The Joy of Container Gardening

If you're like me, you love fresh vegetables but you just don't have the time, space or energy to raise your own. There is a solution. Give container gardening a try.

If you have a window sill, porch, patio, deck, balcony...or even a step or two, you can raise a bumper crop of veggies.

I confess, I'm not a master gardener and my yard will never get the "yard of the month" award.

However, raising vegetables in containers is virtually mistake proof and ridiculously easy.

Step by Step Container Gardening

First of all, almost any vegetable that grows in a regular garden will grow well in a container.

Personally, I've had a lot of success growing tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. But other vegetables grow well too, such as green onions, beans, radishes, parsley, and squash. I like to grow cucumbers on my deck and let the vines wrap around the railings. You can do the same thing with pole beans. Another solution for the vegetables that grow on vines or need to be staked is to use the wire cages that you can usually find in the gardening departments of various stores.

Container Selection

Use your imagination. I've seen bushel baskets, old wheel barrows, trash cans, bath tubs, bicycle baskets and ceramic pots. You get the idea.

Some containers are more durable than other. Sometimes, the cheaper plastic pots may not hold up very well when exposed to constant sunlight and other weathering conditions. Clay pots soak up water rather quickly, so you have to be sure and take that in consideration if you use this type of container. Wooden containers tend to rot. Cedar is pretty rot resistant. Hanging baskets are good for the small tomatoes like the cherry and grape varieties.

Your container type and size, naturally, will depend on what you are planting. For vegetables like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, I use about a five to six gallon container.