Pot planting; also question re. old fertilizer

Hi,

The last 2 years I planted veggies in my backyard and also in pots on my porch. This year I'm thinking of doing pot planting intead of planting in the garden. Getting big pots and planters.

Is potting soil enough for planters/pots? I would add fertilizer to it. Should I use some of the soil from the garden mixed in with store bought potting soil?

I was watching a video on CNN on gardening just yesterday. Should I make sure all my pots have holes on the bottom? - I'm going to doublecheck that the pots I already have have holes. Is it important to put gravel or cloth on the bottom of the pot?

I have fertilzer that I bought I believe two years ago, and possibly last year. Is it still usable and just as potent for this year?

Thank you,
Deva

I would not add garden soil to a container planting. Potting soil is a lighter mix of soil and vermiculite and sometimes perlite. It is intended for the tighter quarters that plants live in when planted in containers. It's also good draining soil.

Miracle Gro makes a potting soil that has fertilizer already in it. It's all I buy. Some potting soils can be heavy and become compacted over time which is not good for root development.

Yes, make sure your pots have drainage holes. Otherwise the roots might become waterlogged and your plants will die.

You can put gravel in the bottom of you pots to keep soil from washing out when you water. Shards of old terra cotta flowerpots work nicely, too. I line my pots with coffee filters or you can use old pantyhose. In larger planters, I put a couple inches of packing peanuts, a layer of weed block and then the potting soil. This keeps the planters from being too heavy so I can move them around.

Container gardening is great for the fact that you can move your pots. This way you can give your plants the light they need and/or move them out of inclement weather.

Thank you for this most helpful reply. I'm going to Home Depot to pick up supplies this week.

I have purchased Miracle Gro fertilizer to fertilize flowers. For vegetables, I thought of getting a more organic soil and fertilizer (I bought a big bag of smelly fertilizer a year or 2 ago, and last year potting soil from another brand that says it's 'organic' - it may have been called Organic Choice). In any case, I'll look into Miracle Gro's potting soil and will not mix garden soil into it.

Another question - would you mix old potting soil with new potting soil? I'm assuming that some of the nutrients would have been used? Actually, I have mixed garden soil with potting soil in the past, so I won't reuse the potting soil.

thank you again,
Deva

Hi,
I mix old potting soil with new very often. But after reading some excellent advice in DG what I now do is buy a bag of very finely chopped bark mulch and add that to my reused soil. (The bark I buy is chopped much smaller than I'd consider using as mulch. )
My mom's flowers lived surprisingly well in very-well used potting mix. The concern with old potting mix is that eventually the peat part would break down so much that the mix becomes too "pasty" , less "airy" and stays wet too long. Mixing garden soil with potting mix hasn't "contaminated" it but has also made it less airy. Personally I'd rescue that with a large proportion of fine bark mulch too. Please note that when your pots have nice well draining mix, you may have to water more often.

Deva
We do mix compost in with potting soil for veggies. I find that some of the veggies do better with the mix. It's more of a 1/4 compost and 3/4 potting mix (1/3 to 2/3 ratio maximum). Make sure you have a drainage hole in the bottom of the pot for things that need drainage. We plug the hole for items like elephant ears or other water plants which require boggy soil or more water.

We grow herbs, peppers, summer squash, carrots, peas, tomatoes, eggplant, etc in containers. We've tried melons and we found they did better in the ground.

One of the advantages to growing in pots is the soil warms up sooner then the soil in the ground therefore the warm season crops grow faster.

We also have a drip system on a timer that we installed to automatically water the containers. I find that the containers dry out faster then what is planted in the ground. When it gets hot here then the timing system gets reset to water twice daily.

I don't reuse the potting soil on items like summer squash because of vine bore which winters over in the soil. If I know I have something that might winter over like that it goes either in the compost bin or gets something else planted in it the next year. I also make sure that I rotate what is in the pots each year similar to what you would do if you were planting in the garden. We are using row covers on the pots for the first year to see if we can control vine bore and cucumber beatles.

I find the larger in diameter the pot is the better the veggies do. Most of what we have for the veggies is 24 inches or larger. We have some black earthboxes with a water reserve. Over the years we have gone to just using them for herbs. I have also used hanging baskets for some of the pea tomatoes.

The fertilizer should still be good. I mix a slow release fertilzer into the pots when they get planted and then use a organic fertilizer the rest of the season.

To dress up some of the veggie pots (they sit on our patio) I will plant edible flowering plants like nasturtiums along with the veggies. They look esp good with the pepper plants.

BTW - We also mulch the top of our pots.

Okay I saw the thread title and well I just thought........... Silly me. My mind was in the the 70's

I save my old potting soil and use it in the garden. I don't use it again in pots because I've read that there can be organisms in it from the plants that have grown there that might harm plants if you re-use it. But that's just me :)

I use the large pots also. I have abt 50 pots and styrfoam icechests. Have been growing daylillys in pots for several years now. Just added more flowers and veggies(tomatoes,cukes,peppers and onions) this year. I use the same pottingsoil that i get from my local nursery.Its the same thing they use. I fertalize with
miraclegrow.
Vickie

Cando1 (and all you others also), please give more details about how you successfully grow your veggies and daylillies in pots and styrofoam ice chests. What size do you make your drainage holes in the ice chests, what do you put in the bottom before adding your soil, and about how deep do you make the soil?

I've put a few plants in pots in my back yard, but they seldom do very well. I'm thinking I may be too stingy with their soil amount (trying to make it go further), and also perhaps I don't fertilizer often enough.

I'd especially like to grow tomatoes, peppers, and squash in pots. Last summer I had some squash flowering wonderfully well in my garden, then the squash borers moved in and the plants all died before they could form fruit. I didn't realize those bugs overwinter in the soil. Perhaps if I put some in pots this year they'd be more successful. What size pots (diameter) do you need to grow squash, and how deep should the soil be?

Sunflower, I like your idea of putting a couple inches of packing peanuts in the bottoms of the pots to keep them lighter. By "weed block" do you mean that black plastic stuff you unroll in your garden to block weeds? Does it allow enough water drainage, or do you have to poke some holes in it?

BTW Deva, I can't emphasize enough the importance of having holes in the bottom of your pots. I've grown some things where the holes were not large enough to allow adequate drainage, and the plants would eventually die. When I dumped out the dead plant and the dirt in the pot, it even smelled bad! I have an electric drill I drill holes with, but I think I need a larger drill bit.

Thanks for all your good ideas and advice!

Lazar, My biggest pots are 22" across by 20" deep.I plant the tomatoes,Butterfly bushes,Hydrangias in those. The next size is 18" by 20" deep I plant Cukes,petunias,marigolds,mums in them. I plant daylillys in both sizes.I plant strawberrys,onions,radishes,lettuce also in the 18" by 20" and smaller since they don't have much of a root system they don't need as much room.

I use smashed coke cans in the bottoms(one or two layers thick)for drainage.
I fill pots to within 2" from top with Fert-i-loam or Bacto potting soil. Than i just plant like i would in the garden. I use a regular watering can with 1 tablespoon of Miraclegrow in it. I use one cup of the fertlizer liquid once a week. During the hot summer I water every day.And never let the pots completely dry out.
Hope this helps.
Vickie

I haven't tried a squash in a container but that may be asking a lot. They are a big thirsty plant. Sadly the adult borers will fly to them anyway.

Smashed coke cans! I never would've thought of that! What a novel way to recycle! (or reuse, in this case.)

Cando, thanks for giving more details. i think I'm not fertilizing often enough, and perhaps not watering enough either. (Unfortunately, I tend to be a fair-weather gardener! When it gets really hot out, I stay in!) Guess I need to mend my ways!

SallyG, I think you're probably right about the squash. They do grow to be quite large. I read something last night on using insecticidal soap on the plant early, when the eggs are hatching, or use a pyrethrin spray to kill the nymphs as they begin to hatch. Then 10 days later repeat the spraying. Sounds quite tricky, trying to catch the nymphs just as they hatch out. (Maybe we'd need to camp outside beside the squash!)

I'm rather confused about adult squash borers vs. whatever it is that winters over in the ground. Which is it that we're after, just one, or both? Guess I'll have to do some more research.

Thanks for your help and suggestions, both of you!

the nasty grubs in the vine, will drop out to the soil. When they come out as adults they will fly to a squash plant and lay eggs. So if they have a squash plant right there where the lived in the dirt its really convenient, for them!
Turning up the soil in winter may help expose and kill some pupae (grubs) in winter.

"Sunflower, I like your idea of putting a couple inches of packing peanuts in the bottoms of the pots to keep them lighter. By "weed block" do you mean that black plastic stuff you unroll in your garden to block weeds? Does it allow enough water drainage, or do you have to poke some holes in it?"

Yep. I use the regular weed block. The weed block has perforations in it already to allow moisture to drain through. The purpose of the layer of weed block is to keep the soil out of the packing peanuts. When you need to transplant or you are cleaning out the pot you don't have styrofoam all mixed in with the soil. I used to just put the peanuts in the bottom of the pot and add the soil. It was wearisome to pick styrofoam peanuts from the potting soil before re-using it. Finally, I read somewhere about adding the layer of weed block to prevent this. Works like a charm :)