I thought I would update how our container gardening is going. My husband apparently decided to keep some of our plants in containers (because it’s now July and those plants are still in containers) instead of planting them with the rest, and so I thought I would show you what happens in a very short amount of time. Remember this post back on the last day of March? These were our plants after only 5 days: 
So after three months, here is what our banana pepper plants look like now:
And here is one of our green pepper plants (you can actually see one of the little green peppers near the middle of the plant):
My husband only left one tomato plant in a container and planted the rest, but here is what the container tomato plant looks like:
The banana pepper plants really took off and my husband actually picked about 7 of the peppers last week, cleaned them and took them to work as part of his lunch.
This is our first attempt at container gardening, and although we had had not intended on using containers for an extended period of time, just until the plants could be transferred to the garden, they have not taken much “work” at all, just watering here and there when we do not get rain for a few days (which hasn’t happened that often this summer!). And these containers really take up very little room, so even those with limited space can do this.
Did anyone else decide to try their hand at container gardening this year? Leave a comment and let us know how it’s going!
We put in a full garden every year. We decided that next year we would save our own seeds (from this year’s garden) and try to grow everything from seed, in the house, versus waiting for it to be warm enough outside. My grandmother always did this on her farm and her whole house would be filled with growing plants in March and April.
We do grow herbs in containers. I love having them close to the kitchen and they smell so good on the deck when we are entertaining.I am going to try and bring them inside this fall and see if they make it all winter. Cross your fingers for me (them)- LOL.
Crossing fingers! And update me on your herbs this winter because I want to try that too; I’m just afraid it won’t work out.
And YES, our house was FULL of plants this year. My entire great room and the laundry room were nothing but…plants…LOL!
I had kept my oregano, sage, rosemary and thyme for 4 years in a row. I live in Michigan and would bring them in for the winter. You just need a very sunny southern exposure for them to get enough light. The sage seemed to suffer most because it needs a lot of sunlight, however, once I put them out again in the spring, it would thrive again. After about 4-5 years, these plants seem to get woody and “branchy” and then you have to start out with new.
Try a UV light, u can find them at your local pet shop. 1.0 lights are what will work best, anything over that will produce larger amounts of UV than needed. 10.0 being the hottest which emits waves found in the desert, 1.0 emitting waves found in less hot regions of the world, and yes there are ones between the 2, All mine are under 1.0 and 10.0 combos because that is what i have for my reptiles. After 6 months and the bulb is no longer as useful for my herps, i just move it over to the plants. These lights produce heavy UVB, and not a lot of UVA, UVA can be found in plain light bulbs. Have not looked at just plain plant grow bulbs, so i can not comment there. I would think they produce UVA and very very very light UVB if any. But don’t hold me to any of that.
Great topic Jen! I love container gardening (and regular gardening!) I started my plants from seed indoors this year beginning in February. My dining room, kitchen and laundry room all get the morning sun, combining that with the constant 70 degree temperature from our pellet stove and a daily misting of water and our seeds take off. By planting time I am living in a virtual greenhouse. I love all this growth in winter. I can’t believe I started 30 cucumber plants this winter and gave half away. Living in the Pacific Northwest we often need a jump start due to our short growing season. I decided to leave my peppers in pots this year because they like it hot! I have a much better crop then last year. Plus it is suppose to reach 107 degrees today! I just finished lunch which was a salad with lettuce, cucumber, beet, onion, garlic, tomatoe, celery, peas, radish, chicken, yogurt and cottage cheese and all the veges were from the garden. I love it!
i did a container garden this year i bought 2 earth boxes planted 3 tomatos in one and a red orange and yellow bell pepper in the other i have been having a blast plus i have a nice big garden as well cucumbers and banana peppers and jalepenos doing extremly well in fact i am so sick of canning cucumbers i am giving them away now lol …tomatos have not done well think it is because our tn. weather has been so bad also this is just my second yr of ever having a garden and the second yr i have ever done canning i have over 180 jars half pints, pints and quarts been busy but we will definatly reap the rewards all yr long