How big do you need your pots to be able to plant veg in

s4lvatore

Now keeping on the money saving theme how little soil or small a size container do you think you need to use for one plant. Say for example you buy 6 litre pots, would 6 ltrs be enough to grow most things, like tomatoes, peppers, aubs, squash etc.

I personally would have 8 litres would be fine if kept well fed.

What are your opinions.

Am still learning in order to maximise space and harvest for next year.

s4lvatore

By the way I am more talking about a single plant as opposed to onion sets and stuff.

Sally_A

You can't scrimp on good soil for a plant. Personally I grow tomatoes, aubergines and peppers in flower buckets as the smallest size, and builders buckets as the biggest size.

Tomatoes will grow extra roots from the base of their stem as they grow and these need more good compost packed around as they grow.

Aubergines and peppers similar.

Squash, I would only grow in the garden, they travel like crazy and not in the direction you've made allowances for. Mine have tootled westward into next doors garden, across the path between, I need a Caution Squash Crossing sign.

The best starting point you can give to all the plants you mention is a good composty, rotten manure base, this will get the greenery going early in the plants life.

Lotus-eater

Yes I've tried pots smaller than flower buckets for tomatoes and chillies, I don't like the way they work. Those free flower buckets are great, not really strong, but free from Asda's (and others I think) so it doesn't matter if you break a couple. I think you can probably grow almost anything in them.
A friend of mine swears by pots half the size of the flower ones for sweet peppers, I've tried both and still can't grow them.

s4lvatore

I think I may have asked this somewhere else before but what are the measurements of those flower buckets, how much soil they take? I am only asking as I cant seem to get hold of those round my way so wwa gonna buy some polythene pots.

s4lvatore

Found a bit of a guide on grow your own

Anyone wanna add to it?


Chilli
Pots: minimum 6" pot with 1 plant or 12"-14" pots with 2 plants
Window Box: 18" = 2 plants and 24" = 3 plants (where boxes are approx 6" wide and 6" deep)

Sweet Pepper
Pots: Between 6"-9" pot but 8" pot as best size

Tomato
Pots: Between 9"-12" pot or 10" florist bucket

Aubergine
Pots: Between 8"-10" pot

Cucumber
Pots: 12" pot

Found a bit of a guide on grow your own. Anyone add to it?

Courgette
Pots: Between 12"-15" pot

Winter Squash
= ????

Melon
= ????

French Bush/Dwarf Beans
Window Box: 24" box = not more than 6 bushes

Potato
B&Q orange or any DIY bucket = 3 tubers
Florist bucket = 1 big tuber or 2 small tubers

morg_monster

salvatore - they are about 12" across the top and narrow slightly at the bottom; take about 9L.
We've grown tumbling toms, chilli peppers and small sweet peppers, dwarf carrots and potatoes (1 per pot) in these very succesfully this year.

little_miss_welsh

Ive grown loads in the flower pots from supermarkets. We inadvertantely end up with the M&S ones and there are two sizes - one is deeper than the other

Have used both sizes successfully this year to plant dwarf beans, carrots, tumbling cherry tomatoes, spring onions and various lettuces in

Fab considering they are free!

Poosmate

Hi all, I'm a noob in this neck of the woods but researching and learning to start growing my own.

I wondered how much produce do you get from these container plants? I mean, someone mentioned potatoes (1 tuber = 6" pot), how many spuds would you get from one tuber?

Thanks

Poo

morg_monster

Our new potatoes we got an average of about 300g probably in each bucket, from 1 seed potato. Some were disappointing, only 5 or 6 spuds, but a couple we had 500g. However I probably could have left them longer and got more, as some were still marble sized.
I tried out one rooster (maincrop) potato in a bucket, didn't think it'd do well but I got 1kg from 1 spud! That was 15 potatoes, most 2-3" in size, a few smaller. The same yield (1kg per seed) as I got from the big "potato growbags".
I am definitely going to do it again next year. I find the small buckets better than the big potato growbags as you can move them around easily.
One tip, I painted numbers on the buckets with white paint as otherwise you have no clue what is what, and if you have eg staggered planting of potatoes it tells you which ones are ready now and which need a few more weeks.

In case you're interested in the other things we grew, well the peppers have been great and we've probably picked 5-10 off each plant and each has about 10 ripe ones now and as many green ones. Carrots, well, as many seeds as you can get in with them being about 1.5-2" apart. Salad, lots!!! and if you keep eating it it lasts for months.

Oh and I was a newbie to it all this year and it has been a great success. I know the weather helped A LOT! But I feel very pleased with myself for what I've accomplished and am already thinking about what to drop, what to grow more of next year. Can't wait!

Sally_A

Re potatoes, much better to plant 3 to 5 seed potatoes in an old multi purpose compost sack. Turn it inside out, and roll it down (think rolling down a sock before you put it on), so the black lining will absorb the heat, place about 6 inches of soil in the bottom, pop the seed spuds in, and cover with soil, as the greenery pokes through add more soil, and pull the sides of the bag up more. Don't forget to water, and put drainage holes in the bottom.

Because the height of the extended sack is about double the height of a builders bucket, you should have a greater yield.

If you don't have access to good soil to top the bag up though, it is worthwhile collecting friends spent growbags from this year, so long as tomato blight was not a problem.

I started mine off in the greenhouse mid Feb last year, they were moved outside (as still portable) mid May, as I need the g/h space for toms/cuces etc, and harvested late May/early June. Not the greatest yields, but an early new potato is a very welcome addition to the plate and a promise of the summer harvest to come.