Recommendations For Vegetables To Grow In Lidl Raised Planter

[Mr FootOfDavros]

Hi folks

I'm just wondering if anyone uses / has used a raised planter, like this one here I got from Lidl last year:- Lidl Raised planter

Last year (first time trying the gardening), I did a row of beetroot, a row of red onions and a row of carrots.

It was against the wall in our back garden, which is south east-ish facing on the right side of a semi. So it probably got good sunshine from morning until 3/4pm in summer, when it swung over the house.

Anyway, the beetroot at the back did pretty well, and so did the carrots at the front. But the onions along the middle row were a failure. I think it's because the shoots just got outcompeted / broken by the big beetroot leaves at the back and lost sun to the carrots in front of them.

I got some leaks from the garden centre during the week and was going to try them in it this year but I'm just wondering if that's a waste as the roots don't seem to be too deep on leaks and whether I should just go with carrots in it. Also are leak stalks pretty volatile if anything is planted near them? I just ask as they seem pretty similar to last years onions at the moment...

Anyone find something they have found to be the best and the best use of the depth of these things?

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I have found this a useful page when thinking about plants in containers.

Vegetable Container Size Chart

Not sure what size pot you need for your next crop? No need to guess, our Vegetable Container Size Chart will give you all the info you need!

sandiegoseedcompany.com

Go down the page and there is an alphabetical list.

Onions are fussy, high nitrogen to start, lots of light, and then phosphate later on, I find leeks much less so.
You are quite far North, but you might be able to work two crops in a season if you pick the right ones, but really you should already be started for that, and leeks are four to five months. Salad crops are a good return, and fairly quick growing, a lot are also leafy if you are keeping the same soil and amending it it could be good to rotate a bit.
Strawberries? Get a good perennial one and propagate from the runners for next year, they are not just a couple of weeks in Summer and finished anymore.

 

[Meadowlark]

Anyone find something they have found to be the best and the best use of the depth of these things?

I have found that leafy veggies produce the best in that type of container with selected brassicas like broccoli and cabbage also performing well. I'm able to grow lettuce in similar containers in my hot climate whereas I can't grow it in the garden. Bulbing onions are better grown in the ground where they can get the needed nutrients.

Watering when needed is a key element that can determine success or failure in containers.

 

[Mr FootOfDavros]

I have found this a useful page when thinking about plants in containers.

Vegetable Container Size Chart

Not sure what size pot you need for your next crop? No need to guess, our Vegetable Container Size Chart will give you all the info you need!

sandiegoseedcompany.com

Go down the page and there is an alphabetical list.

Onions are fussy, high nitrogen to start, lots of light, and then phosphate later on, I find leeks much less so.
You are quite far North, but you might be able to work two crops in a season if you pick the right ones, but really you should already be started for that, and leeks are four to five months. Salad crops are a good return, and fairly quick growing, a lot are also leafy if you are keeping the same soil and amending it it could be good to rotate a bit.
Strawberries? Get a good perennial one and propagate from the runners for next year, they are not just a couple of weeks in Summer and finished anymore.

Thanks.

I actually got a couple of bags of manure at the local garden centre yesterday. I was going to cut last year's planter compost / soil with some of that and go again with the leaks in there.

I've got some lettuce on the go in one of the windowsill boxes and found they grew amazingly (and surprisingly well) in a little bit of ground to the front of the house which really only got a small amount of direct afternoon light. So I'll put some more there again this year - already started off with some pak choi in there.

I'll have to look up how to do the strawberry runners propagation. I actually had some success growing stawberries from seed last year. Again, just in one of those windowsill boxes but I put it on top of a pallet I'd just turned on its side to allow the blackberry bush to grow up and around. I thought I'd dead somewhere you could just leave the strawberry plants to overwinter but they were completely dead and the soil had white grubs in it, so I binned that and just starting with some from the garden centre this year.

As to the planter, its just that is seems pretty deep, so I wasn't sure if its best going with root veg but yes, the onions were a surprising flop. I've got a tonne of topsoil arriving this week, which I was going to use to level out a bit more area at the front. I planned to make another area and cut it with the manure and try carrots directly into the ground there, so maybe I'll try sewing some onion seeds there as well and see if they work better...

Thanks again.

 

[Mr FootOfDavros]

I have found that leafy veggies produce the best in that type of container with selected brassicas like broccoli and cabbage also performing well. I'm able to grow lettuce in similar containers in my hot climate whereas I can't grow it in the garden. Bulbing onions are better grown in the ground where they can get the needed nutrients.

Watering when needed is a key element that can determine success or failure in containers.

We all like broccoli here, so that might be a good call if I work out if the leaks will fair ok in the ground we have.

The irony re the onions is that I think we have some wild onions infesting our flower beds to the front of the house! So I was failing to grow them at the back and got another variety taking over the front!

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Leeks don't make super deep roots it's true, but it is worth planting them in a hole and watering the earth back in as they grow so you get more white leek and less green leaf.

 

[Mr FootOfDavros]

Leeks don't make super deep roots it's true, but it is worth planting them in a hole and watering the earth back in as they grow so you get more white leek and less green leaf.

Thanks. I saw that - actually the instructions that came with them said to make a 15cm hole with a dibber and water them in, so I guess they'll probably use half the depth maybe.

Anyway, all in all if I add a bit of manure and mix up with last year's soil, do you think they'd do well in that planter?

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Probably fine, I make a hole with the trowel, so a bit bigger across, but probably five inches deep, drop the leek in and water it in, a bit of earth goes in and covers the root and each time you water the hole fills a bit more. Leeks do like their water. It will be end of July, beginning of August before you are taking them. That would give you time to get some lettuce in, they don't mind it cooling down come September. In the garden I would probably follow up with my Winter potatoes.