There are so many articles and blogs out there that talk about growing your garden in bags but here are our favorite plants that have worked for us in the past 2 years:
Potatoes
Yup! Potatoes were a great crop that we planted for 2 years in a row in our grow bags. There is nothing like a home-grown potato! And its super easy! We used many 10-gallon potato grow bag and put them in our zone of 7A, northern Pennsylvania. We have limited garden space at our home garden so these were perfect to set out around the perimeter of our garden on a small diy shelf that my husband crafted.
These bags were made of durable, heavy-duty material that are tear resistant. They have handles on both sides for easy lifting and moving to anywhere around your garden. They offer great drainage holes on the bottom and the sides are permeable to prevent root circling.
What we love about growing potatoes in these bags is that it limits the number of pests that get into the potato. We had no weevils or other pests that effected our crop.
Carrots
We eat so many carrots in our house, so it only makes sense to grow our own! Like we said before, we are limited on garden space at our home, so growing carrots in the grow bags is a perfect solution.
We used 5 gallon grow bags for our carrots. We knew that the grow bags wouldn’t support growing the long type of carrots, so we found a great variety called “Short and Sweet” by Burpee. These were the perfect size for the grow bags! We planted them in early February and put them in our basement under the grow lights until it was warm enough outside. They were then placed on our shelf on the perimeter of our garden where the sun shines on them at least 8 hours a day. These variety of carrots are perfect for our homemade tomato sauce! This recipe will be coming soon!
cherry tomatoes
We grew our first cherry tomato plants last year and what an amazing year it was! We didn’t really know what we were doing when we were planting these, but we wanted to experiment and see what happened. Man! The number of cherry tomatoes we received last year was astonishing!
We used the Pole Tomato Red Cherry Large Prolific Heirloom by Lake Valley Organics. We planted to seeds in each grow bag and had two grow bags for a total of 4 plants. The plants took off in early May with regular watering and regular feedings of fertilizer. We used Neptunes Harvest Tomato and Veg liquid fertilizer.
My husband welded together two tomato cages to use as support for when they got bigger…….and they seriously got bigger and bigger! Eventually, they outgrew the tomato cages and climbed up our trellis intended for our peas!
eggplant
We also have never tried growing eggplant near our garden. So we said “lets try them in our grow bags!” Maybe we should plant some in the ground and some in the grow bags!
We used a few 5 gallon grow bags and only planted one seed in each. Eggplants can tend to be large plants and they need their space. We regular watering and fertilizing, our eggplants grew and grew and grew! The plants in the grow bags did significantly better than the ones in the ground. We believe this is true due to the nature of the grow bag, the soil and the drainage that the grow bags allow. Keep an eye out for pests and powdery mildew on your eggplants. We had issues with aphids and hornworms on our plants. We used Neem Oil and sprayed in all over the top and bottoms of the leaves. This worked really well, but you have to stay on it or they will come right back!
herbs
Herbs, herbs and more herbs. We love all varieties of herbs in our family. Our favorite and the most used herb is Basil.
We planted basil next to our tomatoes in the ground and in grow bags all around our garden. They are super hardy plants that love the sun and are super easy to regenerate so you can keep them all year long!
Most of our basil was planted in 5 gallon grow bags. We did have some around the house in 1 gallon grow bags as well.
We also planted cilantro, chives, parsley and mint in grow bags.
As you can see, we love using grow bags in and around our garden. They are super durable, easy to move from place to place, they don’t take space in your garden either! So, they are wonderful to have if you only have a patio, porch, apartment, or small window to grow things. The well-built material makes it easy for excess water to drain and helps prevent root circling. This is when the root keeps going around and around the pot looking for nutrients. The grow bag essentially tells the roots to stop growing once they hit the sides. The plant will then send down more roots instead of circling around.
Don’t let anything stop you from growing the fruits and vegetables you love the most. Try them in the grow bags and you will be as excited as we were to harvest our crops.
Check out our video and blog on our off grid garden in upstate NY on www,jnjbackcountry.com and on YouTube!
I definitely have the opposite of a green thumb but your pictures makes me want to try!
Thank you!! You should definitely try it out! Start small! Plant some herbs. They are easy and so rewarding!! Good luck!
This definitely makes me want to try again. Years ago we had a yard garden. Gave it up to family for a season and then we were all done with it. I need waist high raised garden beds to make it possible. We are moving this year to Indiana and are hoping to find a house with acreage. I already started my list of what to plant and what animals I want if we get land.
Those carrots are adorable. Must try those! My dad was about to start straw bale gardening before he passed away this past November. Maybe I’ll be able to try it out for him.