General Guidelines
When growing an edible garden container, there are a few rules that differ from decorative gardens. Caution is needed when treating plants for insects and diseases. These poisonous chemicals can enter the plants and wind up on your plate. It is best to choose natural solutions to remedy the problem. Try methods such as planting oregano in with your vegetables to get rid of insects. Pruning the affected areas or washing the plant with a mild soap and water solution will often eliminate a variety of bugs and diseases.
Managing the fertility of the container gardening needs a bit more management. You can use compost teas, fish emulsion and other earth friendly fertilizers. Because of the absence of microbial life in the container soil, we recommend that you use fertilizers that have a great proportion of water soluble nitrogen. One of the easiest and earth friendly ways of fertilizing is with Osmocote. This is a time release fertilizer that releases fertilizer every time it rains or you water…thereby maintaining a constant flow of nutrients and mitigating the leaching of excess nitrogen.
There also needs to be sufficient room in the pot for food production. Harvesting the produce at the right time is also important. Picking the vegetables or fruit as it matures will give you the best quality food while eliminating the chance of it dropping off the plant. Picking the produce at the right time also allows the plant to focus more on new food production rather than wasting nutrients and time on over-ripening.
If you have shied away from gardening because of a lack of space for poor soil in which to grow plants, an edible container garden is the perfect solution. Produce can be grown in any sunny spot in your home and all you need is a pot, plants, and some soil to get started.
Feel free to email me at karl@bayportflower.com for any questions or feedback.
Happy Gardening!!!
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