Troubleshooting Your Container Vegetable Garden

Vegetable container gardening is an easy way for many city dwellers to have fresh grown vegetables almost any time of year. It's also a great way for people in any climate to enjoy vegetables year round.

If you try your hand at container gardening, there will inevitably be times when you have some problems with low yields or sickly plants. With that in mind we put together a few tips to get your container vegetable garden back in good shape and producing well.

Here is a list of some common container garden problems, and common solutions to those problems.

Plants are tall and spindly: This is common due to poor lighting. Artificial lights need to be put very close to the plants, or it you may need to keep them on longer.

Leaf spots: Often a symptom of plant disease. You should apply an appropriate fungicide. Check with your nursery.

Stunted vegetables plants: Can be low levels of phosphate in the fertilizer solution. Change the fertilizer levels. Sometimes this can be due to the low temperatures, especially for warm weather crops.

Wilted vegetable plants: Check the moisture level. Either not enough water, or may be due to inadequate drainage. Make sure that you are watering regularly enough.

Burned plant leaves: Can be due to high salt levels. A common symptom is a crusty white layer top of the soil. Flush the container soil out by adding water.

Plants yellowing, sometimes the leaves will drop: Watering too much or too often. Reduce the frequency of watering, and check the drainage from the container. Tomatoes are often a victim of this. May be caused by low fertilizer levels as well.

With these tips you should be able to keep your indoor container vegetable garden producing for months to come.

J Ruppel writes a variety of gardening articles including information on Compost Tumblers and Vegetable Garden Tips.