To Pot or Not To Pot


                                                                  Bambino eggplant



If your home does not include space for a garden, you might like to grow some food in pots.  Or, if you do have a yard, you might like to expand your garden by adding a few pots.  You can produce lots of food by growing vegetables in containers.  You just need a little background knowledge.  I am going to separate this article into two parts.  The first part is about choosing the plants and varieties which grow well in pots.  The second part is about the advantages and disadvantages of different pots and about potting soil mixtures.


In general, when choosing food plants to grow in pots, you want to choose smaller size varieties of vegetables.  The reason: you want to maintain a balance between roots and leafy vegetation.  The limiting variable in growing plants in containers is water.  While in a pot, the root system cannot grow as large as it would in garden soil.  On a hot or windy day, the vegetation will use up the water too quickly and the plant will wilt.  You don’t want the plant to have too much vegetation because it will be more likely to dry out fast and wilt.  Wind and heat are the enemies of plants growing in pots.


An advantage of growing food in pots is that you can move the pot when needed (if it is not too heavy).  If it gets too hot, you can move the plant.  If the weather is exceedingly windy, just move the plant.  Conditions change.  It might be great to grow your potted vegetables in the spring on a cement slab.  But when the real intense heat of summer arrives, it will be time to move that potted plant to a cooler location.  Making a plant mobile can be a big advantage for optimal plant growth.


There are other advantages when growing food plants in containers.  Harvesting potatoes can be much easier when grown in a pot.  Just dump over the pot and sort out the potatoes.  Protecting strawberry fruit from hungry birds and mammals can be easier when strawberries are grown in a pot.  Just cover the plant with plastic bird netting or build a small dome of chicken wire to keep the animals out.


If your potted vegetables dry out too fast, you will need to water them more often.  The main problem with watering potted plants too often is: you can wash away water soluble nutrients.  If you do, you will need to use more organic fertilizer.  For perennial potted plants, the more years you water, the more salt will build up in the soil.  (Most tap water has small amounts of salt.).  If salt builds up in your soil, you will need to repot your plant with new soil.


Another issue with growing vegetables in containers is the absolute need for drainage.  Make sure you have holes in the bottom of your pots to let the excess water drain out.  Most plants don’t like “wet feet”.  They don’t like to have their roots soaking in standing water for prolonged periods of time.  If you have a pot standing in a tray which catches excess water, you want to get rid of the excess water.  Excess water at the bottom of a pot is alright when the plant is small, but it will become a problem when the plant roots reach the bottom of the pot.


Here are the best vegetables and fruits for container growth:


TOMATOES

HERBS  

PEPPERS

EGGPLANT

LETTUCE

SPINACH

GREENS (Kale, Chard, Collards, Beets, Bok Choy)

CUCUMBERS

ONIONS

POTATOES

STRAWBERRIES


The following plants have been reported to grow in pots, but I expect it will be more difficult because of the size of vegetation or depth of root system:


BEANS

CABBAGE

CARROTS

PEAS

RADISHES

SQUASH

BLUEBERRIES


VARIETIES


Tomatoes are by far the most popular fruit to grow in containers.  In general, you want to choose a tomato variety that has smaller growth and produces tomatoes early.  There are many varieties of tomatoes that have been developed to be grown in pots.  A great place to find seeds for container tomatoes is a company called “TOTALLY TOMATOES”.

  https://www.totallytomato.com/category/150


Herbs are also very popular for container growth.  Some herbs that grow well in pots are: Basil, Chives, Mint, Rosemary, Sage, Parsley, Thyme, Cilantro and Dill.


Here are some Pepper varieties known to grow well in pots:

Sweet Bell:  Camelot, Jupiter, Redskin 

Other Sweet:  Italico, Mohawk, Cheyenne F1

Hot:  Super Chili, Savory, Yellow Mushroom (shaped like a mushroom), Red Mushroom, Orange Thai, Big Thai


                                                            Camelot pepper



Here are some container Eggplant varieties:

Patio Baby, Fairy Tale, Crescent Moon, Bambino, Hansel, Gretel


Cucumber varieties:

Space Master 80, Patio snacker hybrid, Bush slicer


Potato varieties:

Chieftain, Dark Red Norland, Irish Cobbler, Sangre, Red Gold, Yukon Gold,  Fingerling


Strawberry varieties  (Ever-bearing and day-neutral = fruit all summer):

Seascape, Temptation, Tristar



SEED COMPANIES


Some seed companies have special sections in their catalogues for vegetables that grow well in containers.  Here are a few links to quickly find seeds to grow in pots:


Burpee - 

https://www.burpee.com/vegetables/container-friendly-vegetables/


Harris -

https://www.harrisseeds.com/collections/container-gardening


Park -

https://parkseed.com/container-vegetables/c/container-vegetables/


Burgess -

https://www.eburgess.com/category/seeds-container-veggies


Vermont Bean -

https://www.vermontbean.com/category/237


Totally Tomatoes -

https://www.totallytomato.com/category/150



Next time we’ll dig into the different types of pots you can use growing fruits and vegetables.  Also, we’ll look at what you should add to the soil you are using in your pots.  


Thanks for reading.  Please forward to a friend.  You might like to read more about plants and gardening in my two most recent books.  You can find them in print or as ebooks on Amazon.  Here is the link:  https://www.amazon.com/Edwin-McLeod/e/B08TCJTKSW?ref_=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000 






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