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New vegetable containers - soil/compost advice
WildFlower_UK
Posts: 236
in Fruit & veg
I've built two wooden planters, both 100cm x 40cm and 40cm high. They are lined and have drainage holes through the plastic and wood. And have one 40cm and one 50cm plastic pots on the way, which will also have drainage holes.
Being new to veg growing and with limited seeds available (when I purchased them 3 weeks ago!), I only bought some courgette and tumbling tom seeds, and some Charlotte seed potatoes.
What sort of soil would be best for the containers? I have 3 bags of peat-free compost already (I have a local garden centre that can deliver extra compost) plus about a bag equivalent of top soil dug up from another part of my garden but can get more. Planting wise, I was thinking:
- Planter 1: 1 x courgette plant and 1 x tomato plant
- Planter 2: 1 x courgette plant and 1 x tomato plant
- 50cm pot: seed potatoes
- 40cm pot: seed potatoes
For all four configurations, would a 70/30 mix of peat-free compost and top soil (I think it's considered a clay soil) be OK? Should I add anything else to help with drainage? I have some gravel I can add to the bottom to prevent the holes getting bunged with compost.
Any help most appreciated! Thanks
Being new to veg growing and with limited seeds available (when I purchased them 3 weeks ago!), I only bought some courgette and tumbling tom seeds, and some Charlotte seed potatoes.
What sort of soil would be best for the containers? I have 3 bags of peat-free compost already (I have a local garden centre that can deliver extra compost) plus about a bag equivalent of top soil dug up from another part of my garden but can get more. Planting wise, I was thinking:
- Planter 1: 1 x courgette plant and 1 x tomato plant
- Planter 2: 1 x courgette plant and 1 x tomato plant
- 50cm pot: seed potatoes
- 40cm pot: seed potatoes
For all four configurations, would a 70/30 mix of peat-free compost and top soil (I think it's considered a clay soil) be OK? Should I add anything else to help with drainage? I have some gravel I can add to the bottom to prevent the holes getting bunged with compost.
Any help most appreciated! Thanks
"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need"
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you won’t get both courgette and tom in the planter, the courgette will swamp each bed.
also how tall are the pots? You may get 1 poss 2 seed potatoe in each if the are tall pots
- 2 x wooden raised planters, L100xW40xD40cm
- 1 x 50cm pot, at the top 50cm, thinner at bottom, and roughly 45cm in height
- 2 x 40cm pots, at the top 40cm, thinner at bottom, and roughly 40cm in height
- 2 x 30cm pots, at the top 30cm, thinner at bottom, and roughly 30cm in height
I posted separately about how many seed potatoes per pot, see https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1038163/growing-potatoes-in-pots#latest. Any advice on that question would be amazing too!
So I guess I need an optimum configuration for:
- Courgette plants (2 varieties)
- Tumbling toms
- Charlotte potatoes
- I'd also like to plant up some basil plants (grown from seed); could this be done on the edge of the planters?
tumbling toms need to be in hanging baskets, maybe you have somewhere to place a couple.
The courgettes will drown out the planters and plenty of the surrounding ground, even the weeds struggle to survive under those cracking plants.
try 2 spuds in the bottom of each pot, nothing to lose.... make sure you fill the pot to the top with soil/compost and fertilizer. They will need plenty of water and some feed
I'll just place 1 courgette plant per large planter. Cheers for this advice!
For the potatoes; is that just 2 seed potatoes per 40cm pot and that's it? Not earthing up?
Thanks so much for your time.