I grew everything in baskets this year as I transitioned from my rental plot at the farmer's to my new plot in my front yard (the only place I have enough sun). I put black plastic over the plot to kill the grass and will soon be ripping that off and getting in a giant truckload of topsoil/compost to make the plot (hopefully) viable. The contractors sell the topsoil when they build houses around here, leaving barely enough dirt for a lawn. The land is mostly clay. But, it's got to be better for my carrots and onions than the baskets. This is my entire root vegetable harvest. The (purple) carrots aren't even as big as my little finger (last year, at my rental plot, some were bigger than my head). The onions haven't fared much better.
I tried potatoes in containers one year... it seemed like such a good idea because all you'd have to do to harvest would be to dump them upside down. Well, apparently the holes in the bottom weren't enough drainage or something, because the plants died and the potatoes rotted. Either that or maybe they got too hot? I dunno.
ReplyDeletePeppers and eggplant, on the other hand seem to be thriving in containers - that could be another vote for the heat theory. Hmmm....
I think the heat theory may be a big factor. My hot peppers in the same containers did better than when I put them in the rental plot last year.
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