the city,was prone to flooding during the rainy season. There was a fence around the yard and I kept netting on the fence so no one could see the pallets, bins or much of the plants from the road.

The containers I used were recycling bins, store bought bins and a couple earth boxes. You can build earth boxes yourself but I didn't see an advantage to having them when they're bunched together with other bins.

Bigm, you can do square foot gardening in containers. Gayle's right, use large containers. The soil, unless you already have it, or can order it cheap, will cost quite a bit but you can get a lot of veggies out of a container garden.