I am growing a 100% containerized garden!
I moved to a new home last year. My old one sucked for growing things beyond tomatoes and weed. I grew an amazing bounty of tomatoes and strawberries, last spring. Weed, while still legal, seems to be an invitation to thievery here.
I did a bunch of reading and found two books by Edward Smith really helpful. The Vegetable Gardener's Container Bible leads the charge into the general world of growing your edible vegges in containers, what works well together and what will not.
Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers covers my favorite way to grow fruits and vegetables: in self-watering containers. When plants are given an always on-demand supply of nutrients and water, and their roots are naturally warmed in a raised-bed style system they grow like mad.
Last summer I had 2 tomato plants in a self watering container outproduce 3 planted in the ground by 20+ lbs of tomatoes. Same starters from the same nursery. The soil here is basically sand. Growing up in Southern California I did not realize that many of the beach communities here were built on literal sand.
It isn't worth growing trying to grow tomatoes in sand. I bought several more of the self-watering containers I like. I have made my own before, but find buying them to be more durable and easier to move around.
Smith guides you as to what types and depths of soils, size of container and fertilizers various veg will need in a self watering box. It is super helpful.
This year I have two twin pink lemonade blueberry starters going as an experiment. One in a self-watering container and one in a pot. I will be keeping an eye out on whom does best. I followed EarthBox (the container manufacturer I like) on the S-W-C planting and am relying on the wisdom of the internet for the blueberry in the container.
Smith's books have helped me choose some artichoke and corn as new entrants into this years garden. The artichoke hopefully will be around for a few years. I started with 2 and 1 is dead by puppy. She seems disinterested in the other but has routinely dug up some new strawberries in a self-waterer. I have since restricted her access to the new stuff.
I am starting the corn from seed while I figure out which herbs and edible plants are up next.
