If you want to try container gardening (planting in soil that is in a container rather than directly into the ground ... good for apartment dwellers or folks with limited yard space), check out the wicking beds developed by some fellow in Australia.  http://www.easygrowvegetables.com/ and an offshoot of his development here in America http://www.maireid.com/wickingbeds.html .

I kept two of these on my porch last summer, built into plastic tubs from the local home improvement store.  Each measures about 36 long x 20 wide x 18 deep.  I had two or three tomatoes and two or three peppers in each box and have had very good luck with them.  I watered twice a week or so when I left the house.  They were very low-maintenance.

I gave one to my mother to try and already have two little tomatoes on one of the plants in the one I kept for this year.  Restarting after the winter just took pulling them back out of the garage and onto the porch, cleaning out the old plants (which I should have done last fall), putting in the new plants, and topping off the soil.

Its good to hear that you have had success with container gardening. This is what I'll be starting with for sure! How long did it take you to set up and then how long until your garden start producing vegetables? I will have to do some more research on this, thanks for the links.

What are some basic materials that you need to do this? I'm curious about your draining system in the plastic container? Is it simply holes or do you have a pipe system going on? Here is what materials I can think of off the top of my head.

- 5 gallon container
- soil
- seeds

Yep, this is it. I KNOW I'm missing some things lol Also do you germinate the plants in a smaller container first and then transplant them or just keep them in the same container or does it even matter?

The only things I usually grow are radishes, mustard greens, onions, beans, peas, tomatoes and peppers.  The radishes did great in the container and provided ground cover for the container.  The onions did not take well to it.  The mustard did well until the heat killed it.  I had already been told that beans and peas don't do well in containers (or, rather, don't do well in potting soil ... they apparently like sandy loam for their roots), so I didn't try them.

The tomato and pepper plants I bought at the gardening shop for about $1.50 each.  Since I only grow four to six of each, the extra expense for buying plants vs buying seeds and starting my own is not much.

As for the containers themselves, I bought some plastic tubs at the hardware store that were each about 30" long, 20" wide, and 18" deep.  I think.  I made sure they were water tight up to at least 4" from the bottom, then drilled 1/4 " holes at 4" from the bottom around the perimeter.  In retrospect, I wish that I had drilled these holes only on the side facing the edge of the porch so I could overhang the edge just a bit and not have overflow pouring out on my porch.

I used some 4" drainage pipe I had sitting around ... one length as long as I could fit into the bottom of the tub (catercorner) connected to an L then connected to a piece that was up the side up to ground level.   Any size will do, you just need a way to gauge whether the gravel layer is wet and have a way to get water down there ... you want the plants to access the water to coming up from the bottom, not down from the top.  

I filled the bottom 3" or so with a bag of gravel ... the cheapest bag I could find at the hardware store.  Any gravel will do.  I covered this with landscape fabric to make a bit of a demarcation between the soil and gravel layers.  I filled the rest of the tub up with potting soil.  I soaked the soil with water and gave it a day to drain down, then planted my seeds and little seedlings.  Water every second or third day until water starts pouring out the drain holes.  

Watch your plants and if they are wilting, they need water.  If the leaves start turning different colors, they need nutrients.  I can't tell you what color means what, but the info is out there.  Check the web or call your extension office.  They should know.  After about July or so, I started pouring one gallon of water soluble fertilizer (like "Miracle Grow") onto the plants in each container once every week or two.  

I put out this year's tomatoes sometime in mid-april, and I have three very, very green ones on the vine right now and a whole boatload of blooms.

ChristineMason17@live.com wrote:

Here is what materials I can think of off the top of my head.

- 5 gallon container
- soil
- seeds

Yep, this is it. I KNOW I'm missing some things lol

You're not missing much.  Check out these two kids and the system they worked out using 5 gallon buckets.  Back in the late 90's, we used to be able to get 5 gallon pails for free from the bakery department at the grocery store.  I don't know if they still just throw them out, but it's worth checking.

WOW! Thanks so much for the description of your container garden. Okay so besides the container, soil, and seeds I will need a pipe for drainage, some fertilizer, some gravel, and then some landscape tarp. I'm not sure what I will plant yet but its good to know the basic necessities. Does anyone have any experience or luck growing the plants semi organic? I know that there are a lot of criteria for your plants to be stamped "organic" but at least maybe "all natural" with minimum fertilizer?