In order to be more self-sufficient, I decided to start a small vegetable garden this spring. I haven't done any vegetable gardening since I was in my teens, so I'm pretty much a novice (with some flower gardening experience).

I live in a very wooded area, so there aren't many places where I get enough sun for a vegetable garden. My balcony is one of those few places. And it's also a spot where I can garden away from the deer and woodchucks.

So, it looked like container gardening would be my best choice. I got a few of the above self-watering containers and started by planting vegetables like lettuce, spinach, chard, and mache, also known as corn salad.

One of the advantages of using these containers is that you have almost no weeds, if you start with a sterile medium - as described below. Another advantage, obviously, is the less frequent need for watering, except in the warmest and/or driest weather. We live in New England, so it doesn't get too hot here; warmer climates would require that the resevoir be filled more often.

The dimensions of the self-watering container above are 26" long, 19" wide, and 10 1/2" high (including the self-watering reservoir). A good container for leafy vegetables and shorter carrots. I'm not sure about the beets that I'll be planting, but I think there will be enough depth for the roots. We'll see. :-)

Soil and Amendments
I'm using a "soil" mixture similar to the one recommended by Edward Smith in Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers. My mixture contains:

20 qts sterile container mix (with sphagnum peat, perlite and/or vermiculite, and limestone)
20 qts composted manure
2-3 cups composted seaweed and shrimp
1/3 cup bloodmeal
1/3 cup "triple phosphate" (Ed recommends colloidal phosphate, but I couldn't find any.)
1/3 cup greensand
one or two teaspoons of azomite (Had trouble finding this also. But here's where I finally found it: wheatgrasskits.com)

After mixing everything together, I add enough water so the soil is thoroughly moist, but not soggy.

When I get my own compost pile going, I'll use that instead of the composted manure, which tends to make the mixture a little heavy. Also, homemade compost has a greater variety of original materials, thus a greater variety of nutrients.

How Self-watering Containers Work
Most self-watering containers have a wicking system to bring the water up from the reservoir. This particular container above uses soil itself for the wicking. Before filling the container with the "soil" mix, you push some of the moistened soil into each of the vertical channels. Then add the rest of the soil. The container will now be set up so the water will wick up to the top of the soil.

The tall plastic thing on the left is the water level indicator and the place where you add the water. This should be in place before you add the soil.

This container has optional casters (not seen in the photo) which help a lot in moving the container around on the balcony - and I do a lot of that.

The Results
I've been very happy with my little container garden. It requires a minimum of care. So far, I've done almost no weeding, very little watering, and there've been no diseases and few insect pests. Planting and harvesting are the most work - and I think they're both fun!

See also:
Growing Swiss Chard
Growing Carrots
Growing Beets
Growing Cucumbers