Marts
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Growing straight from compost bagsI have ended up with loads of lettuce and kale (and Mispoona and Mizuna) plants that I need to plant out.
Unfortunately there is no soil (at all) where I live. Everything I've grown so far has been in pots or hanging baskets.
I have just agreed with the Site manager that I can use the top of a shipping container that is on site, but I'm not allowed to establish a permanent raised bed there - only stuff I can remove if I ever leave.
Following least work principles I was thinking that the simplest thing to do would be to buy large compost bags and simply put them on top of the container in rows, cut holes in them where I want to plant out stuff and that's it.
Is this feasible with Peat or non-peat compost (the type of stuff you can get in B&Q) or will veggies not take well to pure compost?
Any thoughts or advice please?
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cab
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Just growbags really; its do-able, and plenty of people do it, but beware that at this time of year they'll dry out fast.
The salads will be happy enough, kale might struggle a wee bit because its going to be growing through winter, so feed it well in autumn. I'd have thought you'd manage fine though.
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marigold
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As cab said, but I reckon you'll have a problem with watering and it might get rather hot on top of a (presumably) metal container. Soil-based compost might be better for the kale, but it's an expensive way of growing a few lettuces and winter greens!
Also lugging compost and water up onto the container could be dangerous - I'm assuming you have to climb a ladder?
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Marts
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Actually the lifting should be alright as I can get the site manager to forklift bags up for me.
The container itself is partially shaded by a low building it is next to, I'll probably put some old doors or something from one of teh skips below the bags.
I know its not going to be a terribly cost-effective way of growing some lettuces but it's psychological more than anything else - Living in central London on a concret site if I can grow something and eat it, even if it's not much, is good for my spirits. Plus it looks prettier than the top of a rusty shipping container (I think that's why the site manager didn't take much convincing)
So growbags not plain compost bags - is that what you're saying?
Can they be re-used the following season or are they a one-hit wonder?
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marigold
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Can you get water up there easily? If I was doing it I think I'd use 70l bags of compost stood on end for the kale. You might want to partially empty each bag by decanting some of the contents into large containers (or rubble bags that you can buy from B&Q if you can't scrounge any), and then "fluff up" the contents a bit and roll the bag down so it was a bit "squatter" than when completely full. Growbags would probably be OK for lettuces and mizuna. Don't forget to make drainage holes!
You could probably reuse the compost for a few years if you add some fertilizer and it doesn't get too sodden during the winter. I find that growbags left overwinter tend to get waterlogged and turn green. I usually dump the compost from them under shrubs as mulch, but I reuse compost in large containers - scrape a bit off the top and stir some blood, fish and bonemeal into the remainder, then put fresh compost on the top. Could you scrounge/buy some large conatiners to put the compost in? They'd be much easier to "garden" than compost bags, but still removable if/when you move. And you can put crocks in the bottom of containers to stop the compost getting waterlogged in bad weather.
I can empathise with your desire to grow things no matter where you are  . See if you can find a book on container/windowbox gardening at the library for more suggestions and info.
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Marts
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Thanks for the suggestions Marigold.
Now you mention it I suppose I could make troughs up from scrap wood in the skip - maybe 4 feet long and 30cms wide.
I assume they wouldn't need to be too deep for the vegetables i'm talking about?
Actually at this sort of size I could mount them on pallets (there are loads lying around) and that would help with drainage and provide a way to get them up and down for the forklift.
If I go with this trough approach my question is back to compost i'm afraid!
- peat compost / peat-free compost or compost mixed with something else?
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marigold
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Re. Troughs - a bit wider than 30 cm would probably be better if you can manage it and as deep as you can otherwise you might have problems with them drying out (line them with plastic to help retain moisture). The deeper they are the more drainage (crocks, crumbled polystyrene, whatever) you can put in the bottom. You need good drainage AND moisture retention to cater for differing conditions at different times of the year. Make sure that containers or troughs are well secured so that there's no possibility of them blowing off the shipping container in a high wind. You'd be surprised what a gust of wind can do with a large pot full of tomato plants when the compost has dried out!
Re compost - I'm no expert, but in my limited experience peat-free compost is pretty crap - the stuff I bought (can't recall the brand) was full of uncomposted woody material, dried out quickly and stuff grown in it did not thrive. Cheap compost can be very ropey stuff too - full of big bits of uncomposted material. I often use soil-based compost (John Innes) mixed with general-purpose peat-containing compost for veg growing. The John Innes adds a bit of "body" somehow and doesn't dry out as quickly as soil-less compost. But that's just my personal feeling  .
Whether you use peat or not depends on how ethical you feel you need to be, for me the performance of peat-free just isn't good enough, so I do use peat-based compost. There are probably better peat-free alternatives, than the ones I've tried, but you'll have to wait for someone else to enlighten us both on that score!
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cab
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Hmmm... Peat free compost can be pretty ropey, and I do usually mix it with some of my own compost to aid moisture retention.
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judith
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There is a new peat-free compost from John Innes that is the best I have tried yet - I grew quite a few bits and bobs in it in pots last year. The only down side is that it is rather expensive. Ain't that always the way.
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Soapnutter
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| marigold wrote: | | or rubble bags that you can buy from B&Q if you can't scrounge any |
I'm sure I saw a piece on telly (but can't remember where or find it on google, I thought it was Gardeners world but can't see it) Anyway, it was a city where some buildings had been demolished I think and the concrete base was still there so you couldn't dig. But a group of locals had got together and laid out those BIG bags that sand/gravel comes in, filled them with compost/soil and were growing all sorts in them.
That might work but it'd be heavy I guess.
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Cho-ku-ri
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How about keeping them tight together end to end and thread a seeper hose through them?
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Marts
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Well it took a while but I have finally built the first one of these. 
I ended up with two troughs 1.2 metres long, 30cms deep and 40cms wide.
They fit neatly onto a pallet. We then forklifted them up on top of a container. Once they were up I mixed up a peat-based compost, top soil, horse manure and perlite to fill them.
I made wire frames and draped some plastic sheeting over it.
I had pre-seeded some mizuna, mispoona, red ursa kale and flame lettuces (in the thing with the weights on it), but they have ended up a bit leggy. I have planted the best of them along with a load of new seeds that i've directly sown.
Here's the state of it this weekend.
The management seem happy enough with it so far and the thinnings from the stuff I pre-seeded made a great salad for an impromptu bbq on site yesterday
I'm quite enjoying this.
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dpack
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i like industrial planting
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Cathryn
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Excellent and plenty of room for more and more.
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marigold
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Looks good .
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Marts
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My cats have been watching me up on top of the container the last few days. On the weekend I caught one climbing up the ladder to investigate and before I put the plastic over the top there were neat little cat footprints all over the soil.
Bless 'em 
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Slim
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| Marts wrote: | My cats have been watching me up on top of the container the last few days. On the weekend I caught one climbing up the ladder to investigate and before I put the plastic over the top there were neat little cat footprints all over the soil.
Bless 'em |
Just as long as it's only footprints...  
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