Just realized my balcony setup was all wrong after a visit to the community garden in Portland

I was at the Portland Community Garden tour last month and saw how they used old milk crates for deep root crops like carrots, which I'd always failed with in my shallow pots. Tbh, I came home and switched my whole 8-foot balcony to stacked crate planters filled with a 60/40 soil and compost mix. Has anyone else tried this crate method for things like radishes or beets?

3 comments

3 Comments

alice9912mo ago

Is it that big of a deal?

ivan2302mo ago

Honestly, what isn't a big deal these days?

evah4025d ago

oh man, i totally feel you on that. i tried growing carrots in those standard rectangular window boxes last year and got nothing but sad little nubs. the crate method sounds genius for root veggies, i wish i'd thought of that before wasting a whole season on shallow pots. i just switched my radishes over to a similar setup with some free wooden berry baskets i grabbed from the farmer's market, and they're actually pushing down deep now. it's honestly a relief to know it's not just me fighting with container depth.