Growing veg in containers. Any advice please.

[VoldemortsNipple]

I have bought plug plants of carrots, spring onions, baby sweetcorn and strawberries. I have about 8 plants of each. I am going to plant them on the patio in jute vegetable planters.

Can I have more than one variety in each planter?

Each planter is about the size of a potato growing sack but square in shape. How many will I need?

Can they be planted outside now? Do they need to be protected by fleece.

What type of food do they need and how often do I water them?

Can I plant strawberries in an old wicker basket or would it rot?

I have already planted some potatoes, are they ok outside?

Am I likely to kill these plants?

I have only had a garden for 3 years and the first two years were spent establishing a new lawn which is patchy. I nearly killed the grass the first winter because I didn't realise the fallen leaves would damage it. Hence why it is so patchy now.

Thankyou

Morning, I can only comment on the strawberries atm as they're the biggest out of the lot. I've put them in a foot square plastic tub with a plant in each corner and they seem to have taken. Maybe you could coat the wicker basket in fench paint and cover the insides with plastic to help prevent the rot? I've heard that tomato food is good for Strawbs too. If you drink filter coffee the grounds make a good fertiliser for any veg. Mum grows her veg in those sacks and she did quite well with them last year and I think you can mix them as long as they're spaced far enough apart so the roots and leaves don't strangle each other. I'd water them in weather like this in the evenings so the leaves don't scorch but check how moist the soild is first so they don't get drowned like what I did last year! If you plant 1 plug in each corner of the sacks once they've established a bit I think you'd be OK. I don't have a garden just a yard which is mostly the dog bog and I'll be doing what you're doing once the plugs have established a bit more. I suppose it depends what part of the UK you live if they need protecting, if the plants are over a couple if inches in height and it's warm enough outside then I'd plant them outside. You could always cover them with pop bottles cut in half with the lid pointng upwards to keep them protected and proprgate them, just leave the lid off so the air can get to them. Hope this helps a bit.

Someone else recommended this book patio produce which has helped me. I borrowed a copy from the library but think I will invest.

Ooh, that sounds pretty good!

Your plants should be fine in jute planters, just leave enough space between each plant so that they have ample room to grow. They shouldn't be too much of a risk of frost, but it may be good to keep some fleece handy, and an eye on the weather forecast just in case
I water in the evening too, and when it's particularly hot -mid summer- I water in the early morning also.
Good luck, and happy growing! x

Thanks everybody. I planted most of them up yesterday (I ran out of compost) I managed to pick up some fleece for 99p so I have covered them up for good measure. I have also fed them with Blood, Fish and Bone which the dog thinks smells delishious and another reason to cover them up.

Do I need to water every day?

can used tea bags be used, along with old ground coffee, as compost/food?

Is it just fleece as in what fleece jackets are made from?

I think tea bags can be used, I remeber my nan putting them in the roses when I was little. One of the drivers at work is a keen gardener so I'll ask him if tea is a definate. I work for a coffee roaster and we got a newsletter telling us what we could use the grounds for and fertiliser was one of them!

^Coffee grounds are also very handy for keeping slugs and cats at bay!

do you just sprinkle over top of soil then?

Compost the tea bags and coffee grounds first, along with all your uncooked veg/fruit kitchen waste, including egg shells. It breaks down really quickly and you keeping adding to it. Fork it over from time to time and after a few months you could have a perpetual supply of compost.

can I do this in a small compost bin in the kitchen? or is it going to stink?
:)

You cannot do this in the kitchen. You need to set aside an area of your garden that you can easily access. You do not need a special composting bin, it should cost you nothing. Basically you are just making a heap of veg/fruit peelings, tea bags, coffee grounds, egg shells. (You can pen around it with wood on wire panels if you prefer a tidy look.) Nothing cooked, not meat, bones or protein food waste. You can add plant material such as the dried bits of daffodils, grass clippings etc, no weeds because the seeds will germinate and take the goodness out of the compost. Within a short time, worms will get to work on the compost, they are little ones, not big scary fat ones. They break down the material and turn it into lovely earthy compost which you use to dig into your soil before planting something. Depending on the size of your household and the amount of stuff you are adding, within a few months you will have some crumbly compost at the bottom of the heap. It gets warm inside the heap and this breaks down the material. Add a bit of water in very dry weather, and turn it over with a garden fork once a month or so, otherwise just ignore it and let nature do the rest. It does not smell rotten, it is being digested by the worms but it would in the kitchen.

www.coffeerecycling.eu/en/

This is from the company that I work for and it gives you a few other ways pn how to use the grounds in and around he garden.

I'll be emptying the knock out drawer when I go back next week!

Driftwood is right it will smell bogging, but will do the job!