Do you LOVE to have a vegetable garden? We LOVE planting and harvesting our vegetable garden each year. My love obsession with gardening started at a very young age. Growing up in a garden center provided me first hand knowledge of the in's and outs of gardening. I love gardening in our flower beds creating beautiful landscapes around our houses with a multitude of flowers, shrubs, ground covers and more. But there was something about vegetable gardens...starting our plants from a tiny seed and growing them until we harvested them that never left me. The satisfaction of seeing these amazing plants produce vegetables, harvesting them, and feeding these amazingly delicious vegetables to my family is surreal. Through my years of raising vegetable gardens we have had our vegetable garden in difffernt locations, in the ground, in raised beds, in containers, and everything in between. At some of our homes we have been confined by space in the yard to create a garden and In other homes we have had an abundance of space. Through different trials, errors, and success I have found that raised beds and container gardening works best for us. One reason I like container gardens and raised beds is because I don’t care to rototill ...😜😜😜!! I have learned, from years of raised beds and limited gardening areas, the importance of planning out your garden..or in easier terms "making a vegetable garden diagram." In my opionion this is a crucial step to maximize your gardening area. Taking the time to map out your garden will allow You to utilize the entire area efficiently.
One way we have combated small growing areas is container gardening. This sounds easy enough....grow your vegetables in containers. But with some planning and ingenuity
you can create a great harvest with a small amount of space. Container gardening is more than just planting a tomato, pepper, or any other vegetable in a container, it is about figuring out how to maximize the space. Planning ahead and creating your diagram will allow you to determine what different crops you can grow in one container to provide perfect conditions for growing multiple varieties. Picking your container doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. You can use any larger container you have laying around. We utilize tree containers, 5 gallon buckets, or any other container laying around. Another benefit of utilizing raised beds and container gardens is heat. Heat is an important part of growing most vegetables...specially heat where the roots are. Raised beds and container gardens tend to be warmer since they are above ground, and all the heat in concentrated into a small area Allowing for better growth of your plants...but don’t forget the water!!! Another benefit of raised beds and container gardens is the nutrient content. When you plant into the ground you have to consider the amount of nutrients leached out of your garden area and absorbed by the ground deeper than your garden. In the container garden and raised bed you Benefit from the concentrated nutrients in the confined space.
Have I sold you on trying to grown some veggies in a container garden yet?? If so let me share an example with you for one container we plan to try this year. Like I mentioned, I do a lot of dL growing in 5 gallon buts. My husband is constantly bringing them home from work and I have found a lot of great uses for them! Here is one exin the middle of your container and using the outer edge of the container to plant you shorter verities of greens such as: leafy lettuce, kale, chard, arugula, or other shorter leafy varieties. If you really wanted to maximize your space you could drill 1-1.5" holes in the side of the container, plant your strawberry shoots in the holes, and your tomato and leafy greens at the top of the container. With one container you can produce three different vegetables for your garden to table needs. Another way we use 5 gallon buckets for veggi gardening is to plant our potatoes. Freshly dug, fingerling, potatoes are AMAZING! I mean, we all LOVE potatoes (who doesn't?? I am sure some people don't but I haven't met them yet). However, harvesting potatoes can be a bit of a hassle when you have them planted in your big garden. Seedling potato's (this is the "eye" of the potato that grows when you accidentally leave them sit in the bag to long) grow a runner where the potato grows from. This means your potatoes can span over several feet and trying to find them requires turning over the dirt until you find them all. Could there be an easier way??? YES! Containers are a perfect option for growing potatoes. Using a fve gallon bucket allows you to plant our seedling potatoes and have the runner grow throughout the five gallon bucket. Once your potatoes are ready to be harvested tip it over or dig them up. Harvesting becomes a piece of cake!! And if you want potatoes throughout the year plant multiple five gallon buckets at different times throughout the spring and you will have multiple batches of potatos ready to be harvested at different times throughout the summer and fall!!!
**this is one of our five gallon buckets we used to grow squash in last year 🤪**
