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| Potted edibles on patio |
Sunday, December 25, 2022
Nowadays, you can grow just about any edible in a pot. There has been lots of plant breeding to nurture plant characteristics to stay smaller. These work great for growing an edible compact garden or edible container garden. But which ones thrive in pots?
I like growing a compact garden as it is much less effort than the traditional tilled garden and can be grown in my flower beds so everything is just steps away from the door. A critical part of my compact gardening plan is utilizing pots. They can be placed in the optimal conditions for the plant's growth and where you can't dig like your deck, driveway, sidewalk or concrete patio.
I don't know that there has been a year that I have not tried a new variety or type of veggie, herb or fruit in a container. And I always add a flower to the pot to look attractive and attract pollinators. Here are the edibles I have found love being in a pot and are easy to care for.
All types of greens. I do put some greens in the garden bed, but the vast majority I grow in pots. I grow greens year round as I try to eat fresh salads often. With the salad greens in pots, I can easily put a portable green house over them to keep them growing all through the winter. In the heat of the summer, they can be moved to a shadier, cooler spot. The trick to container greens is to keep them well watered. I use self-watering pots for my greens. These have a built in water reservoir in the bottom of the pot.
Heat loving greens. I have added amaranth, orach, Red Malabar spinach, New Zealand spinach to my greens to keep summer salads going. Amaranth and orach grows tall and comes in pretty colors so are ornamental as well as tasty. Red Malabar spinach is a vining plant with pretty lavender flowers and black berries so give it a trellis to climb. It is a really pretty plant.
Winged bean. I am growing a Japanese variety that is an early bloomer. They don't get started producing beans until August. This is a vining plant with beautiful blue flowers. I am going to continue to grow in a pot so I can put it on the deck because my husband loves blue flowers, its pods are tasty and it seemed to flourish in a pot.
All types of peppers. I have tried peppers in pots and in the garden bed. They definitely prefer growing in a pot. The smaller peppers I even bring indoors to overwinter. My Cayenne pepper plant is flowering right now in the basement.
Citrus. Citrus is not hardy in my zone. Growing in pots let's me take them outdoors in spring and bring back indoors in late fall/early winter. They do fine outdoors until it starts dropping into the mid 20's. Be sure to get citrus that has been bred for pots. I have had my kumquat for years. It fruits year round. I grew a lemon tree from seed and it has lush greenery but has only fruited once. I ordered a Meyers lemon tree that is bred for pots to replace it so it will fruit every year.
All types of eggplant. Eggplant seems to really like being in a pot. I have very good luck with them in containers. Some varieties get bitter and skins tough when it gets really hot so I have winnowed my selection down to any white variety and those whose description says they don't get bitter like Rotanda Bianca, Shiromaru and Amadeo.
Fig, bay, moringa trees. I used to keep my fig in a pot so I could bring it indoors over the winter and it did quite well, fruiting every summer into fall. I have now left it outside for its second winter. It had many limbs that died back last spring but continued to grow over the summer. I have a Chicago fig. They are touted as Zone 5-6 but in the colder zones can die back to the ground and sometimes don't survive. My bay tree loves its pot. It is 9' tall now and I think I have had it in its tiny pot for 5 years. Moringa is not hardy in our area and does very well in it's small pot.
All types of mint. I don't grow my peppermint in pots because it grows better but simply to keep it contained. Mint runs rampant if grown in the garden bed.
Egyptian walking onions. They do equally well in a pot or in the garden bed. It's just easier to harvest them from a pot close by.
Cucumbers. I would not recommend the ramblers for a pot but any of the bush type do well. Any bush type will likely not produce as much as a long vining type. I only need enough cukes for fresh eating, pickles and pickle relish so growing a bush type in a larger container works great for me. Even with a trellis, ramblers can vine out 20' and jump from trellis to trellis. Keeping the plant in a pot helps to keep it under control.
Snow peas. I grow short vines in with my summer potted veggies like peppers and eggplant. They are ramping down when the summer lovers are ramping up.
Nowadays, you can buy seeds for just about any type of vegetable that you want that has been developed specifically for containers. Even those in the above listing are the fruits and veggies that I have found do great in pots, don't let that hold you back from trying others!
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