No back forty to call your own? No worries. Container gardening is the answer. Whether it’s a small patio, balcony or in my case a small side yard, home grown vegetables are within reach. To get started I made a call to the Master Gardeners of Santa Clara Valley for some help on how to get started.

1. Location.  Location is very important for your container garden. Vegetables need at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight for optimal production. Having your water supply close at hand makes for easy watering.

2. Good Soil.  Use fresh, clean topsoil or add organic soil amendments to your containers and raised beds.

3. Type of Vegetables.  For a 12″ to 15″ pot choose 2 to 3 different types of non-heading lettuces. Mix in a few herbs. Leaf type lettuces allow you to clip and keep growing. You will have a complete salad ready all summer long. You can also try bush style beans in a container. In raised beds, choose tomatoes that are determinant (types that grow to a certain height), peppers, chard, radishes, beets or eggplant.

The Master Gardener also said there is a new product out there specifically for patio gardens. Earthbox is a maintenance-free, high-tech growing system. Using Earthbox you will use less fertilizer and water, but double your production. So get those gardening gloves on and start your container garden.

Related Stories:
Tips: Garden Patio Makeover on a Budget
Campbell Farmer’s Market – Lookiloos Out on the Town
Carmel Valley’s Organic Garden Art

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 at 1:35 pm and is filed under Desiree, Garden, Home and Garden, Q & A, Q and A, San Jose, Yard. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.