Containerized Gardens: Vital Tips When Starting Your Home Organic Vegetable Garden

If you are not a gardener but are about to start your home organic vegetable garden, you may be wondering where you should start. There are various ways to start that's why the job seems daunting and confusing. But a good way to start is buy our HOV gardening kit.

Most people start by buying vegetable seeds (or collecting them from raw vegetables and drying them) and planting them in a seedling container like a wooden box. When the seeds sprout after a few days and grow big enough, they are transferred to a pot or garden plot on the ground.

But in between, there are vital tips you should consider:

1. Choose big enough containers. I know. Small containers for plants seen on Youtube or Google pictures look cute. But reality says containerized gardens are best done with containers that are big enough. Soil in big containers don't dry up as fast as those in small containers. Moreover, it is easier to manage bigger containers especially when it comes to replenishing soil and compost in them.

If you should opt for smaller containers, prepare to do more maintenance work. And that would be difficult in a very limited space.

2. Be careful about watering plants. Plants in containers should be watered gently. Do not pour water or put large amounts at once as to flood the containers. Use sprinklers with fine perforation and water carefully several times (one voluminous watering won't do) to let the water seep into the soil slowly, being careful not to flood the container. Use a sprayer for hanging containers. Containers should have holes at the bottom and/or sides for draining excess water.

3. Choose sunlighty areas. Whatever gardening type you are engaged in, plant in areas where there is enough sunlight. This is a vital reminder especially if you are into home gardening. Slightly or partially lighted rooms or spaces won't do. You either put the plants outdoors or directly facing windows receiving ample sunlight.

The good thing about containerized gardening is that it is portable. You can always transfer them to areas more exposed to sunlight or transfer them to safer places during the rainy season or storms.

4. Green leafy. Green leafy vegetables are mostly easier to plant and grow. So start with lettuce, pechay, or mustard. Easier to grow is sweet potato leaves or camote tops.

5. Keep off from pets and kids. Make sure the containers are out of reach of pets and children. Thus, hanging or shelved gardens or those attached to walls are preferred.

6. Foliarize well. When using foliar organic fertilizer, remember to apply or spray according to set schedules. Containerized plants get limited nutrition from the soil in their containers so they need frequent supplementation.

7. Go organic! Never underestimate the power of organic foliar fertilizer and compost.

For more details please watch the video below:

Never Ignore These Tips When Starting Your Home Organic Vegetable Garden

Money Crashers

Why start your own home organic vegetable garden? People often ask me that? You can always buy from the wet market or grocery store.

I answer back with a question---have you ever tasted garden-fresh organic vegetables? Especially one that you picked yourself from your own home garden? Most people haven't. Eaten raw, smoked or sauteed, these veggies are sweet, juicy, crunchy and rich in vibrant textures. They're so different from the usual commercial veggies.

The good news is, we (HOV Gardeners Club) make it easy for you to start your home organic vegetable garden, no matter the size of your available space at home. Just comment below or contact us to get the Home Organic Vegetable (HOV) Gardener's kit and start right away for only P1,888 a kit (20 percent lifetime discount on your next purchase of the fertilizer included). Click here for more on this kit.

Anyway, here's what you should do:

Start a Small Garden. Always start small. Gardening is a science, art, hobby (and therapy) that requires patience. You cannot hurry up and start big at once, especially when we're talking of a home organic vegetable garden in Metro Manila. And it's better to take pride in a small garden than fail with a big one.

 
And don't plant a lot at once. If you should suffer an error (because you're still a newbie), planting a few would limit the cost. Newbies will learn a lot about gardening and may incur some wasted expenses, so don't do a lot at once.

Choose a Sunny Portion of the Property. See where in your house or yard sunlight is present most of the time. Vegetable plants need some 6 hours of sunlight a day at least. Better if direct sunlight. If plants get enough sunlight, they produce more harvests and better tasting at that. 

Land Prep. When you plant palay, you need to do land prep. So with home organic vegetable gardening. The roots of plants need soft soil to easily penetrate through for good foundation and better absorption of soil nutrients. So make sure the soil is well tilled before planting, cleaned of debris, and choose loamy soil. 

When plants have grown enough, it is good to gently till the soil around to for air circulation. Mix the soil with organic compost for rich nutrients. For containerized gardens, it's better to replenish new soil now and then, every 2 months at least. The same with compost. This and potting mix will be discussed in a coming article. Soil layers in containerized gardens, if well prepared, can prevent water from collecting on top or getting drained away too fast. 

Crops Spacing. Plants should be spaced well. Eggplants can overshadow lettuce, for instance, so that the lettuce gets less sunlight. And their roots might fight each other for survival. And corn planted too near an eggplant may do the same. They will fight over water supply, soil nutrients and sunlight. The result? Growth or cropping failure, disease or death. 

Use the Best Seeds. Choose the best seeds to plant. Weak seeds will cost you time, energy and money all wasted. Good seeds may cost more but they yield better results.

Where to Plant. Look for spots in your property where sunlight is seen most times of the day. Place your containerized garden there. If you have enough backyard space, build garden plots that are well tilled (so the soil gets soft and fertile), well irrigated (not susceptible to flooding), and the rows should be perpendicular to the east-west direction, taking in more sunlight.

Containerized gardens are best placed on high-rise shelves, tread and runner shelves (or staired shelves), hanged on walls or windows, or hanging by ropes attached to ceilings.

What to Plant. If you want plants that can produce more crops in a single season, choose beans, cabbage, lettuce, pechay, radish, spinach, carrots, and native chili (labuyo). Moringa or malungay is an excellent plant that needs less care and management but produces a lot of harvests for you. And the more you harvest the leaves the thicker they grow the next time. 

PInterest

Green leafy veggies like lettuce, mustard and pechay can be harvested by cutting the leaves (instead of pulling the tree by the roots), leaving the stump in the soil to produce a second round of leaves. Here, spraying an organic liquid fertilizer helps a lot.

When watering the plants, always gently sprinkle. Never pour water. It is better to use a sprinkler sparingly and in several phases. Let the water seep into the soil and make sure the top soil never gets flooded. A sprayer is best for containerized vegetable gardens to prevent soil from getting washed down through the pores of the containers (containers should be pored just enough at the bottom and at the sides for air and water to circulate properly. 

When preparing the layers of soil during potting mix, containers should have soil, compost and aggregates like a little bit of sand or small tee barks or pebbles for creating small "pockets" inside for air and water to travel through properly. 

Easy Veggie Plant Bottle Containers and Shelf Ideas

In an article before this one, I shared about how my bible disciple was able to grow organic vegetables right on his rooftop even if he had no backyard or soil to do it with. He collected lots of plastic bottles and sawed them off in half and did various designs of veggie pots with them, similar to the pics I show below.

I also want to show you how my late mom did her plant shelves to save space in our small side yard by showing you similar pics.

Veggie Plant Bottle Containers

Okay, let's start with the veggie plastic bottle containers. All you need is, well, collect softdrink plastic bottles and gallons, a sharp cutter or pair of scissors, and nylon string or wires. Cut the plastic softdrink bottles as show on the picture on the left. You can use both halfs to plant vegetables in.

You may cut the plastic bottle with a cutter first to provide a small initial slice, and then insert the scissors to use it for completing the cut. This makes the work safer.

It would be hard to cut the bottle directly with a pair of scissors like in the figure shown on the left. The scissors would likely slide against the smooth surface of the plastic bottle without cutting it.

So, do it initially with a sharp cutter to create a sliced cut where you can insert the pair of scissors.

Then, you can fill up the half bottles with your organic "soil" (made of pulverized rotten vegetable stuff) and plant your vegetables there.

See example pictures below.

Vegetables in plastic
gallons with a square
hole on one side.

How bottles cut in half
can serve as vegetable
or orchid container. 

My mom solved her space problem when she wanted to have plants at our small side yard. She had a 5-layer wooden plant shelf constructed like stair steps--with risers and treads--and placed the earthen pots on the treads. See example below.

Below are other examples:

Plant Your Herbs There!

Make space in your house to plant herbs. If your place is located in a concrete jungle, here are some options you can do so you may plant your herbs there:

• Cut out the neck openings of plastic gallon jugs and fill the jug body with soil. Plant your herbs there and replace the soil every 4 or 5 months. Bore holes underneath for drainage.
• Put soil in empty coconut or copra shells and plant your herbs there.
• Of course, you can also use the old tin can trick.
• Make a wooden plant box near your kitchen or just to the back of it and fill it with soil and plant your herbs there.
• Hang earth or plastic pots at your porch or laundry area or garage or backyard and plant your herbs there. They'd look cute and refreshing when the herbs have grown and spread. That's what we did with our backyard, among other things.
• Construct a wooden or steel leveled terrace, like that of the steps of a stair, and place your pots on the "steps" for your herbs. Make the structure narrow to save space and put it somewhere near your kitchen.
• Turn every plant corner available into a veggie and herb garden. Use every available space (like the top of your hand rails or terrace baluster) to put small pots on and there plant your herbs. Use the bottoms of your window jambs. 
• Dig through a portion of your concrete pavement on the ground floor (like, at a corner of  perimeter fence) until you reach the soil beneath. Cement the sides of the hole and add height by adding hollow blocks and cement to stabilize and plaster. Then add soil in it. That's your more permanent herb and veggie plant box. 

Just make sure that your improvised plant and herb box or area is situated where there's enough gentle sunlight coming in. Make use of sunlight filters or screens for areas too exposed to sunlight.