Grow Vegetables in Containers

ICC Master Gardener display garden
in 2018 

This year I added a terraced raised bed garden where I am growing most of my vegetable crops. It is allows me to grow a lot of food in a smaller space, while also looking good. If you don’t have space for a large row garden or just want to try something different, here are some other options to try.  

Container herbs on 5-13-2020

One trend right now is growing vegetables in raised beds and containers. Container vegetable gardens are particularly popular with gardeners who have little or no ground space. Containers may be located almost anywhere and can be both decorative and harvestable. Popular choices for container gardens include attractive pots of kitchen herbs, hanging baskets of ripe red tomatoes, and window boxes of bright leaf lettuce or fresh radishes.

'Mighty Mini' aerogarden tomatoes

Dwarf vegetable varieties work particularly well in containers. For example, there are many different types of dwarf tomatoes that produce fruit in small spaces. Most dwarf tomatoes have determinate growth habits (see definitions at bottom of page). I have had success in the past growing ‘Bush Goliath’ tomato in a container. It is a two to three-foot-tall plant with 3 to 4-inch, sweet tomatoes. I have also grown ‘Mighty Mini’ cherry tomatoes in my indoor aerogarden. Considered by many to be the smallest tomato plant, it grows only five to six inches tall, producing sweet salad tomatoes. By the way, the trick to growing tomatoes indoors is good light and pollinating flowers by hand.

  

If you don’t have a container you can actually garden right in the potting mix bags. Purchase potting soil bags at your local nursery or garden center, and cut a few drainage holes in the back side of each bag. Lay the bags flat on the ground, and then cut holes in the top of the bags to make room for the plants. Use a hose to moisten the potting mix, and then add plants. This makes a quick and easy vegetable garden.

Watermelon in 2013 at
Washington Community Garden

For those with extremely limited space, a vertical garden might be the way to go. Vining crops work especially well when trellised up a wall. Other options include bean poles, teepees covered in vines, may poles, or even tomato cages. Vegetables to try include peas, pole beans, squash, melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, and some tomatoes. When choosing the structure, make sure that it is strong enough to support whatever will be grown upon it. Plants loaded down with fruit can become quite heavy. In some situations, dwarf varieties might work better.

Regardless of your gardening style or technique, have fun. Home gardening is quite rewarding and very tasty.

25-foot indeterminate tomato
at Dixon Springs Ag 

Definitions

Determinate and Indeterminate tomato growth habits. Determinate varieties set fruit at the ends of their branches on terminal buds. Once buds are set they stop growing in height, so these plants need little or no staking and generally have a short harvest period. Indeterminate varieties continue to grow and produce leaves and flowers until the first frost and require staking and pruning.

Tomato label terminology. Look for label terms that indicate a tomato plant’s resistance to various diseases: A for alternaria disease resistance, F-fusarium, N-nematodes, T-tobacco mosaic virus, and V-verticillium. This does not mean they are immune to the disease, but rather that they are less likely to get that disease. Also, be sure to rotate your crop for better disease management.