Some detailed guidance in starting my first container garden this year?

Andrea

New member
I want to plant a container garden this year to save money on produce. I live in La Crosse, WI and this will be the first gardening I have done. Here are the seeds I am purchasing.

Cilantro
Hot Pepper Zavory
Tomato HoneyBunch (cherry tomatoes)
Zucchini Burpee Hybrid
Corn Silver Choice Hybrid (is it even possible to plant corn in a container?)

I am not sure how to plant or grow seeds, I hope this isn't just a shot in the dark..
Any help would be much appreciated as to how to go about planting and maintaining in containers. Thanks.
 
I wouldn't bother corn in a container. The others should work. I am not sure about HoneyBunch Toms. For tomatoes you should get determinate types. They don't get as lanky.
1. Go shopping at a plant nursery. You will need plastic cells, 4" to 6" pots, 2+ gallon pots, fine potting soil for starting the seeds, regular potting soil, fine sand to prevent damp off (google Martha Stewart damping off), lights (most windows don't provide enough). I would get a seed starting kit with a heated bottom so the seeds sprout sooner and with a better %age of sprouts. Don't forget fertilizer. Get something for the zucchini to grow up on, a small trellis maybe. Twisty ties to keep it growing up the trellis.
Now how much did you spend? Probably more than you would have spent on the veggies, BUT you will have your own varieties and you will know what poisons (or not!!!) the food has come into contact with.
2. Set up your space preferably near a sunny window. Fill the cells with the fine soil and plant your seeds according to the instructions on the pack. Most seeds can go just under the soil in cells. You don't need to turn on the fluorescent lights until the seeds begin to sprout.
3. Damp off is a biggy if you are not in a well ventilated greenhouse. Damp off occurs when there is a lot of moisture (but seeds can't sprout without a lot of moisture!) and not good ventilation. It is a fungus that attacks the stems of young seedlings. The seedlings topple over and look thin just a few millimeters above the soil line. All your work, time and materials will be wasted if you don't prevent damp off. Sprinkle a layer of sand over the soil and it will help keep the top layer too dry for the fungus to develop.
3. When the roots have pretty much filled the cells transplant the seedlings into the 4" or 6" pots. Keep them in the sunny window with your fluorescent lights. You can now start fertilizing. Fertilizing too soon can also encourage damp off.
4. When the roots have pretty much filled the smaller pots you can move the plants up to the final size. Anything less than 2 gallon pots will likely not give them enough root space and may get too hot in the summer heat. Cilantro is probably the exception to this size issue.
I think that is pretty much it. Be sure to harvest some of the zucchini flowers for the best quesadillas ever (quesadillas de flor de calabaza)!
 
i have been experimenting starting seeds in zip lock baggies. and it has worked really great.
I just put the pot filled with moist soil and the seed planted in it.
I put the pot in the baggie and sealed it.
then set them on a sunny window sill so the sun light shines directly on them.
It makes a mini green house and is very warm to get the seeds to grow.
And the pots to not dry out because it it sealed.
I think this would be a good method considering your climate.

these links talk about starting them in paper. But i decided to put the whole pot in the bag so i woild not desturb the seedling after it sprouted.
my okra and tomato seeds started in just a few days.
I even tried it with the dry beans you cook and they sprouted in just a few days.
dont for get to set them in direct sun on the window sill .

I also srout the seeds from vegeis that i buy from the store.( their free)
The more you seeds you sprout the more you learn.

Since you get more seeds than you need in each packet.
try the baggie method and the regular method .just for fun.
nothing to lose.

I have to grow in containers because my yard is just sand.


I have found seeds can be a pain sometimes.

seed starer pots are what i use.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GWYE_enUS261US261&q=natural+fiber+seed+starter+pots

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=starting%20seed%20in%20baggies

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=3&oq=growing+veg&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GWYE_enUS261US261&q=growing+vegetables+in+containers
 
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