Vegetable Planting

Keep Soil Moist

Keep in mind that because growing space is restricted, container-grown vegetables will need more feeding and more water than those grown in open ground. Once fruit starts to form on tomatoes, peppers, or vine crops they will need even more water, as will the vegetables growing underground. Soil should be kept moist for a good yield. Also keep in mind that vegetables such as onions and radishes will get unbearably hot tasting if they are allowed to grow dry.

True garden enthusiasts make successive sowings of salad crops such as radishes, onions and lettuce about ten days apart (if they have the space) so that when one containerful has been eaten another is already mature enough to enjoy.

Many lettuce varieties will grow all season, providing tender outer leaves constantly if the small center leaves are left to grow. Buttercrunch is a favorite.

A perennial question is how thick to plant so that a maximum crop can be harvested in the space available, without crowding the plants into inefficiency. The large chart gives an approximate measure for space needed by various vegetables to help the gardener determine how many plants a certain size area will accommodate. Plant breeders have developed many mini-vegetables in dwarf forms for small-space gardeners. Look for them in seed catalogs and at garden centers.