My Favorite Pots Are Terra Cotta For A Reason

My favorite pots are terra cotta for a Reason. When I decided to go forward with my pot experiment, one thing I knew I would insist upon was using terra cotta pots. Black plastic nursery pots get too hot around Tampa, even in the winter. I did plant a tomato in one black pot, and sure enough, it grew slower and smaller than its sister tomato which was in a terra cotta pot and was placed right beside it. Black pots make for hot roots. They hold the moisture too. That’s a great way to get root rot and other diseases. Terra cotta pots wick away excess moisture. In fact, they do it a little too well. My pots require daily watering. You cannot over-pot most vegetables. Radishes may be the exception to this. You can under pot though. You’ll get stunted plants with poor production.

One interesting note, terra cotta pots have become scarce and pricy. Like what hasn’t! These used to be all too common. Lowes had none. They told me they hadn’t had any in a long time. They didn’t know why, ditto, Walmart and Target. I did find 3 at Home Depot that were large enough for my needs. Of course, they were more than twice what I was used to paying for them.

Can You Really Grow Food??

I guarantee that growing vegetables in pots is only a hobby. It takes a lot of food to feed you. . . Lots! Consider this; if you eat only two potatoes a week, that’s more than a hundred potatoes a year. Got a spouse and a couple of kids? That’s more like 400 a year. Get the picture? The same applies to tomatoes, beans, carrots, you name it. You can’t do that in a flower pot! You’re talking about some serious raised bed work too. So, I decided to keep this a hobby and grow a limited amount of produce that will supplement our diet and taste better. Find out what you can grow and what you cannot grow and be selective enough to keep it enjoyable. I’ve found things that will not grow in the shady yard I have. I also found some things that do well.

A Few Handy Tips

I have frequently heard that soaking seeds prior to planting helps with germination. After experimenting, I found that it made little if any difference.

I also found that starting sets in small containers does not speed things up in warm climates. I planted seeds right next to starter sets. The seeds sprouted and caught up to the sets in no time at all.

I try to be as natural as I can, but natural pest control is marginally useful. The first thing I noticed was there was no residual effect. It washes off with water. I was always re-treating plants after I watered them, and every time it rained. Still, I didn’t give in and spray raid or anything like that. I did find some stuff, like the kind of broccoli I grow was fairly resistant to attacks. I’ll be growing more if that. I also found I could not keep mildew off of yellow squash. 86 that one!

Veggies require A LOT more fertilizer than flowers and bushes do. I fertilize every weekend. I alternate between liquid fertilizers and granular types. Next year, I’ll also be a lot more selective on the NPK composition. After all, this is a hobby and I want to improve just as much as with any hobby. Ho, yeah; the price of fertilizer has killed the bottom line on growing vegetables too.

This is part 2 of my Lessons Learned Blog episode. BOLO for part 3 coming to a website near you soon!