Last season was my first season growing peppers; I bought them from work and they all eventually went into 3.8gal containers. I have successfully OW'd all four (although some fared better than others) and I'm starting to plan my setup for this season. I have a small area that I'm thinking I could use to plant one or two of my OWs in, but I have no idea where to begin in terms of prepping the soil. I have a 18v Black and Decker tiller to loosen up the soil and I'm pretty sure I'll need some higher quality soil (compost maybe?) to mix in with it before planting time. Any tips/suggestions for someone that has only grown in containers? More specifically tips for conditioning the soil and getting it ready for planting?
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in-ground Tips for growing in-ground vs. containers?
- Thread starter sreinhard88
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Much of that begins with your current soil sreinhard88 - if you have nice loamy soil then I'm sure you could get by and be fine with amending it with some compost. If your soil is heavier with clay, then you'd likely need to add sand, peat and compost to add nutrients and drainage. There are many soil test kits you can get to help determine if you're really wanting to grow in your own soil.
Alternately you could take the area where you intend to plant and build raised beds on top, which is what I did when we moved into a house with a big back yard full of heavy clay soil. I ran my mantis tiller to take up the grass and hack at the dirt to prepare the beds, and then trucked in good dirt from a local nursery to fill the beds I made. NOTE: Beds should be constructed of NON treated lumber! I used cedar.
2 pepper plants can easily go into a 2' wide by 4' long by 10 inch high bed, which really wouldn't be but 3-4 bags of dirt from the local home supply store. Lumber and dirt for a project like that would run $50-70 I'd guesstimate, but it will pay you back with better yields.
Differences between container and bed growing are many, but the real differences have to do with ferts and water. A good bed will need less of each.
Best of luck!
edit: spelling
Alternately you could take the area where you intend to plant and build raised beds on top, which is what I did when we moved into a house with a big back yard full of heavy clay soil. I ran my mantis tiller to take up the grass and hack at the dirt to prepare the beds, and then trucked in good dirt from a local nursery to fill the beds I made. NOTE: Beds should be constructed of NON treated lumber! I used cedar.
2 pepper plants can easily go into a 2' wide by 4' long by 10 inch high bed, which really wouldn't be but 3-4 bags of dirt from the local home supply store. Lumber and dirt for a project like that would run $50-70 I'd guesstimate, but it will pay you back with better yields.
Differences between container and bed growing are many, but the real differences have to do with ferts and water. A good bed will need less of each.
Best of luck!
edit: spelling
SmokenFire said:
The lumber industry hasn't used arsenic in years. There is nothing unsafe about current pressure treated lumber, and it will yield a longer lasting bed than untreated.
I realize cedar and redwood are very rot resistant and will last a long time outside, but both are more expensive than PT wood.
http://www.garden.org/searchqa/index.php?q=show&id=90139&ps=169&keyword=garden%20design&adv=0
http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/is-treated-lumber-safe-for-building-raised-bed-vegetable-gardens/
Regarding overwintering ... do you grow in the ground then overwinter in a container or grow in containers year round. Is there a pro/con to only container gardening if space permits putting them into the ground?
I grew all of my plants in containers then simply moved them in under some lights for the winter, if all goes as planned two of them will remain in containers (probably with some fresh potting soil) and the other two will go in the ground. I liked having my plants in containers because I could move them around according to the weather (to adjust for either too much or not enough sun or rain) plus until this year I really didn't have garden space.ultravista said:
I'm pretty sure just by looking at it I can tell my dirt is of pretty low quality and in need of a major overhaul lol! I'll have to pick up a soil test next time I'm at work. As far as the area goes I won't have to worry about lumber or construction or anything; the bed was created when we had a new shed built (I'll put up a picture soon). The area itself is roughly 3'x3', enough for two plants I'd imagine. I think right now my main focus is finding/creating a good soil mix to fill the bed. I also noticed a gap that leads under the shed that I should probably block so critters don't become an issue (some kind of chicken wire or lattice work perhaps?). Thanks for the advice!SmokenFire said: