Having a potted vegetable garden for some is the most perfect and convenient way of having a vegetable garden but without all of the hassle of having a regular vegetable garden. The potted vegetable garden is handy in the respect it can be moved anywhere without any fuss or problems and can be grown almost anywhere regardless of weather or if you have a back garden at all i.e. if you live in a flat.

Potted vegetable gardens are often used to cultivate herbs and are also often the main staple of a traditional kitchen garden. Potted gardens are also perfect for those of us that still want a vegetable garden but find that their lives are very demanding which leaves them limited time to fully commit themselves to growing a full scale vegetable garden. A potted vegetable garden can be placed almost anywhere that there is sunlight and as long as you have enough time to rotate the pots once a day you can grow almost anything!

Most people start with several medium planting bowls that have a single drainage hole at the bottom. This hole needs to be covered, some people find that using broken ceramics are the best and it is also another way to recycle your broken plates and cups! Over the top of this a loose layer of gravel should be placed no higher than half an inch. Fill it with some good quality compost or compost you have managed to create yourself. Now that you have made sure that you have the right place for them to be situated with the correct amount of sunlight and have prepared the pots for planting, we need to begin with placing the seeds inside the pots.

With your finger push a little hole into the center of each pot and wiggle about so that a good depth is reached. Take your finger out and gently water the hole before putting in the seeds. Open up the packet and sprinkle the seeds into the hole. Collapse the hole, and gentle pat the soil over the seeds, not to tightly I must add, but gently. Again water the seeds with a small sprinkle of water. It is best to mark the pots in someway so that you know which one is growing which herb or vegetable. Place out into the sun where you choose for them to be and once a week turn the pots slightly and water them. Some people add growing intensifiers but that is a personal choice and up to you.   
 

When you first decide that you are going to use your back garden for growing vegetables you may feel a sense of slight panic about how you are going to plan, what seeds you want to plant and how, if you can, succeed at vegetable gardening. Let me put your fears at rest because if you follow your heart and a few simple tips you too can have a beautiful well planned vegetable garden to be proud of.

When first planning a vegetable garden you need to know what kind of soil you have to work with as the type of soil you have determines what vegetables and plants that you are going to be able to grow successfully. If you feel that your soil is not of the best quality you can mix in large volumes of ready made compost that will increase your soils potential, fertility and moistness. If you are on a budget then why not try and make your own compost. All of the kitchen leftovers such as vegetable shavings and cuttings, fruit cores, pips and seeds, any degradable food waste should be placed into a hole that you should dig in the corner of your garden. Once full place a layer of the soil loosely over it again. Within a few days to a week you will have fresh, organic compost that has cost you nothing. Some local council provide you with free composting bins to help with recycling, this is a rich source of compost that is perfect for giving your garden nutrients.

The next thing you need to plan is what vegetables you want to plant and where you want to plant them. Now you have managed to make your soil fertile and ready for planting you need to decide what type of beds you want to create for them. You can create open soil bed that is marked out using wires or even small fences to separate them and then the seeds themselves are planted directly into the open soil. The other option is raised beds. Raised beds have a few advantages over open soil beds as they are often more effective and the outcome more guaranteed in success. It all comes down to the amount of sunlight you get on your plot, the amount of rain and watering and also how much you fertilize your soil. But open soil beds are just as effective if not more in other ways.