Not everyone has a Back 40. Many urban gardeners are working with aggressive space constraints (“Patio 4?” anyone?) but still want the joy of planting, harvesting and cooking homegrown veg. For these gardeners, container growing is sometimes the best or only option.
Nearly every crop that can be grown in ground can also be grown in containers. I grow a container demo garden every year at the front of my house to show passers-by what can be done and have successfully harvested broccoli, kale, summer squash, beans, herbs, strawberries and greens of all kinds from a few pots at the front of the driveway.
In my cool-summer, maritime climate I find that real heat lovers like eggplant often do better – a lot better – in containers than in-ground, and so even though I have a large (by urban standards) garden, I still choose to grow some crops in containers.
The trick to container gardening is in knowing which varieties of each crop are going to thrive in that environment, and setting up your containers well. This means using appropriate size pots and potting mixes, and providing the right water and nutrition for your plants. Container growing also means taking responsibility for more of the plants needs as compared to in-ground growing – that little seedling is counting on you for food and water because it can’t seek out deeper, moisture-retentive soil.
With those considerations in mind, growing a whole garden worth of food from containers isn’t hard – it just requires a little know-how.
Giveaway!
High Mowing Organic Seeds (my favorite seed house and a sponsor of this blog) is offering one NW Edible reader the book The Bountiful Container plus the High Mowing Organic Seeds Container Garden Collection.
The Bountiful Container is a real classic in the How To category of garden books. It covers soil and potting mixes, sizes of pots needed for various edibles, best varieties, how to combine edibles in containers and talks about the full range of fruit and veg you can grow in a pot and a lot more. It’s an information rich book.
High Mowing’s Container Garden Collection combines ten of the best varieties of vegetables for container culture into one pack. It includes one packet each of:
- Nasturtium Mix
- Genovese Basil
- Santo Cilantro
- Matt’s Wild Cherry Tomato
- Ring-o-Fire Pepper
- Sugar Ann Snap Pea
- High Mowing Mesclun Mix
- Dinosaur Lacinato Kale
- H-19 Little Leaf Cucumber
- Yaya Carrot
And because these are High Mowing Seeds, everything is certified organic. These varieties make a nice collection for a warm-weather container garden, but several (the cilantro, peas, mesclun, kale and carrots) will continue to thrive deep into fall or even overwinter in mild climates like the Pacific Northwest.
Together, these two items have a retail value of $45 and will give you the knowledge and varieties you need to grow hundreds of dollars worth of organic vegetables in a small space. High Mowing will be giving both of them to one lucky container-gardening winner.
To enter to win, sign up for the monthly High Mowing Newsletter, The Seed Bin, then come back here and leave a comment below letting me know what fruit or veggies you grow in containers.
About the High Mowing Newsletter: this is not some schlocky spam email thing, guys, I promise. Every month High Mowing sends out one newsletter with great, truly useful garden information. I learn a ton from the newsletter.
In the past they’ve sent along tips for doing at-home seed germination tests, information and great stories on specific varieties of vegetables, how to care for garden tools, how to jump-start the potato growing season and even tips for container gardening. They also run periodic giveaways for stuff you’d actually want – like gardening books and gift certificates for organic seeds.
High Mowing follows best practices for emailing, so you don’t need to worry about them selling or trading your info, and of course you can unsubscribe at any time. But honestly, I don’t think you’ll want to. I look forward to the helpful tips in The Seed Bin every month and I bet you’ll feel the same.
This contest is sponsored by High Mowing Organic Seeds and is open to U.S. and Canadian residents only. Contest open until Wednesday, April 16th, 8 PM PST. Winner will be notified by email. If the winner fails to respond within 24 hours, a new winner shall be drawn. Good luck everyone!
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I grow potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes in half-wine barrels all around my yard, which keeps the beasts in check. As well, I grow herbs in a pot on my upper deck so that they’re close to the BBQ and kitchen for a quick addition to a roast in the oven, a pot of soup on the stove, or a beer-butt-chicken on the grill.
Natalie
last year we were confined to the space on a Chicago style front balcony (aka small). We had minor success with climbing beans; we had high hopes for all kinds of stuff like carrots and onions but our tomatoes took over and thats pretty much all we had going out there. This year we are starting a community container garden in the back yard (also Chicago sized…) for 12 interested units in the building. Super psyched for added container plots. Gonna try kale and spinach this year too. All signed up and fingers crossed.
The list we’re attempting this year: 3 kinds of tomatoes, 3 kinds of peppers, spinach, kale, beans, carrots, onions, collards, basil, cilantro, sage, thyme, oregano, rosemary, and ground cherries… all in containers. We’ll see how it goes, but I love trying it all!
Herbs herbs herbs! And tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets. I got some strawberries to try again this year, too.
In my NE Portland urban yard, all of our gardening is in containers and raised beds. This year we have put in lettuce, peas, onions, garlic and (this weekend) potatoes. Later in the spring we’ll plant pickling cukes and butternut squash. In barrels we have blueberries (the raspberries and huckleberries are in the ground). I might try building a strawberry tower like I saw on a blog recently (here?) in the hope of keeping them off the ground and away from the slugs. We’ve also got herbs in containers – thyme, chives, sage. The darned rosemary will be moved out of a raised bed and into the ground – can’t kill that thing!
Signed up for the newsletter! Yay!
I grow tomatoes and some onions but I would love to expand that to see how much I can produce that way.
I have always been a flower gardener in the city, however, we have moved to northwest AR where it’s warmer and happily, I have no squirrels to jump up to my second floor balcony. Can I possibly grow tomatoes?? Since I have no ground I have no choice but to fill the area with containers. So far I have rosemary, basil, thyme, chives lettuce and hot peppers. Bu this year I am trying my hand at seeds which I started in milk jugs. I have cherry tomatoe and several flowers – Shasta daisy, rudbeckia and morning glories. Many plants to share. Will there be a place to sit?
I have herbs in pots, some of which I bring in over the winter. I have basil and rosemary and thyme and sage and parsley and cilantro. I grow cherry tomato and grape tomatoes in pots; my regular slicing/canning tomatoes are out in the garden. I also have the lettuce up on the patio and some spinach as it is easier for me to quickly step out there to pick a bowl, then to change shoes etc and hie on down to one of the main gardens. I would love to try more. Thanks for the chance to win such a fantastic prize.
The gophers killed my in-ground fruit trees (VERY sad: a fully mature Anna apple, white nectarine, and satsuma plum, and the apricot is looking exceedingly unhappy).
So now I have a pomegranate, dwarf banana, and dragon fruit in pots, as well as a blueberry, a number of herbs, and a BIG pot of sorrel.
I’d love to try more, but managing watering and fertilizer has been my top challenge. I’d be very curious about what The Bountiful Container has to say about these issues!
Thanks, Erica!
We grow heat loving plants – tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and basil in containers in the greenhouse.
Basil. Lots and lots of basil. So I can make lots and lots of pesto.
Herbs and tomatoes. I’ll be trying cucumbers, squash and cantaloupe this time in addition to the usual crops.
I’ve got strawberries and mint each in a large fancy container. I grow potatoes in my small recycling bins (they’re like tote boxes), and I’ll probably do small carrots in a couple more of those bins this year as they just haven’t been doing well in the ground (too much clay and rock). I planted two strawberry pallets this year too – that’s technically a container, right? I’ve got them up on end making a vertical half-wall on one corner of our patio. And then, of course, horseradish in a garbage can. I’ve been doing that one for three or four years now. We love the horseradish!
Did some cherry tomatoes last year. Oh and some mint. Just starting to dip our toes in edible gardening.
Melons, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes…
I grow my lettuce in containers because I can move them farther into the shade as the summer heats up extending my harvest.
I mostly plant tender herbs like Rosemary in pots, so I can winter it over in the pumphouse…
I grow everything in containers! Let’s see here: an Italian plum, a Montmorency cherry, and a five-way grafted apple tree; Top Hat blueberries, Brazelberry raspberries, Tri-star and Seascape strawberries; Sungold and Matt’s wild cherry tomatoes, Italian bullhorn, cayenne and sweet bell peppers; all the basic herbs; broccoli, kale, mustard, radishes, arugula, turnips (the little, Japanese kind); carrots, scallions and snap peas. Also edible flowers, mostly nasturtiums, violas and borage.
Agh, how could I forget lettuce! Lots and lots of lettuce. 😀
I grow much of my herbs and tender greens in pots on the patio. When I lived in Central Oregon we grew everything in containers, even if the season was too short – we just enjoyed watching them grow. 🙂
I’m growing rosemary in containers right now – so far, so good! I’d like to add other herbs, and a few vegetables, eventually. Unfortunately, I have a very small lot and direct sunlight is at a premium.
Lettuce, by the tonne
I don’t grow anything in containers.. yet!
High Desert gardening can be a challenge with extreme temperature swings (even during the summer). I keep my heat loving tomatoes and peppers in containers. I always wanted to try sweet potatoes, but I’m not sure how they would do in containers…What do you think?
I have grown chives, garlic, and tomatoes in containers. Strawberries in wine barrels too until the neighborhood deer thought we were gifting them to them and nibbled them to stubs. I currently have some salad mix seeds starting to sprout and some lemon thyme,oregano, sage and peppermint growing as well.
This is wonderful!! I have grown lettuce and strawberries in containers and would love to try more! More herbs this summer.
I grow mostly herbs in containers on my deck but have done tomatoes in the past. I also have strawberry plants and blueberry top hat bushes in pots.
This year: tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, basil, radishes, and pac choi!
Chives, lemon balm, tarragon, sage, basil, thyme, rosemary, mint, lettuces, Swiss chard, several varieties of peppers and tomatoes… signed up for Seed Bin, thanks.
I’m super tentative when it comes to growing plants. I really *want* to have a thriving garden, but get easily overwhelmed with all of the information and “should do’s” and “don’t do’s”…. I had a small herb container garden last summer, but it all looked rather spindly. I will try again this year though. I love basil… I started following this blog for ideas (and to be a bit of a vicarious gardener!) and I will be happy to receive the High Mowing newsletter as well. Thanks for the recommendation. 🙂 Kit
I grow sweet peppers in containers. It’s nice to be able to bring them in on cold nights. I even managed to overwinter them inside and got a few (tiny) peppers in the spring!
I signed up for the newsletter and am looking forward to reading it!
I’ve done the best with herbs, but not so well with veggies grown in pots in my driveway…the only spot on our property with even the hope of enough sun. I try to be optimistic…am growing more root veggies this year.
Tomatoes, herbs, and greens 🙂
I grow tons in containers in the greenhouse. It keeps the deer away and our season is so short here in Port Angeles that the plants need the extra heat. Have done best with herbs, peppers and tomatoes. I have a bigger greenhouse this year that my hubby built. Can’t wait to get my starts out there.
We’ve grown everything from Sweet corn to Summer squash. Green beans to tomatoes. It is the perfect way to have a garden in a small space.
I grow herbs and strawberries in pots. I’d also like a dwarf Meyer lemon tree in a pot. I signed up for the newsletter.
Cherry tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. All those heat lovers get to be in pots
up against the fireplace brick in a protected corner. Gets them through the cold
nights and gets us veggies we wouldn’t have otherwise.
I had great luck with Yellow Taxi tomatoes last year!
I’ve been thinking about growing some veggies in containers, but haven’t ever done it. I’d like to try some salad mix or some green beans as well as some tomatoes!
Salad mixes grow very well in containers! I am in Florida, so that part of our season is over but I am wondering if I can continue them inside near a window. I guess I will find out soon enough, will be moving them inside within the next month as the temperature rises.
I signed up for the newsletter 🙂
We grow peppers, tomatoes and fresh herbs in our containers
Basil, mint, oregano, lavender, marjoram, savory, chives, burnett, tomatoes, arugula, mustards, artichokes, lettuces, cucumbers, beets, radishes, and one yuzu tree!
I have grown tomatoes that didn’t fare well. Maybe the wrong variety for containers? But my flowers and rosemary do well. Perhaps I need to research varieties that grow in pots?
The only thing I have not tried to grow in pots are watermelons .cantaloupes and potatoes! I have 10 green thumbs and don’t know how I even do it! Things just grow when I plant them!!! Strawberries in a sandbox are the BEST!
Right now I’ve got strawberries and herbs (rosemary, oregano, lemon balm, dill, and sage) in pots. I like having some of those herbs come back year after year on my front porch. I’m way more likely to grab a few herbs to throw in dinner if they are right outside the front door.
I grow tomatoes, bell peppers, green beans, spinach, onions and various types of lettuces and herbs. Next I would like to try fruits. 🙂
I’ve done lettuce, dill and cilantro. I just bought some new pots for my little guy to plant some radishes this spring.
I grow blueberries, strawberries and lettuces in containers
I just signed up for the seed newsletter too. This is my first year of container gardening in arizona. I am in a rental house and not able to plant inthe lawn so I am experimenting with storage containers. I have watermelon, zucchini, beets, potatoes, onions, peppers, lettuce and greens as well as herbs. We’ll see how it goes. Thanks for the good info.
We grow tons of stuff on our deck in containers-tomatoes, cukes,blueberries, grapes,apple trees,peppers,raspberries,currants,garlic,onions,lettuce,Meyers lemons, lime trees,herbs. We have an annual harvest feast incorporating as much as we can from the patio farm. Thanks for including Canadians – we’re on the left coast too and love your blog!
Oh yeah – signed up for the newsletter .