There are a few simple ingredients for success— a little bit of room, sunlight, containers, growing media (a.k.a.“ potting soil”), water, and nutrients (fertilizer). The single most important ingredient for success is Tender Loving Care because your container plants have to depend entirely on YOU for all of their needs. It’s always best to start small the first year. Share ideas and create a plan with the other people in your household. Plant crops that you and your family like to eat, and keep your containers filled with edible plants through the entire growing season.

Incorporating containers into outdoor living space requires some basic knowledge about the needs of the plants you want to grow. An eye for design will produce more pleasing, aesthetic results.• Containers can be placed on any level surface—decks, balconies, and along driveways and sidewalks. You can also set them on bare ground and allow the plant roots to grow down into the soil or place them on top of a mulched area. Edibles can also be grown in hanging baskets and window boxes. Southern and western exposures will be the sunniest and warmest, while northern and eastern exposures will be shadier and cooler. You’ll need 6-8 hours of direct sun for warm season crops (tomato, pepper, eggplant, squash) and 3-5 hours of direct sun for cool-season crops (lettuce, spinach, Asian greens). Easy access to water is crucial. Some containers will need watering every day when the weather is hot and dry. Consider the microclimate in the container garden area. Watch out for heat sinks created by brick, concrete, and reflective surfaces. Cautionary notes: Containers and the water that drains from them can ark and stain concrete and wood decking. Using self-watering containers or plastic saucers to catch water will prevent this problem (and is very helpful if you are gardening “above” your neighbour’s balcony.) The light weight of large plastic containers leads gardeners to believe they can be easily moved. Buta 20-inch diameter container filled with moist growing medium and plants can weigh 100 lbs! You can buy or make plant caddies to make heavy containers portable.)

• Garden Soil— never use this by itself for container gardens. Soils hold water and nutrients very well and can drown roots growing in a container. Diseases and weed seeds can also be a problem. And soil is heavy which is an advantage if you are trying to anchor top-heavy plants and pots, but a disadvantage if you want to move pots.

• Commercial Soil-Less Mixes— these are an excellent choice for containers. They are light weight, drain well, hold water and nutrients, and are generally free of weeds, insects, and diseases. They have a pH of about 6.2 and are typically comprised of sphagnum peat moss, perlite, vermiculite and small amounts of lime and fertilizer. Examples of soil-less mixes are Pro Mix™, Reddi Earth™, Jiffy Mix™, and Sunshine Mix™. (To produce “organic” soil-less mixes, suppliers omit chemical wetting agents and substitute organic for chemical fertilizers.)

• Other Types of Commercial Mixes— are advertised as “top soil”, “planting soil”, “planting mix”, or “potting soil”. They vary a great deal in composition and quality. Avoid mixes that contain  edge peat, feel heavy or gritty, have very fine particles, or appear clumped.

• Sharp Sand— use only coarse builder sand, not play sand. Sand increases porosity because of the large particles. It is relatively inexpensive and heavy.

• Bark Fines and Wood Mulch— these are high in carbon and low in nutrients and not recommended for container vegetables.

• Compost contains all the major and minor nutrients that plants need for good growth. This makes it an excellent substitute for sphagnum peat moss, which has very few nutrients (although it does hold water better than compost). Composting effectively recycles the nutrients from gardens, landscapes, and farms thereby reducing nutrient pollution of waterways. However, fertilizing is still necessary because the nutrients in compost are released slowly and are usually not sufficient for an entire season.

• Vegetables, herbs and flower plants can be successfully grown in 100% compost or leaf mould. Baltimore City community gardeners have been doing this for decades!

• Vegetable plants generally grow best when soil pH is in the 5.5-7.0 range. Many composts have a pH over 7.0 but research has shown that there is no benefit in reducing the pH to a more desirable level, because nutrients in compost are available over a wide range of pH values.

• Properly made compost is turned multiple times and reaches temperatures that kill weed seeds and plant and human pathogens.

Water The limited volume of growing medium available to container vegetable plants makes it critical to keep the root

system moist at all times.

• Watering needs will vary depending on container size, ambient temperature, wind, sunlight, and humidity. You can count on watering most container vegetable plants daily during the summer months. The growing media should always be moist, but not soggy. Add water slowly until you see it drain out the bottom (except for “selfwatering” types.)

• Use a watering can or nozzle on the end of a hose that produces a soft stream of water. Be careful not to use hot water! It can burn leaves and young roots.

• Eating quality and yield will be greatly reduced if plants are allowed to wilt due to a lack of water. Drought stress will kill feeder roots and slow plants down.

• Water-holding polymers can be purchased and mixed with growing media to help containers retain moisture. Although effective, these products are not necessary for success.

• Small containers dry out more quickly than large containers. Use a saucer to catch excess water.

• Large, mature plants need more water than seedlings and young plants.

• Micro-irrigation with soaker hoses and drip emitters is efficient, convenient, and relatively inexpensive. You can water all of your containers automatically using a series of drip emitters on a timer.

Regardless of the growing media used you will need to fertilize plants regularly. University of Maryland researchers were able to double pepper production when 5-gallon buckets containing 100% compost were fertilized, at planting, with a slow-release fertilizer. This occurred because nitrogen is usually the limiting nutrient. This highly soluble nutrient is required in large quantities by vegetable crops and is easily lost in the water that drains from the bottom of your containers.

• Even “quick” crops like leaf lettuce or broccoli raab that mature in 35-45 days may need to be several times.

• Long-season crops like tomato, cucumber, eggplant, and pepper may need to be lightly fertilized every 2 weeks or so, to produce acontinuous harvest.

• Soluble fertilizers in liquid or powder form are very convenient to use and effective because the nutrients are immediately available. They are mixed with water and poured around plants according to label directions.

• Liquid sea kelp and fish fertilizer, and compost tea are excellent organic fertilizers that you mix with water and apply around plants.

• Blood meal, composted chicken manure, nitrate of soda, cottonseed meal and alfalfa meal, and worm castings are all dry organic fertilizers that you can mix into growing media at planting and re-apply as needed.

• Many non-organic fertilizers are available for container gardening. They are usually either fast acting soluble “plant foods” that are mixed with water, or pelletized slow-release fertilizers that are relatively expensive but can provide nutrients for 2-4 months.

• NOTE: never add lime, wood ashes, or gypsum to any commercial growing media or compost. Limeis already added to commercial soil-less mixes.

• Just about any vegetable or herb! Some of the more popular container crops are salad greens, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, beans, chard, beets, radish, squash and cucumbers.

• More challenging crops include melons, corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. The key is to experiment.

• Look for “bush” or “dwarf” varieties of the crops you want to grow. There are quite a few tomato and cucumber varieties bred for small-space gardening.

• Match container size to plant size, both the top growth and root system. Don’t squeeze large plants into small containers. Restrict root growth too much, and plants don’t grow well. It’s useful to consider both the depth and total volume of your container

Recommended media depth:

o 4-6 inches: salad greens, Asian greens, mustards, garlic, radish, basil, cilantro, thyme, mint, and marjoram. (Salad greens and some herbs have shallow, fibrous root systems and are well suited to shallow containers with a large surface area).

o 8-12 inches: beans, beets, chard, carrots, chard, cabbage, pepper, eggplant, tomato, squash, rosemary, parsley, lavender, and fennel.

o 1-3 gallons: herbs, green onions, radishes, onion, chard, pepper, dwarf tomato or cucumber, basil.

o 4-5 gallons: full-size tomato, cucumber, eggplant, beans, peas, cabbage, and broccoli.

• Don’t fill the bottom of the container with pebbles, gravel, or rocks unless you need the added weight to prevent tipping. Cover drainage holes with mesh, gravel, paper towel, or a coffee filter, to prevent soil from washing away.

• Prior to planting, use a trowel or your hands to thoroughly work water into the growing medium. This is especially important for soil-less mixes containing peat moss.

• Don’t cram media into container. Fill to within an inch or so of top of container. Follow seed packet directions for planting, spacing, and care.

• For attractive and versatile containers, mix herbs and annual flowers in with the vegetable plants.

• Herbs such as lavender, thyme, oregano, marjoram, and chives require a loose growing medium, and dry conditions. Plant them together in porous clay pots and add some sand to the mix.

• Keep containers together to increase humidity and water retention

Keep those plants growing!

• Three-season planting (a.k.a. “successionplanting”): When spring lettuce or radish is spent, pull up and compost the plants. Then re-plant the container in late May with pepper plants, beans or cucumber seed. In early fall you can plant kale, lettuce or broccoli raab to finish out the season. Don’t forget to fertilize after each crop!

• Give them support. Cucumbers, pole beans, peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant will all benefit from some type of vertical support.

• Move plants around if containers are portable to maximize sunlight (for heat-loving crops) and shade (for summer-grown salad greens).

Trouble in Paradise: Diagnosing Plant Problems

Container-grown plants are subject to the same insect and disease problems as garden- grown plants, but container gardeners tend to have fewer problems. The biggest causes of plant problems are lack of water and nutrients, and overcrowding. Plants can also suffer root rot from too much water, especially if the growing mix does not drain well. Go to plant diagnostics. umd.edu for additional help in diagnosing vegetable problems.

Saber saw, drill, 5/16 inch and 3/4 inch drill bits, utility knife, hacksaw Construction Steps (see illustration below):