Container and concreate garden

[Andy Hamilton]

In a couple of weeks I shall be moving from my tiny little flat to a two bedroomed house. We have a garden which is really a lump of concrete that is suposedly the place to park our car but, we don't have one. We also have a little gravel bit which I am hoping to turn to a vegetable patch.

I am hoping to have a container garden on the drive bit, any suggestion of what works well or even what to use for tubs? I saw on the river cottage that he was growing corgettes in tyres I am guessing that the roots will be too long to have them grow with concrete underneath.

Or indeed any experiments that I can try and then write about on the site. Any suggestions will be greatly recieved.

[FluffyMuppet]

Hi Andy,

I've grown courgettes in pots without them being able to root into the ground and they don't grow as large or fruit as prolifically as ones in the ground, but they do grow and they do fruit, provided they get enough water.

This year I had my first decent crop of carrots grown in a container. I sowed them in rootrainers and then transplanted them, which meant they all had enough space to grow properly without me needing to thin them.

Other than that, most things will grow in a container if it's big enough. Look out for dwarf or mini-veg varieties (and be prepared for the watering burden). I had a good crop of dwarf French beans one year (they got blown to smithereens this year. Twice) and I've seen dwarf runners (Hestia) in catalogues this year.

Leafy things are always good - leaf beet, spinach, lettuce and salads - and tomatoes are fine in pots or grow bags.

You could try locating a copy of one of my favourite books - the edible container garden by Michael Guerra - as it has a list of veg in the back and the size of containers they generally need.

HTH
Emma

[Magpie]

And don't forget peas in hanging baskets. :-)

[Andy Hamilton]

Actually I might have that book will have a look round. (house full of books)

Perhaps the corgettes could be grown in half barrels or something?

I guess I could even have a go at trying to build a raised bed.

[2steps]

I grew my runner beans in a washing machine drum this year, tomatoes in hanging baskets and strawberries in a big buckets and in an old paddling pool

[ina]

Make friends with a plumber, and get him to keep all the old bath tubs he takes out... I've had ordinary runner beans in pots, too, climbing all over my house up to the roof. I don't really like the idea of growing things in car tyres; I always feel that there is something - smell or taste or chemicals of some sort - coming off the material. Probably just my imagination.

We've got a few pallets full of huuuuuuuge mineral lick buckets for cattle in the shed - I've got my eye on them already, although they are all still full! Pity you live so far away... I am thinking of building pyramid-like structures with them (once empty, of course); then the plants can trail down, and space and sunlight should be used most efficiently.

Ina

[diver]

I've grown spuds successfully in a barrel in my yard, put lots of used tea bags in the bottom of all the tubs as this helps to retain the moisture...especially if you grow tomatoes in a hanging basket. We grew "tumbler" last year and the whole plant was covered in cherry tomatoes. I grew carrots in tubs this year in an attempt to cheat the carrot root fly (which we did by putting the containers on top or the compost bin which is made from old pallets)...unfortunately some of the carrots were eaten by wood lice!!!. I have also grown outdoor cucumbers and runner beans and peas in pots. good luck...make sure you have a water butt because ,by the sound of it you will need a lot of water