Quality growing space is in short supply in my little yard. Poor soil and too much or too little sun are the main issues. Container gardening solves both problems.

My pots are a bit smaller than the half-whiskey barrels they resemble. After punching drainage holes in the bottoms, I filled all five with assorted bagged soil products. I didn’t, but placing Styrofoam peanuts or something similar in the bottom would have reduced the amount of soil needed and the weight.

I got my pots last summer. The harvest from fall-planted crops was disappointing. Pots weren’t the issue. Planting everything too late and an early freeze foiled my plans.

I’d planned to use all five pots for tomatoes this summer. Growing beefsteak varieties (like ‘Mortgage Lifter’) in pots is tricky. ‘Celebrity’ is the only full-sized variety I found that’s recommended for pots. They stop growing vertically but produce fruit all season on horizontal stems.

Corn, okra, green beans, bell peppers, and two kinds of tomatoes (‘Bodacious’ and ‘Mortgage Lifter’) were planted in the ground. I searched the internet for the optimal pot size for other veggies I wanted to grow. Everything on my list requires smaller pots than those I’m using.

I ended up with two pots of ‘Celebrity’ and one each of yellow squash, cucumbers, and watermelon. I tried a pickling cucumber in the pot last year, but switched to a salad variety this year. I’ve grown squash lots of times, but never in pots. The watermelon is just for the hell of it.

The pots will need adequate water and fertilizer. To make watering easier, mine are lined up with smaller pots of leftover annuals and an ornamental grass still too small to plant out. Each big pot gets dowsed with aquarium water once or twice a month.

So far, everything is doing great. Squash will soon be ready to harvest. Cucumbers aren’t far behind. I’m holding my breath for ripe, home=grown tomatoes by Independence Day.

As always, I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for stopping by.