Our last post outlined steps to prepare a garden for fall vegetable crops. If your home doesn’t have a spot suitable for a garden bed, containers could be the perfect way to grow your own vegetables. Fall crops, such as lettuce, are easily grown in containers and can look very pretty.

 Photo: Kim Richter, CALS News Center, NCSU

To begin,  you will need a container with drainage holes, some planting medium, and enough sunlight and water to grow the plants of your choice. Beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce, collards, spinach, and other greens are all suitable for container gardening, as are many herbs. A number of these can be started from seed sown directly in your containers. Transplants of some vegetable plants can also be found in stores.

The following Extension publication provides details on choosing containers, medium, and plants: http://cals.ncsu.edu/hort_sci/extension/documents/ag-753.pdf. Additionally, this publication contains a planting calendar for growing edibles in containers: http://cals.ncsu.edu/hort_sci/extension/documents/ag-748.pdf.

A list of some plant varieties that are particularly suitable to containers was compiled by Larry Bass, Extension Horticultural Specialist, NC Cooperative Extension (from the article Container Vegetable Gardening, http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8105.html)

Vegetable	Type of Container	Recommended Varieties
Beans, Snap	5 gal window box	Bush Romano, Bush Blue Lake, Tender Crop
Beans, Lima	5 gal window box	Henderson Bush, Jackson, Wonder Bush
Beets	5 gal window box	Little Egypt, Early Red Ball
Broccoli	1 plant/5 gal pot; 3 plants/15 gal tub	Green Comet, DeCicco
Brussels Sprouts	1 plant/5 gal pot; 2 plants/15 gal tub	Jade Cross
Cabbage	1 plant/5 gal pot; 3 plants/15 gal tub	Dwarf Morden, Red Ace, Early Jersey Wakefield
Chinese Cabbage	1 plant/5 gal pot; 3 plants/15 gal tub	Michihili, Burpee Hybrid
Carrot	5 gal window box at least 12 inches deep	Short & Sweet, Danvers Half Long, Tiny Sweet
Cucumber	1 plant/gal pot	Patio Pik, Spacemaster, Pot Luck
Eggplant	5 gal pot	Slim Jim, Ichiban, Black Beauty
Lettuce	5 gal window box	Salad Bowl, Ruby
Onion	5 gal window box	White Sweet Spanish, Yellow Sweet Spanish
Pepper	1 plant/2 gal pot; 5 plants/15 gal tub	Sweet Banana, Yolo Wonder, Long Red Cayenne
Radish	5 gal window box	Cherry Belle, Icicle
Spinach	5 gal window box	Dark Green Bloomsdale
Squash	2 gal pot	Scallopini
Tomatoes	Bushel baskets; 5 gal pots	Tiny Tim, Small Fry, Sweet 100 Patio, Burpee’s Pixie, Toy Boy, Early Girl, Better Boy VFN

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