With all the hoopla in the garden blogosphere about ugly vegetable gardens, I didn’t want all my container gardening buddies to be left out of the latest trend in vegetable gardening: embracing the ugly.
Being the psychic that I am, I inadvertently posted three effective, though not necessarily pretty, ways to fit more plants in a small space on the same day that Robin Ripley posted her (contentious?) thoughts on unkempt vegetable gardens. Colleen responded to Robin’s post with a passionate defense of vegetable gardens, any kind of vegetable gardening, and photos of her own less-than-perfect vegetable garden. And now people all over the gardening blogosphere are proudly posting photos of their own weedy or overgrown vegetable patches. As always, the inimitable Mr Brown Thumb has an interesting angle on the whole story for those that are interested.
So what should you do if you want to get in on this action and plant your own ugly vegetable garden? I have 5 ideas. If you have additional thoughts, be sure to share them in the comments.
Use Food Containers as Pots
I’ve been reusing fast food cups as pots to transplant young seedlings. They’re great for seedlings you want to plant deeply because of their tall, narrow shape. All sorts of take out containers could be used to grow plants. Herbs are especially well suited to these smaller “pots.”
Jury Rig Trellises & Stakes
First, I just want to point out that I said “jury rig” and not “jerry rig.” That’s an important distinction to my brother Ben. Now, on to the actual plant supports. I suggest using recycled materials. For example, here are instructions on how to make a trellis out of bicycle tires, bed springs, and an old ladder. And you could reuse all sorts of items to stake your plants. How about your kids’ unused hockey sticks?
Grow Your Plants in Potting Soil Bags
This is about as easy as it gets in your effort to have an ugly vegetable garden. To grow vegetables in a potting soil bag, poke a few holes in the bottom of a potting soil bag, and make a slit in the top. Plant your seedling in the slit and away you go! A related idea is to grow potatoes in a trash bag.
When Weeds Arrive, Cultivate Them!
A story my aunt often tells me about her first forays into gardening involve watering and fertilizing weeds. Apparently my aunt sowed some seeds in a little patch of dirt next to her patio. She dutifully watered that patch. And low and behold, something sprouted! My aunt was so proud, she kept on tending that patch. When a neighbor came over to visit, my aunt showed off her little garden, but was horrified to learn that the plants she was caring for were actually common weeds.
I say the definition of a weed is up for debate. If one sprouts in your vegetable garden, and it looks pretty, allow it to stay. It may suck away nutrients from your plants, and it may harbor pests, but that’s life! 
Cram as Many Pots As You Can Onto Your Balcony
Don’t try and create pleasing places to rest your eye. The name of the game is to fit as many plants as you can in your space. With this in mind, keep an eye on what your neighbors put out for the trash company to haul away. You’ll need shelving units, old benches, chairs, kitty litter buckets, etc. You’ll be able to use these items to spread your vegetable garden up as well as out. Be sure to leave a small path so that you can squeeze through your plants to water and harvest them.
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NOTE: This post was only partially in jest.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I remember my patio cramming days all too well. With such limited space, what is a gardener to do but plant every square inch and then some? I can honestly say I appreciated my individual plants more then. Now I appreciate the garden as a whole.
I’m with whoever said ANY gardening is great! weeds, no-weeds and everything in between should be celebrated – great post Fern!
I’m with you Smith Bites! Gardening is supposed to be fun, not give you an inferiority complex. Though I do think that people should be respectful of their neighbors and try their best to keep things reasonably presentable when other people have to look at it.
Kat–Yeah, I can see how that would be the case.
It is the need for beautiful gardens that scares people away from gardening at all. They think they need expensive pots or to spend hours weeding. Thanks for this post! It gets right to the point: gardening should be fun.
haha, I’m doing great with that last suggestion! All my pots ARE crammed into one little area because of the landscaping going on, it is horendous and cool at the same time
Thanks!
It’s sort of sad that we’ve gotten so obsessed with presentation that even meager food production efforts are slighted as being unsightly. I’ve been taking some permaculture workshops and it’s totally blown my mind, because I grew up with Southern Living and other magazines that my mom subscribed to where all the gardens (and my mom’s included) were aiming primarily for presentation, not production. Makes me wonder what Robin Ripley would have to say about a Food Forest.
Personally, beauty is VERY important to me, but there’s no way I could do container gardening on a 2nd story balcony in beautiful containers…they’re freaking expensive! I’m getting more joy out of seeing seeds sprout than I ever have in most anything else, and the pride that goes along with the natural beauty of a tender seedling makes me feel better than any Southern Living garden.
Christy–Just jam pack a lot of plants in your balcony so that they hide each other’s less-than-pretty pots.
Ok, I must admit I like bedsprings as a trellis especially if they are really rusty. And I can see a ladder as a trellis too, but the artist me would have to paint it deep purple or bright red, which would look really good with green leaves. As for beautiful containers, beauty is different things for different people. I like old tins for pots that I’ve recycled. Someone else might find them tacky. Ah well, accept and enjoy is my motto. Gardening should be fun too.
thank you i realy needed to hear that
Hey! Fern thanks for not leaving out the container gardeners.. that’s me.!
I’m a novice and the easiest and most convenient way for me to learn is often by way of containers.
My crime is growing veggies in large gallon totes found at Kmart and Walmart! Ooops! They may not look pretty, but I try to keep things neat. … Taste and getting them to harvest day are my main concerns.
Love your post..Vetsy of Vetsy’s view
Hurrah for the messy garden! I have a tiny balcony crammed with a random assortment of 100-yen-shop bins and buckets, miscellaneous smaller containers wired to the railing, seedlings in plastic eggboxes, young plants in paper cups and ramen cups, root veggies in milk cartons, even an old washing-up-bowl full of lavender. To me, the masses of green everywhere qualify as pretty, and I adore my ramshackle balcony garden
Maybe it’s a reaction to living in Japan, where gardens, and even full-sized trees, tend to be pruned, tidied and manicured into a neatness that seems almost sterile.
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