If you thought you didn’t have room to grow vegetables, or that your soil was unsuitable for gardening. Think again. By growing your vegetables in plastic bags, you can enjoy the fruit of your labor without “all the labor.”
Purchase a large bag of potting soil at your local gardening center. This will serve as your “garden” when the bag is laid flat – so choose the size wisely.
Place the bag of potting soil in a sunny location that receives six to eight hours of direct sunlight a day. Hours of sunlight do not need to be consecutive, but they do need to add up to a total of at least six to eight hours. Many vegetables thrive in more sun. If your locations gets all day sun you have the ideal location.
Punch holes in the bottom of the bag (the side that will be placed against the ground) for drainage holes. Use a pencil or dowel to puncture the bag every four to six inches. Lay the bag flat – with the holes against the ground.
Carefully remove the plastic from the top of the bag. Some prefer to leave a two-inch rim of plastic around the top to prevent soil from spilling. Use a sharp knife or an old pair of scissors to cut away the plastic.
Loosen the soil inside the bag with a hand trowel, if necessary, to break up any clumps of soil. This serves are your garden bed.
Plant seeds in the soil once the danger of frost has passed in your area. Salad greens, radish, lettuce and other small vegetables can be grown with ease right in the plastic bag.
Water the vegetables whenever the soil in the bag becomes dry. The amount of water required depends on the weather conditions, the rate of plant growth and the make up of your soil. Soil should be moist – but should never be soggy.
Apply water-soluble fertilizer on a 10 to 14 day schedule following the recommended dilution rate. Because nutrients leaches through the soil of containers and washes out the drainage holes with repeated watering, container plants need supplemental fertilizer to prevent nutrient deficiencies.
Growing vegetables right in the potting soil bag gives you an instant garden that can be placed in any location – but cannot support large plants like tomatoes. For larger vegetables, consider container gardening.
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