Containers For Indoor Vegetable Gardening

I've read that you can use anything for a plant container as long as it has room for roots, can hold soil, and provides adequate drainage.  It's true. 

I have a friend who likes to say you can even grow a garden in your hat. Then there are the Troubadours, two gifted musicians and co-founders of Louisville's Mighty Kindness Hootenanny/Earth Day Festival.  While preparing to rehearse at their country cabin recently, they found that some wayward seeds had sprouted in their accordion! 

While I don't normally propose using musical instruments as vegetable containers, I think it would make a lovely display by a south-facing window.  (If any of you try this please send me a picture).  Until then I have some suggestions that may be helpful in choosing more conventional containers for your indoor vegetable garden:

My personal favorite is an untreated wood window box. It's natural, versatile and non-toxic. You can easily make one. It's rustic looking. Inexpensive cedar fencing is great to use and cedar naturally repels pests. I also like to use pine. I think any wood looks nice.

If I'm going to finish the boxes I use an earth-friendly non-oil based paint, beeswax or a milk wash, keeping the inside surfaces finish-free. Any harsh chemicals or oil-based finishes on the inside surfaces could leach into the soil.

A Word About Plastic
People ask me if I use plastic containers to grow vegetables. I used them years ago when I wasn't very aware of the toxicity of plastics and what they do to the environment.  Now, after considerable research and experience growing, I forgo plastics all together.  I know many experts say certain plastics are not toxic, but if you would like to grow edibles in totally safe, natural containers, I suggest these:

 
Wood Boxes









Terra Cotta or Unglazed Clay Pots - Totally natural and free of chemicals.  Glazed ceramic pots are nice but the glazing frequently contains cadmium or lead so check the contents if you can.



Natural Grow Bags - There are many available that use earth-friendly material such as coconut fiber (coir).




Peat or Coir Pots - Peat is still readily available in North America through environmentally responsible growers. It's becoming scarce elsewhere.  Coir, or coconut husk fiber, is a great alternative.

Hypertufa - DIY lightweight faux-stone. Fun to mix and play with!  It's a mix of peat moss, perlite and Portland cement. Fairly easy to work with. You are actually making molds and letting them cure. Then viola! lightweight containers that look like aged stone. Cool. Even Martha likes hypertufa.

Concrete - Safe to use, but could change the ph balance in your soil over time. Various shapes and sizes availble.



How Many Plants In A Container?

Container sizes are usually measured in gallons or by the size of the opening of the pot.  I could never visualize what size a 5 gallon bucket was, or how much soil to figure for a 10" pot.  In Square Foot gardening (my formal training in growing), you grow in raised bed boxes, the soil is always 6" - 8" deep.  The space you work in is always one square foot at a time. The space between plants is always consistent.  Ah!  A framework I can work with. 

So here is a reference I like to use.  I hope it helps you gauge how much to plant in your box or container too.  This chart shows how much yield to expect in one square foot 6-8" deep (example: 9 spinach plants, or 16 dwarf carrots per square foot ).  It's then easier to divide into smaller linear sizes.

Hint: The space between your index finger and pinkie is about 4 inches. I just use that to space the seeds. (And, like my daughter is always telling me, it doesn't have to be perfect). For a mix of mesclin, spinach and greens I use about the same spacing as the spinach below.  Mine never seem to reach maturity anyway because I've eaten them before that!  Nothing like fresh raw baby spinach and tender young greens.                                
                                         

Plant a pinch of two or three seeds in each spot. When the seedlings emerge, leave the strongest one and just snip off the other.  No thinning needed.  Grow fresh organic salad greens all winter!  Have fun, think green and dream!

                                                Happy Indoor Gardening!