For the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants I have fabricated my own self-watering containers, using pairs of 5 gal barrels. The bottom barrel is the water reservoir, the top barrel holds the soil and plant. A length of PVC pipe runs through a hole in the lid and a hole in the bottom of the top barrel so that I can add water to the reservoir. A larger hole in the bottom of the top barrel has a smaller plastic tub or cup fitted in it, with slits all around the sides, and filled with rags; this is what wicks the water from the reservoir up into the growing medium. There is a large hole in the center of the lid ljust large enough for the plant to grow through; having the lid on serves the same function as mulch in minimizing evaporation and weeds. I also have a hole in the side of the lower reservoir barrel, with a plastic tube to provide drainage in case I overfill. These are pretty inexpensive to fabricate and work great.

I also have a few self-watering hanging containers, where I grow cherry tomatoes.

For my cukes, I am using those Earth Boxes with the trellis attachment. These are expensive but are well built and I expect to use them the rest of my life. I’ve been buying one per year and have two now, eventually I hope to have several.

For the Zuchini and Yellow Squash I am using very large tub planters; these I got from a local garden club, they originally held shade trees that were planted for a community project. These are not self watering, but they are so large that I have found that they will hold plenty of moisture between daily waterings. I have gotten some more tubs this year, and I am going to try growing some Minnesota Midget melons in these as well.

I also grow various annual and perennial herbs in containers on my deck, and have a couple of large-ish containers where I try to get an extra early and extra late crop of bush snap beans to extend my season.

This year I have also invested in several self-watering windowboxes, which I am going to mount on the deck rail. I plan to grow some crops that are smallish and require a lot of work in these. For example, green onions and radishes; we only need a few at a time, which means that I need to be constantly planting on a succession schedule. It will be more convenient for me to tend to these in one of these window boxes, and they will also get the constant watering that they need.

One more experiment I am going to try this year is potatoes in containers. I have several large containers which I am going to try. I won’t have enough space on my deck for these, so I’ll try these on the ground just below my deck rail. They will still get a lot of sun, and I can water them from the deck along with my other container plants.

One experiment that has not worked out very well is strawberries. I have experimented with both regular and alpine strawberries, and with both strawberry pots and a newer pyramid planter. The yields have been pretty poor. If there is a secret to having abundant container strawberies, I haven’t found it yet.

I made our new window boxes out of old kitchen drawers. The handles are at the back and are hooked onto nails (large) so they are secure but lift off when necessary. They have been very successful so far.

viv in nz