If space is limited it is still possible to grow fresh, healthy vegetables in containers. In this guide, I’ll share with you the tricks that I have learned over the years. So here it is, the 5 easiest vegetables to grow in containers.
Preparation is key
As with everything in life, getting the basics right will make the goal easier to attain. Use the largest pot or container you can. Fill with the best compost you can find, and plant the healthiest plants you can grow.
Maintenance
Container grown plants need feeding regularly with a good food like comfrey plant food. They also have a tendency to dry out quicker, on hot days containers may need watering morning and evening. Having said that never over water.
To check if plants need watering or not, just stick a dry finger into the soil, if on removing the finger from the soil it is covered in soil then the pot does not need watering. This is true even if the soil looks dry on the surface.
Any plant food or water that you add to a container is just for your plants, so make sure to weed containers regularly.
The 5 Easiest Vegetables To Grow In Containers
Tomatoes
At the top of this list has to be tomatoes, these vary from cherry tomatoes to beef tomatoes and every size and shape in between. To get best results with growing tomatoes add epsom salts every other week and once flowers form add comfrey tea fertiliser weekly. Cherry tomatoes can be grown in smaller containers than average tomatoes but as always the bigger the container the better.
Courgettes
Courgettes(Zucchini) are another easy to grow plant for container gardening. They produce plenty of fruits(vegetables) on plants that are bush shaped so don’t take up as much room as their larger relatives squashes.
Cut And Come Again Lettuce
Probably the most simple to grow and to my mind, the most satisfying. Whenever your plate needs a bit of green just go and cut some lettuce leaves, which will regrow ready for the next time you need it. There are so many varieties to grow that it is worth experimenting a bit with colour and texture.
Potatoes
This might surprise some people as you see field after field of potatoes growing but they do pretty well in containers. the first time I tried this I sowed 5 seed potatoes and harvested 5 kilos of potatoes. Children love rooting through the compost feeling for the potatoes, my grandson said it’s like finding buried treasure.
Garlic
Garlic is the easiest plant to grow anywhere in my opinion, just sow each individual clove and wait for the green plant to start yellowing, it used to be said that you plant garlic by the 31st of October and harvest by the 31st of July. As long as you don’t let the soil dry out completely, and you weed regularly that’s all the attention garlic needs.
So there are the growing-guides 5 easiest vegetables to grow in containers. There are of course many more that I could add.
Carrots
There are now many varieties of carrot that are ideal for growing in containers, Paris Market is the one that springs to mind. Small roots and sweet flavour.
Radishes
I always sow radishes in containers even if it’s just to supress the weeds, in with courgettes, cucumbers, and many other slow to start crops. As radishes are a quick crop they will be harvested long before the main plants are large enough to block them out.
Cucumbers
I have two cucumber plants growing in containers in my unheated greenhouse and they supply me with all the cucumbers I need throughout the summer.
Melons
Again there are varieties that grow well in containers, I have a Cantaloupe growing this year.
Chillies
All my chilli plants grow in containers, I find it the easiest way to control their temperature.
Herbs
Herbs are easy plants to grow in containers, Basil for example I grow in with my tomatoes.
There are another 6 edible plants that can be grown in containers. If you count the herbs singularly that’s probably 20. So not the 5 easiest vegetables to grow in containers, but the 30 odd easiest vegetables to grow in containers.
Have a go, see how you get on. Please let me know in the comments section.
Just as a footnote, this year I was given some Yard Long Beans and after studying their growing environment, I sowed these in containers in the greenhouse and I have been impressed with the results.
