10 Most Popular Vegetables to Grow in Containers

There is nothing more satisfying as growing your own vegetables and eating them fresh right out of the garden.

Not everyone is blessed to have a huge backyard garden though and some people don't even have enough room to do a little square foot gardening. No worries, you can grow just about any vegetable in a container as long as you have great potting soil, stick to a regular watering schedule, and you adjust where the pots are for optimal sunlight. Some vegetables are super easy to grow in containers like tomatoes or spinach whereas if you want to try something a little more challenging, try growing pumpkins in your container garden.

Here are the 10 Most Popular Vegetables to Grow in containers whether in your backyard, balcony, or patio.

1. Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable grown worldwide. There are hundreds of tomato varieties from cherry tomatoes to Better Boy to large Heirloom tomatoes like Brandywine. Plant only 1 tomato plant per 5 gallon container as they are heavy feeders and need a lot of nutrient-rich soil to produce all those tomatoes. Don't forget to put a tomato cage around them from the beginning - otherwise, as your plant grows, it will droop over and you will lose tomatoes to rot (get more tips on how to grow tomatoes)
2. Spinach is popular to grow as it is one of the superfoods that should be in our daily diets (and it is so easy to grow your own superfoods). Toss the seeds over organic potting soil and in a week the baby spinach will have sprouted and you can start harvesting. You don’t have to evenly space this seeds and are super easy to grow in a container, just keep the soil evenly moist. Want to grow spinach in your garden? Learn how!)
3. Kale is another vegetable on the superfood list that is a cool season crop and sows easily in a container. If you want to grow baby kale then sprinkle the seeds like you did with the spinach. If you want to grow full heads of kale, then place the seeds 4” apart in all directions. You can remove the outer leaves as the plant grows and make a great kale salad.

   

4. Lettuce including leaf lettuces and head lettuces are cool season vegetables, but can be grown full-time if kept in a cooler shady spot in the summer months. Sow different types of seeds together to create your own spring mix. With loose leaf varieties you can harvest the baby leaves as soon as they are 2-3 inches tall. If growing for heads of lettuce, sow 4-6 inches apart.
5. Carrots are a very popular vegetable to grow in containers. Spread the seeds around and then thin them out as they start to grow so the plants are 2-3 inches apart. You can pull then up once the shoulders start to push up out of the soil.
6. Radishes can be grown with the carrots as they will grow faster and are ready to harvest 3 weeks after the seeds have been sowed. You can then plant again and have two rounds of radishes by the time the carrots are ready.
7. Brussels Sprouts will grow upright in a container to be about 2-3 feet tall so just have one plant in 8-10 inch container.

   

8. Cucumbers are heat loving plants and need to be grown in a large container that is at least 10 inches as they need a lot of nutrients from the soil. One plant easily feeds a family of four so be careful if you plant a few of them as you will have more cucumbers than you know what to do with.
9. Pumpkins are the most difficult vegetable to grow in containers, but oh so popular. If you grow the small ones, plant 1-2 seeds in a large container. If planting Jack O Lanterns or sugar pumpkins only one plant per 5 gallon container. As the plant vines out, let it grow out in all directions. Soon your entire garden will be full of pumpkin vines, which is really cool! (find out more about how to grow pumpkins)
10. Potatoes are simple to grow once you learn the basics. Place 3 seed potatoes in the bottom of a large container on top of 4” of soil and then add another 4” of soil on top of the tubers. As they grow up, continue to add more soil so that only the top inch of the plant is peeking through the soil until you reach about 18-24 inches of soil depth. Read more about how to grow potatoes vertically!

Have you ever done any container gardening?

You might want to check out some more gardening advice:

• How to Grow an Herb Container Garden
• How to Start a Vegetable Garden Inexpensively