Container (and small space) farming in greater coastal Vancouver BC area

a person who recently posted here - asking what was eating the plants in their garden - has inspired me to learn more about how to successfully garden in containers in potentially difficult situations (wind, shade, hot sun part of the day-cold shade for the next X hours - weight limits on patio balconies - etc

we face due east and have HOT sun on days like this starting at 5:45am - til about 2pm when the sun goes behind the mountain

in the winter - whole diff story - sun rises 8am-ish maybe - gone in a few hours behind the mountain

I know what does not do well for ornamental gardening here in our ocean neighborhood - blue fescue, Echinacea, etc. Conversely, we are good at laurel (ugh), ivy (ugh) and rhodos & hostas & ferns (good) and rhubarb.

and as is typical in southern coastal BC - we have the long hot drought (til the PNE opens in Aug - then the rain starts - any old vancouverites will know about that) and metered watering (or restrictions or wells that dry up)

1. what are your favorite fertilizers - do you ever use the SR (slow release) types? Are there organic brands?
2. how do you organize your irrigation - do you walk around morning and evening with a water can or a hose or do you have drip systems? What do you do if you go to the cottage for a wkd or out on the boat - like many of us do here - neighbor, gamble, hope?!
3. which potting soils? (I like regular Sea Soil (not the potting one) in my containers)
4. which basils and tomatoes do best in pots? do you grow swiss chard for winter in pots?

we do have room in our yard, tho we have lots of local native fauna and it's just not worth the battle for us. (there are various farm markets nearby)

I do have a little raised bed near my kitchen door for perennial herbs - a rosemary that survives the Squamish outflow chilly weather, a sad sage, a happy mint that we like the flavor of, and reluctant chive. I would love to grow cilantro (seasonal) and some parsley but can't get it to "take"

a neighbor did have an upright frame in which he grew lettuce on his sundeck here - and it did really well - no slugs, no bugs, no deer etc.

thank you in advance for your ideas and photos

 

Hi Squamish, greetings again from N. Van. My fav soil is from Thrifty's, Organic Compost mix 20 L bag. I only buy it when it's on sale, yesterday paid $1.66 per bag plus tax. I've tried Sea Soil, didn't appreciate the amount of wood chunks in it. Something about paying for rocks and wood just gets my dander up.
Here's a pic of my rosemary bush which has gotten totally out of control, it need some serious pruning. I did take some cuttings this spring and successfully rooted them. On my deck I have 12 hanging baskets and 25 planters, pots and boxes. I mix herbs with flowers, basil with snapdragons, parsley & chives, strawberries in the hangers, so no slugs, scarlet runner beans, sweet peas, and hops vine, up the lattice to block neighbor.