Why would you need to grow in a small space?
Apartment living
Physically close crops without walking to a garden
Moving and want to take crops with you
All About Containers
- Anything can be a growing container so long as it provides drainage
- Vertical planter towers offer multiple pots to grow food in one vertical space
- Some folks use fabric shoe organizers that hang on the backside of doors to grow food in pockets
- Hanging baskets offer a great option growing; think upside down tomato baskets, strawberries, etc.
- Plastic pots retain moisture better
- Black and other dark-colored pots get hot and heat the soil quick
- Terra Cotta is attractive and eco-friendly but dries out faster
Pro Tip: Double Potting! Place a smaller pot inside a larger one in the summer time. Water the space between the pots so the inner pot can wick moisture as needed. To avoid terra cotta pot dry out, simply place a smaller plastic pot inside a larger terra cotta pot. Same look, more moisture retention.
Pro Tip: Adding one inch of gravel in the bottom of the pots helps with drainage.
Growing in Pots
- Consider Sun: Most crops require 6-8+ hours of sunlight per day, crops like lettuces will grow with 4-6 hours
- Water: Keeping soil moist but not soggy is essential
- Water must be able to drain out! Plants hate soggy feet!
- Soil: Vegetables need rich, nutrient-dense soil. Source vegetable potting mix (not seed starting, not raised bed mix) for growing vegetables in containers.
- Fertilizing: Container crops can deplete the nutritional content of their soil quickly. A 2-4 week fertilizing program is recommended. Research which nutrients and fertilizers those crops require… lemons do not need the same food as tomatoes, blueberries need acid, etc.
Container Appropriate Crops
- Look at compact varieties (18-24” for bushing varieties)
- Corn: Tom Thumb has small cobs, grows to around 36” tall
- Tomato: Early Girl, Red Rocket, Tiny Tim
- Peppers: Almapaprika, Habaneros, some Chili varieties
- Green mixes such as mesclun, tatsoi, oak leaf lettuce
- Strawberries grow well in gutters and flower boxes
- Espaliered fruit trees
- Meyer lemons
Other Ways to Grow in a Small Space
- Companion Planting can save space
- Plant shade loving crops like lettuce under tomatoes in pots
- Radishes can grow in pots with cucumbers
- Herbs grow well with many crop varieties like brassicas
- Trellising
- Grow up, not out: Keeping tomatoes trained to a trellis in a pot leaves space for more crops around the base of the tomato plant.
- Succession Planting: Replacing crops that grow from seed to harvest quickly like lettuce allows for reuse of the space for a new harvest or new crop all together.
- Typically succession planting is a 2-3 week rotation
- Window Sill Gardens: Great for growing herbs, microgreens, vegetable scrap gardens
- Potato Towers: Grow potatoes “lasagna-style” within towers to maximize space and increase harvests
Which crops for which containers?
Recommendations from The Farmers’ Almanac
Beans, snap
Container: 5-gallon window box
Varieties: Bush ‘Blue Lake’, Bush ‘Romano’, ‘Tender Crop’
Broccoli<