By Frank Kamuntu
Containers require more regular watering than in ground gardens. In hot and dry climate, self-watering planters with built-in reservoirs are good choices.
When in doubt, choose larger containers 12 inches or deeper. Bigger pots also hold more soil, so the plants don’t dry out as quickly between watering.
Now let’s look at some easy and best veggies to grow in your container garden!
Lettuce
Lettuce is one of the easiest vegetables to grow. Check out our 16 favorites here.
Most varieties of lettuce grow easily in pots. Because lettuce have shallow roots, the best containers are wide and shallow, 6-8 inches deep is often enough. You can either direct sow your lettuce seeds in the pots or transplant seedlings into bigger pots.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are most popular vegetables for container gardening. The compact bush or determinate tomato varieties, grow especially well in pots or grow bags from 5 gallon to 20 gallon in size. Indeterminate tomato varieties grow larger and do better in large pots 20 gallon or bigger. Source
In recent years, micro dwarf tomatoes are becoming quite popular. They can be quite productive even in small 1 gallon pots indoors and outdoors. As the smallest of tomato plants, micro tomatoes can be grown indoors or out, and are great for windowsill, balcony or patio gardening.
Onions
Onion containers should have at least 10 inches of soil depth. Each onion needs about 4 inches of space to grow. You can plant multiple onions in a 5 gallon bucket or even a plastic tub. By Rodrigo on Instagram
We also love to grow onion scraps from grocery store onions. You can use the green shoots as scallions. Sometimes they will even grow into multiple heads of onions. Tutorial on how to grow onion scraps here!
Eggplant
Eggplant loves lots of sunlight and heat. Choose the hottest location, and a large pot at least 15 gallon in size. Keep soil moist but not soggy.
When growing zucchini in pots, bush types such as ‘Astia’ and ‘Bush Baby’ are especially great for container planting.
You can plant zucchini in 5 gallon or larger pots. Zucchini plants love moist soil and hot sun, so keep them well watered. Fertilizers formulated for other fruiting vegetables like tomatoes and peppers are good for zucchini plants.
