Square Foot Gardening, In the Greenhouse, In a Plastic Storage Container
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Planted by: Jennifer Tidwell
Date: Wednesday December 2, 2009
Planted in: Container Gardening,Experiments,Growing in the Greenhouse,Square Foot Gardening,Vegetables
I’ve decided to grow all of my lettuce, carrots, radishes and some tomatoes and cukes this winter – all in the greenhouse and in a discarded underbed storage box. The tomatoes and cukes will be in large pots with tomato cages for support, but the rest will be grown in a plastic storage container. I got one from my sister that measures about 39″x22″x6″. The lid is missing and I’ve been trying to decide what to do with it. Throwing it away would be a complete waste, and it’s hard to store anything in a box without a lid. So, it has become a planter. If you have a cracked underbed storage box that you thought about throwing away, put it to use. Holes will have to be drilled for drainage anyway and as long as the sides are intact, it can be used.
First decide what you want to grow. There are several varieties of carrot that lend themselves to container growing. I picked Little Finger and Parisian Market, which I have ordered from Hume Seeds. I also have quite a few varieties of lettuce in my stash that I will be using. The Looseleaf Blend packet I’ll plant first contains Black Seeded Simpson, Lollo Rossa, Red Salad Bowl, Royal Oak Leaf and Salad Bowl. For radishes (also ordered from Hume) I picked Cherry Belle and French Breakfast. Though I don’t love radishes as a stand alone snack, they are good grated into salads. I also ordered some Spacemaster cucumbers, which I have grown before, and a determinate plum tomato called Principe Borghese.
Using Square Foot Gardening principles, I can grow 3-4 lettuce plants per square foot and 16 carrots/radishes per square foot. This doesn’t include the plants I will have to thin out, which will be eaten. I have just under 6 square feet of space in the container, so that’s about 18-24 lettuce plants or 95 carrots and/or radishes. My plan is to plant half the container with lettuce and half with carrots and radishes. Radishes are ready about 25 days after sowing, and the carrots and lettuce will take anywhere from 50-65 days. I can get 2-3 crops of radishes before the carrots and lettuce finish.
The tomatoes and cucumbers will each be given their own pot, but will be started in 6 packs. Three plants per large pot will be sufficient for my needs this winter. I have to do some research on pollinating cucumbers in a greenhouse, but tomatoes are pretty easy to pollinate.
I will of course be posting pictures once my seeds arrive. Since the lettuce is going to take a bit longer to mature, I will be planting it in the next few days, so look for pictures of this experiment coming soon!
Possibly Related Posts:
- Box O’ Salad
- The Good News Is…
- Growing Agapanthus from seed
- Lettuce Experiment, Part II, and Greenhouse Pics
- 2009 Gardening Trends
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[...] 39″x22″ by 6″ deep. If you missed the earlier post explaining my project, here it is. I decided to nix the tomatoes and cukes until I can get a bigger heater. I am thinking about [...]
Comment by Backyard Grown Gardens » Lettuce Experiment, Part II, and Greenhouse Pics on December 3rd, 2009 @ 8:14 pm