Pots

For a simple clay pot you need to soak it in water before planting so it won't rob moisture from the soil and the roots of the plants.  Make sure any pot you buy has a drainage hole in the bottom.  Ceramic pots can be beautiful and will hold moisture better than the clay pot, which tends to dry out faster.

After harvesting a crop, wash the emptied containers before refilling and replanting them.  This prevents disease organisms from being transmitted from one crop to the next.  Put clay pots in a bucket of hot, soapy water and let them stand a couple of hours before scrubbing with a brush.  Plastic and glazed pots need to be soaked first.

Wooden Containers

Wooden barrels come in a variety of sizes and shapes.  Choices range from mass-produced new containers to well-used half wine barrels.

Redwood planters look great and are long-lasting.  They hold moisture well and need less watering than clay pots.  Containers made of redwood or cedar resist decay.  The interiors may be lined with black plastic or coated with a preservative paint.  Trellises attached to the backs of these containers provide vertical growing space for vines.

Wooden barrels are a cheaper alternative and provide excellent insulation for the roots of plants.  When buying barrels make sure they have been stored upside down so the bands won't slip toward the base.  Make sure the barrel is completely dry, then cover the inside with a non-toxic sealer to prevent the wood from rotting.

Hanging Baskets

Hanging wire baskets make fine containers for lettuce, radishes, and even small tomato plants.  Round baskets can be hung from the ceiling; half-round ones should be attached to a wall. 

To prepare a wire basket, stuff sphagnum moss between the two top wires until you have a neatly packed collar around the rim.  Place burlap or an aluminum pie tin in the bottom to keep the soil from washing out.  Line the basket with pieces of moss, overlaping them to hold the soil better.  The basket should have an even layer of moss about 2 inches thick.  Trim off straggly moss with scissors. 

It's best to select the vegetable plants you want, already growing.  To start the leaf and root vegetables, poke your fingers through the moss and push the plants through from the outside.  Place about 15 plants where you want them in the moss around the basket, so the crown of each is about at the same level as the outside of the basket.  Fill the container with soil, and plant across the top at the required spacing for each vegetable.  This intensive planting virtually covers the container with vegetables.

Care And Feeding of Container Vegetables

All containers need to be watered daily.  You can immerse them in water, or use a drip watering system.  Watering vegetables in containers is especially important, because the limited volume of soil dries out faster than the soil around plants in a garden.  If the soil is allowed to dry, the plants seldom recover the lost momentum.

When the days are short, cloudy, and moist, your container vegetables will use less water than during long, sunny days of warm weather.  Glazed and plastic pots restrict evaporation through the soil surface, but plants in clay pots lose water through the walls as well.  So they need more frequent watering.  Wooden containers fall somewhere between these two. 

Water all containers until the soil is completely saturated.  Don't water again until the soil is dry to a depth of 1 or 2 inches.  Give all containers a supplemental feeding of fish emulsion every week or two.  Because container cultivation requires more water than an in-ground garden, nutrients are leached out faster.