- 1). Get a planter suited for the vegetable you plan to grow. The larger the plant, the bigger the pot should be. Herbs, for instance, are comfortable in a 6-inch pot while tomatoes and eggplants get the space they need from a 5-gallon container. Dwarf varieties of those vegetables thrive in 2-gallon planters. Always use pots with drainage holes.
- 2). Select a commercial potting mix formulated for growing vegetables. Choose light potting soil with plenty of room for air and water to circulate around the roots. Store-bought mixes are also sterile and come with a small amount of nutrients that give the plants to a good start before you need to supplement fertilization. Alternatively, prepare your own potting mix. Add to a 20-gallon utility tub 1 bushel (64 pints) vermiculite and 1 bushel peat moss. Drop 10 tbsp. ground limestone, 5 tbsp. 0-20-0 fertilizer and 1 cup 5-10-10 fertilizer into the tub. Spray the surface with water before mixing the ingredients uniformly. The water reduces the dust that rises as you blend the components.
- 3). Moisten the soil before using it. Fill the planter with potting mix to ¼ inch from the rim. Make holes for seeds, sow and cover them with a fine layer of soil. Plant seeds twice as deep as they are wide. When transplanting seedlings, add enough soil to the bottom of the container to position the plant at the same level as it has been growing in the nursery flat. Place the seedling in the center of the pot and back fill the empty spaces with potting mix.
- 4). Expose all vegetable plants to light, but first find out how much sun a specific crop requires. In general, cool-season vegetables, such as lettuce, need some shade during the day -- morning sun and protection from the afternoon heat is ideal. Tomatoes, eggplants and other warm-season crops thrive when in the sun all day.
- 5). Mix 2 cups water-soluble 10-20-10 fertilizer with 1 gallon warm tap water. Dilute 2 tbsp. of the preparation in 1 gallon water. Irrigate developing plants with that solution whenever the soil surface dries. Hydrate seeds with plain water. Switch to the fertilizer after germination. Irrigate the vegetable plants with plain water once a week to wash fertilizer salts off the potting mix.
- 6). Place a 1-inch layer of straw mulch, compost or other mulching material on the soil surface to slow evaporation. Potting mix in terracotta and outdoor planters dries especially fast.
- 7). Throw away what is left of the plant as well as the soil after harvest. Soak the pot in 9 parts water, 1 part bleach before reusing it the following season. Fill it with a fresh batch of potting mix.
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