How to grow more plants and maximise space using grow bags | Gardening 101 | Gardening Australia

Grow bags are a great solution to a space problem, especially in smaller gardens with limited room and budget. Even a set of steps or a driveway can be used as growing areas, provided you have access to sun. they are easy to move, so you can shift them when more sun or shade are required.

Josh says, ‘they were really easy at our last place, when we were renting, because it meant we could take at least part of our garden with us.’ Another benefit is that when you aren’t using them, they fold up nice and flat, taking up a lot less room to store than traditional pots.

Josh takes a look at grow bags made of recycled plastic bottles, which have been spun into a fiber. This creates a porous container, ‘water easily passes through it, but also air gets in. That means that the roots don’t get rootbound by circling around like they would in a plastic pot. The roots grow to the edge of the bag, and then they stop.’ This is called ‘air pruning’ of the roots.

In a 39L bag, he pots up a blueberry plant. Growing it in a container like a bag means that he can provide the perfect acidic soil mix that the blueberry will thrive in. He pots up an English lavender in the smaller, 16L grow bag. This is filled with premium potting mix, and takes advantage of the excellent drainage in this style of grow bag. Finish it off with an underplanting of common thyme.

He moves onto a square, jute fibre grow bag, which is lined with plastic. This will result in retaining more water than the other bag options. Josh is planting a native lemongrass, which is a very hardy plant that thrives in moister soils and can handle flooding.

The next bag is interesting, it is made of coconut coir, which will biodegrade over a few years. It is great to plant with an ornamental or tree that you eventually want to put into the garden, as once you have a spot for it you can plant the whole thing directly into garden soil, with the coir bag around it. In this, Josh plants a jalapeno chili, using premium potting mix.

‘Spuds are probably the classic grow bag crop, and I’ve had plenty of success with this method over the years.’ He is using a mix of 50% coir and 50% potting mix, which is low-cost, and lighter than just using straight potting mix. ‘Start with about 150mm of mix at the base. Layer your seed potatoes, then cover with another 100mm of mix. Once the seed spuds shoot, keep adding mix around the stems at they grow until the bag is full. But don’t smother the tips!’ Potatoes will set off the tip of the plant, and can be harvested as baby potatoes, or as larger potatoes once the plant dies down.

‘Like other plants grown in containers, they will need regular watering and fertilizing to thrive.’

It’s so easy to add extra growing space to your place using grow bags. If you choose the right plants, it can be productive and also look good!

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[samanthahoos]

I’ve tried grow bags and noticed roots coming out of the bottom into the soil when I go to clean up or move them. This summer I tried tomatoes and eggplants in buckets - eggplants loved it, but tomatoes not so much.

[leeannemacarthur]

What potting soil do you use please.
Great video, thank you ❤

[alanshrimpton]

You think a dwarf fruit tree would work in a grow bag to stop it from getting root bound?