He grows vegetables in self-watering boxes. The harvest is unbelievable
"I have been growing geraniums in self-watering boxes for twenty years. I bought the first boxes in Mr. Lebiš's garden center, hoping that the climbing geraniums will thrive in them on the balcony, where the sun shines from morning to evening and I didn't go there before. Now of them will grow over a meter and a half long waterfalls of flowers, "states Mrs. Růžena Merlíčková Růžičková from Ostopovice near Brno.
Growing in boxes |
You can find more info about self-watering boxes in the previous article Self-watering boxes for annuals make sense, but you have to know how to deal with them.
Like the water storage boxes - which the plants take during the day according to their individual needs - they bear witness to the flowers, growing and fruiting in them. According to Mrs. Merlíčková, it is nothing complicated and she likes to share practical experience with everyone.
You do not plant vegetables in paving or concrete, you do in containers
"The main impulse for why it occurred to me that vegetables could be grown in self-watering containers was one of the next visits to the Lebiš gardeners. enthusiastic grower.
This amateur gardener has been growing vegetables for many years. But he and his husband always built a foil tree for the summer, always in a different place, to give the vegetables fresh soil. "We used to have a decent harvest, the foil tree will pay off after the summer isn't going well. But the boxes have clearly surpassed it," he says.
Not that she would just take the vegetable boxes to the garden, she could grow it right in the flowerbeds. She gives them the comfort of a greenhouse.
You can also grow vegetables in a boxYou can create conditions similar to those in a greenhouse on a glazed loggia in a block of flats: you can close it on cold days, ventilate it or open it on those steamy ones. Self-watering containers will fit and vegetables will only need similar care as flowers. |
The husband built a greenhouse with the possibility of heating and a tiled floor as an avid cactus maker. When he died and the lady sold her husband's collection of cacti a few years later, she was looking for use for an empty greenhouse. You can't plant vegetables on a solid floor, so she first tried growing in paint buckets.
Peppers and cucumbers grew quite well in buckets, and the harvest was decent, but there was a big problem with watering. "The buckets had to have water drained; but it drained and I didn't have enough pots to hold any water supply," says the enthusiastic gardener, as she had to water the vegetables twice a day on hot days and on a departure to she could forget for a few days.
Then she discovered ideally large self-watering containers in horticulture, remembered the demonstration of growing vegetables in self-watering boxes, and reflected her experience in growing geraniums in the same type of 'pots': "If I can grow such amazing geraniums in them, why not go growing vegetables in them ? "
I do not fertilize much, yet the harvest is enough for three families
5 × how to do it- For each plant (cucumber, balcony tomato, pepper) count on a separate self-watering container with a minimum size of 35 × 35 centimeters. - Vegetables grown in containers need lightweight soil, heavy substrate does not suit it. All you have to do is mix the garden substrate and a little compost with ordinary soil. - Plants have a high water consumption and need to replenish the water tank every day, they will survive unscathed even on weekends. However, in the case of prolonged absence, you must provide the plants with a sufficient supply of water otherwise. - It has been proven to add horn horn to the substrate as a fertilizer and add it to the plants about twice more during the season. - In autumn, you empty the boxes and let them freeze in the garden or on the balcony during the winter. You just clean the wicks from the clay and use them again and again every year together with the boxes. |
The right woman wants everything right away, so she went to the garden center and "bought the self-watering boxes measuring 35 × 35 cm" for the first good one.
"They seemed ideal and comfortable for growing one plant, the peppers will grow to a height of 130 centimeters. They can hold a supply of four liters of water and the plant has enough soil. When they didn't have others, I bought smaller containers out of need. "But that's not it; due to the lower soil content, they need to refill water more often. Now I don't take what they have anymore. I can easily order the necessary container sizes via the Internet," advises Ms. Merlíčková.
The grower has learned that vegetables grown in containers require light soil, so she mixes it for vegetables every spring. "I use ordinary garden soil, I add a little compost and gardening substrate to it. Then I add only a little horn to the mixture for fertilization," reveals the secret of successful cultivation, Mrs. Merlíčková.
He adds that he fertilizes geraniums with a common water-soluble fertilizer. But she is careful about the vegetables she eats with her family. "Twice a season, I add a little horn to each plant, I don't fertilize anything else."
Pepper fruits do not have a problem growing to some 25 centimeters in length. "And by the middle of the season, there were about 20 fruits on each plant and more were growing," shares the hobby gardener's experience.
Last year, lettuce cucumbers were also enough for our own harvest. And I only had two plants, each in my own box. From them I lead twine to the ceiling of the greenhouse and then I water and harvest only all summer long, "describes an idyllic amateur gardener, with whom many friends admire the amazing harvest every year.
It grows tomatoes in the same way, but you have to choose from varieties of balcony tomatoes so that the plants do not grow too much. "Other varieties in the greenhouse bear little and only shed strength in the green," he adds. This year, he is also testing the Peruvian cinchona for the first time.
"Self-watering" doesn't mean you don't have to water
However, growing vegetables in self-watering boxes does not mean that you do not have to worry about anything and water your tomatoes or peppers once a week. Plants consume a lot of water in the season and the benefit of a box with a sufficient supply of water lies in the fact that the plant can take exactly as much roots at any time as it needs.
Instructions for some self-watering pots state that it is enough to pour 4 liters of water into the supply and until the plant consumes it, it does not have to be watered. "On hot days, however, it is enough for a day, if it is cloudy, for two. Conversely, permanent overwetting on cloudy and cold days does not suit the plants, they look wilted and waterproof. The opposite is true, they have to water less," he says. Merlíčková.
"Even in the greatest heat, however, you don't have to water several times a day, all you need every morning or evening. someone go watering, "describes Mrs. Merlíčková. (Read about automatic watering here.)
Growing containers for life?
So far, Ms. Merlíčková has tested that her plastic self-watering boxes have lasted for twenty years. "I count the first ones in which I still successfully grow geraniums on the balcony," explains Mrs. Merlíčková. He has been using vegetable containers for a few years, but he also still serves as new ones. The grower does not see the difference in functionality between them.
"Every autumn I just rinse all the boxes and containers with a hose and let them freeze in the garden over the winter. I've washed the wicks before, but I haven't done it for many years, it was useless. containers "can't" and yet still serves her well.
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