How to Choose Soil or Potting Mix for Your Planters

Do not fill your containers with soil from your garden or bagged topsoil. You should fill the containers with a "soilless" potting mix that will retain moisture and resist compaction. I usually mix in a liberal amount of granular organic fertilizer and a shovelful or so of compost.

Watering Your Container Vegetable Garden

Vegetables require a consistent supply of water to perform their best. Inconsistent moisture causes lots of problems, such as blossom drop, poor root development, leaf curling, insect problems, and rot. The best way to ensure your plants always have a consistent supply of water is to use a self-watering planter. Filling the reservoir every few days is all that's required. The plants absorb moisture as they need it.

Fertilizing Your Vegetable Planters

Fertilizer is especially important when you're growing vegetables in containers. In fact, you just won't succeed if you don't use some kind of fertilizer. I recommend mixing a granular organic fertilizer into the soil when planting, then weekly feeding with a water-soluble fertilizer, such as Plant Health Care.

There are several reasons why fertilizer is important. First is that the growing medium in the container has few, if any, nutrients. Your plants depend on you to provide the nutrients they need. Second is that containerized plants get watered a lot, and every time you water you wash some nutrients from the soil.

The third reason fertilizers are necessary is that in a container garden, you are packing lots of plants into a small space. One 2' x 2' self-watering planter might contain a tomato plant, two pepper plants, a basil plant and some parsley. That's a lot of foliage and fruit to feed from a few gallons of "soil".