Container Gardening Complete

Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete

700309 - ContainerGardens_001-272_FINAL.indd 94 6/5/17 2:57 PM
Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete
Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete

700309 - ContainerGardens_001-272_FINAL.indd 95 6/5/17 2:57 PM

94 chapter 2

Vegetables

If you’ve wondered if it’s possible to grow your

favorite veggie in a container, the answer is yes—as

long as you have the right plant partnered with the

correctly sized container. Large-statured veggies

need very large containers for optimal production.

And if you’re growing long, tapered root crops, the

containers also need to be deep enough to handle

the full length of the mature roots.

Vegetables need good air circulation to fend

off fungal diseases and maximize growth, which

makes choosing the right varieties extremely

important. If you try to sandwich giant veggie

plants into pots that are too small, you’re likely

to find yourself disappointed at the end of the

season. Thankfully, there are a few ways around

this problem.

First, if you want to grow vine crops but you

don’t have enough room, know that breeders have

developed smaller, bush-type varieties of almost

all of your favorites. These vegetables are perfect

choices for container gardens because they’ve

been bred to have good production from compact

plants. Among these smaller varieties you’ll

find bush cucumbers, watermelons, pumpkins,

cantaloupes, winter squash, and summer squash.

I’ve included my favorite bush vine crop varieties

in the chart at the end of this section.

Peas and beans also have specific varieties bred

to have more compact growth, but tall, vining pea

varieties and pole beans also do great in containers,

provided you give them a sturdy trellis. In Chapter

3, you’ll find lots of ideas for creating unique

trellises and staking systems for containers.

Dwarf pea varieties, such as ‘Peas-in-a-Pot’ and ‘Half

Pint’ do great in container gardens. But so do standard

pea varieties, as long as you have a sturdy trellis for

them to climb.

Partnering the right vegetable plant with the right size

container is essential.

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Designing and Planting Your Containers 95

In addition to bush-type vine

crops, miniature or patio-type

vegetable varieties are also ideal

for container gardening. There

are many varieties of tomatoes,

eggplants, peppers, okra, and

even sweet corn bred just for

containers, and more and more

are being developed each year.

Because they’re more compact,

a smaller soil volume is required

for optimum growth, but they

still produce a great harvest.

There are dwarf and

miniature varieties of many other

vegetables as well. Some were

bred to look cute on a plate, while

others were created specifically

with container gardeners in mind. These dwarf

crops are not the same as “baby” vegetables,

which are simply full-sized veggies that have been

harvested early. Instead, these are tiny marvels

even when fully mature. From orb-shaped carrots,

mini heads of lettuce, and pint-size cabbages to

petite broccoli plants, dwarf kale, and beets no

bigger than a ping-pong ball, these mini veggies are

real stand-outs in a container. There are even semi-

dwarf varieties of Brussels sprouts!

Of course not all container veggies need to

be dwarf or compact varieties. There are plenty

of crops that perform beautifully in a pot just as

they are. You can grow just about any variety of

radish, cauliflower, turnip, kohlrabi, chard, lettuce,

spinach, onions, and tomatillo in containers, too.

In addition to considering which varieties to

plant, it’s also important to think about timing.

Some vegetables are warm-season crops that

don’t tolerate frost, while others prefer the cool

temperatures of spring and fall. Warm-season

Miniature or patio-type vegetable

varieties, such as this ‘Amethyst’

eggplant, are ideal for container

gardening.

Cool-season crops, such as this

‘French Breakfast’ radish, love

the cool temperatures of spring

and fall.

crops are best planted after the danger of frost has

passed, but cool-season crops prefer to be planted

very early or very late in the growing season.

Chapter 5 digs deeper into the differences between

these two groups of plants and teaches you how to

maximize production by using a technique called

succession planting.

A final consideration when it comes to

growing vegetables in containers is their preferred

method of planting. Because some crops take

longer to mature, it’s best to give them a head

start by sowing seeds indoors under grow lights

or purchasing transplants from a local nursery.

Typically, warm-season fruiting crops such as

tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and okra are best

grown from transplants that are already 6 to

8 weeks old. Northern gardeners with shorter

growing seasons may also want to start cucumbers,

pumpkins, melons, and other vine crops in the

same way. Vegetables that grow quickly are easily

started by sowing seeds directly into a container.

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