Questions about container growing.

[Heirloom gard]

I have plants that either spread and are large- Jurulasume artichioke, or am just trying to save space for the melons and winter squash.

These are some of the plants I was thinking of growing in pots/containers.


Corn- strawberry popcorn- because its easier to isolate a jumbo pot then a patch of corn to get good seed.

Jerulaslume artichoke- So I can control its spread and size the community garden might not want a huge patch of it growing next year.


Trinidad scorpian peppers - so I can isolate the variety and get seed plus save people from eating hybrids of hot/sweet pepper.

Sweet peppers- to save garden space.

Patatos, to save space and increase the harvest.

[Doug9345]

The pop corn is going to be hard for several reasons. Corn pollen is wind born and just growing it in a container isn't going to change that unless it allows you to get it a very long ways from other corn. It is also going to be hard to get it to pollinate. Most likely you are going to have to do some hand pollination. Saving seed from too few corn plants may or can lead to a significant decrease in vigor.


Another advantage of growing your Trinidad Scorpion in a pot is that you can bring it in in the fall if the peppers haven't ripened.

[Heirloom gard]

thanks i'll probably give corn to nancy a friend of mine who lives in a high rise, plenty of physical berriers for corn isolation. she makes good popcorn and we can share the harvest.


the peppers and lettice/herbs i'll start indoors. do you useally start melons and winter squash indoors or just directly sow outdoors.

[tlintx]

I guess a high rise will eliminate the biggest problem I've seen with corn in a pot -- varmints.

Doug is correct. You won't get much in the way of corn from a pot, even if squirrels, raccoons, and bugs aren't "helping". Burpee has a dwarf variety you might want to look at, but I wouldn't count on any crop, and even if you get some, you need 1/3 of a cup of corn kernels to make a decent single person serving of popcorn.

You can get a bag of popcorn from the grocery store for $1.

I would plant tomatoes instead!

[Doug9345]

Squash can be started early but I've always just started it outside. In my area I generally don't have a problem ripening any squash. Squash gets really big really fast and the seeds germinate quickly. In your area I'd me more inclined plant a quicker maturing squash opposed to trying to start them inside. The secret to squash is that the soil has to be warm. I'd say 60°F minimum higher would be better.


Melons like it warm also. Melons I'd be more inclined to start inside, but I don;t have much experioence with them.

Melons even more so. Can you put plastic down in your community garden.

[luigiwu]

I don't know where you're planting but Larry did grow bags got awesome results:
Hope it helps some.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdKS7P2qYJw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh3nqlM3XTc

I also have a limited amount of space to garden and so I do everything as containers. I'm looking for species with smaller growth habits for things like squash and melons. This year, I think I will be trying:
-tatum squash
-burpee butterbush (butternut)
-heart of gold (cantaloupe)

[Heirloom gard]

And like a "dumb dumb" so to speak I got large heirloom winter squash varities, Pink banana and dutch crookneck that can grow to be 10,20 or even 40lbs.


That being said do you guys know of any Jumbo super large/tall trellis I could order online to grow them up on to save space, ideally I'd like them, to be over 10 feet high.

I like roasted squash with brown surgar and spices what can I say.


I'm also growing melons and cucumbers- got a 5 foot trellis for that.

[Doug9345]

I'm assuming you have a community garden plot. Unless you are the last plot on the northern side you are going to severely shade your neighbor. A ten foot high trellis is a Home improvement or lumber yard project and not the internet. A 40 lb squash even 8 foot high is going to badly injure someone if it falls. It needs to be supported somehow.

The other difficulty with a 10' high trellis is building it to resist wind. Think in terms of two 4" x 4" posts driven in the ground and braced.

[Heirloom gard]

Probably a good idea to grow them on the ground then, and just pot up the other smaller plants! I didn't take that into thought. I could request a northen end plot that way I don't shade my neighbors,


Last year the plots were 20 feet by 10 feet, I don't know how big they will be this year.

[habitat_gardener]

Peppers grow well in pots.

I've grown jerusalem artichokes in the ground, and have not found them to be impossible to get rid of. But I've dug out every single piece I could find, and when I saw new plants sprouting, I pulled them up before they were 4 inches high. It does take persistence if you grow them one year and then want to move them somewhere else the next year. At a community garden, the main problem for me is that they get so tall that you have to be careful not to shade neighboring plots -- mine were 8-10 ft. high.

iirc, the isolation distance for corn is measured in miles, not feet -- half a mile? a mile?The main problem is that critters love it so much.

For potatoes, I'd use a half barrel or larger size. I've grown them in 5-gallon pots, but didn't get a huge harvest.

[Father'sDaughter]

I also have very limited space and I only have room for a few in-ground squash plants, so I grow a zucchini that has a fairly compact vine. I also love roasted winter squash, but I don't have any room in my beds for it. Last year I tried planting some out late (in early July) after the garlic harvest, but only managed to get one squash to mature before frost. For this year I purchased some Bush Delicata seeds to plant in a container at the start of the season. Not only is it supposed to be a compact plant, the squash will be small enough that I won't have to crack open and then cook something that's much to large to feed two people. I'm hoping it ends up being a good producer.

[Heirloom gard]

What I might do is wait and see how much space the plots are and take it from there. If not enough people get the plots then the teacher said I can have more space. In the extereme case I can always trade off my seeds to someone on this forum who has enough land for it.


As it is I could donate the majority of/all of the plot to growing the squash, melon and cucumbers and pot up most everything else.


bush Beans, peppers and tomatos I could pot up, if I used a really big pot, say 7 or 5 gal, could I use my 5 foot tommato cages in it? One per pot. I want to grow Black cherry heirloom tomatos.

[KarenO]

I don't grow winter squash, it takes up far too much room so |I get mine for free from those who do grow it and are desperately trying to unload their waaaay too many extras
(and they think I am doing them a favor) haha!
zucchini and patty pan summer squash varieties are more compact for my garden and both will grow in large pots quite successfully.
KarenO

[Heirloom gard]

i think i have it figured out. grow the squash/melon and cucumber giants in the ground at the community garden and pot/bag up everything else,


leaving them either at the community garden, at my house -in case of the hot peppers, or. at MSS(- job site/work program for disabled adults I go to). they too garden and would love some of my seeds perhaps I could show them container gardening.


Sense nior de cromes are smaller melons i'll try to get a jumbo trellis for these at the community garden -no 40lbs behemoths falling on my head here. I have a 5 foot one for the cucumbers already.

[Doug9345]

You aren't going to get many beans from a 5 gallon pot of bush beans. If I was going to do a 5 gallon container for beans, I'd do pole beans