another first time grower thread

Very inexperienced as a gardener so bear with me here. So I just ordered some rhizomes, I know I'm a little late but it's been cold up here until a few days ago anyhow. I ordered 2 centennial and 2 chinook. I originally ordered two of each because I read somewhere to plant 2 in case one doesn't take. I'm also currently living in an apartment so I want to plant them in pots for a year or so until I own a house. Couple questions: should I just buy 4 pots and plant them all separately or can I buy 2 pots and put the rhizomes together? How deep should I plant the rhizomes? Also, what's the best type of soil I can buy for the job? Thanks in advance

How are you going to have them grow in an appartment?

I believe there was a thread going last year about someone growing them in their office. Indoors can work. Putting 2 rhizomes per pot, wellllll, hope you planned on using a fairly large pot. Hopefully one of the container growers here can give better size advice. As far as depth 1-2" is about the standard.

Oh sorry I wasn't clear. I have space to grow them outside but I can't plant them. Plenty of sunlight.

any other thoughts?

They aren't too picky about soil--Supersoil, Miracle Grow, etc., are all generally fine, or you could make your own, or spend a lot on soils like those from Fox Farms. You can always add ferts to lesser quality soil but you tend to get what you pay for.

As for planting, you can put both rhizomes in one pot but chances are that both will take, so unless you are using really big pots (22-24"+) separate pots might be a better option. Then again, if you plan to transplant next year in soil, it doesn't really matter too much. Still, get the biggest pots you can afford/have space for because that seems to be the major factor when container growing.

Bottom line is that they are pretty easy to grow and there's a lot of different ways to do things without one way necessarily being the best. Jump in and have some fun with it--you'll learn along the way.

I ended up buying 4 5 gallon buckets, wooden dowels and some scott's soil. Gonna do them all separate. Rhizomes should be arriving wednesday. Hopefully I'm not too late to get some growth this year. How often should these bad boys be getting water?

'bad girls' actually. They need a lot less than what meets the eye. Basically, you just don't want the soil to dry out completely as the rhizomes have no way to get rid of excess water like a vigorously growing plant can. Once they're mature enough in a few years to be growing a foot a day is when they call for water. You'll be fine.