A lot of people who are new to container gardening don’t quite know what an 8-inch pot is or how to choose one. This article hopes to cover the basics of container gardening so that you can choose your containers with confidence. Here’s a start: pots, also known as hampering or bread bowls, are a container made of a food grade material. They’re not meant to be eaten, but merely used for holding plants. So, how big should a pot be?

Typically, the size of an 8-inch pot depends on the plant you’re growing; there’s no hard-and-fast rule about this. However, plants that don’t grow big will tend to grow smaller than those that do, which is why it’s important to make sure you have enough room for your plants to grow; just because they’re small doesn’t mean they’ll stay that way. Here are some general guidelines, and here you’ll find a helpful calculator that you can simply pop your figures into and it’ll spit out the answer for how much soil you’ll need.

Regular Pots – 4″ (10cm) pots or window boxes (these are the most common when it comes to container gardening) will usually give you enough soil for a vegetable garden of moderate size. If you’re going for a big backyard, or if you want to grow more than a few small plants, then you’ll need a bigger pot. Window boxes are good for most kinds of plants; you can plant anything from kale to squash to watermelons to zucchini in them. Just make sure they have plenty of drainage, as you don’t want roots to rot in your potting soil. Also, try growing taller plants that need more space, such as sunflowers or taller cucumbers.

Preparedness Mama – If you live in an area where you get a lot of snow fall, or where it snows a lot, then you may not have room in your yard for a full-sized garden. In that case, it’s best to prepare for at least a year before planting, if not for two or three seasons. Find good ready-made potting soil mixes at garden centers, and use them to plant everything in your garden after you’ve dug it up. You can also prepare a soil mixture using coarse sand and fine sand, or even compost and bone meal for soil that needs to be rich in nutrients for very large plants.

Containers – Most tomato plants like a moist environment. So make sure you get a good supply of good-quality potting soil and a steady supply of good water. You should be able to move your containers from one area to another easily, because they’re designed to move sideways and not vertically.

Containers – For container plantings, the standard range for container sizes is three to eight gallons. One to four gallons is a good general container size for most other home vegetable varieties. However, for larger varieties, such as zucchini or peppers, it’s wise to use five gallons or even larger. Tomatoes usually need about four to six gallons of water per gallon of soil. Other home vegetable varieties, such as squash and melons, may grow well with only three to four gallons of water.

Fertilizer – There are many kinds of fertilizers on the market, but there are few that work particularly well for container planting of fruits and vegetables. Look for a brand that uses ingredients like phosphorous and magnesium, which are important for healthy root growth. Remember, though, that the most expensive fertilizers are not necessarily the best choices for your particular variety of fruit or vegetable.

As you can see, there are quite a few options available when it comes to container gardening. No matter what type of container you’re planting, be sure to take extra care in the preparation and the choice of your plants’ containers. The health of your plants, your family, and your wallet will thank you for taking the time to learn about these important matters. Home vegetable gardening can be an enjoyable experience if you follow some of the simple steps outlined in this article. Good luck!