Best Produce for Container Gardening

I am all about trying to cut down on my grocery bill and have a more natural and sustainable lifestyle. I have my wonderful herb garden that I grow in my front yard, but living in the NE Georgia mountains most of my land is wooded so there is no room to plant a vegetable garden. Lucky for me there are a bunch of plants that grow well in containers. I am going to share with you some of the easiest produce plants to get you started container gardening!

There is no need to have a green thumb or spend hours weeding and taking care of your garden if you plant any of these 5 plants in your container garden. Throw them in some soil and make sure they are watered and pick your delicious home grown produce when it is nice and ripe!

When you start your container garden make sure that you get a good potting soil.

Tomatoes-

These are probably the easiest plants to grow in a container. You even find many small varieties such as grape and cherry tomatoes in containers at the store. But here is the big secret: you can grow ANY variety of tomato in a pot if it has the right kind of fertilizer (check https://drjimz.com/products/tomato-fertilizer-tomato-secret, for example). You just need to make sure the pot has plenty of room to root. I like to use a 5-6 gallon container. I am a big fan of converting an old or used 5 gallon bucket into a container, instructions on how to do this will be the next post I do (be sure to subscribe for emails so you do not miss it!). Be sure to stake your tomatoes so that they have support while growing the easiest way to do this is to use tomato cages but you can also use rebar or tall wooden stakes and twine.

Note*** this video says to grow determinate varieties of tomatoes only, you can grow ANY variety in a pot determinate varieties are just a bit easier.

Strawberries-

I think these might be my favorite to grow, because who doesn’t love fresh and juicy strawberries? Especially with fresh whipped cream all piled on top of warm pound cake fresh from the oven…mmmm! There are special strawberry pots you can use or just an old pot will do. You can even grow strawberries in baskets! Strawberries can even be grown in the shade and inside. If you are looking for a shade tolerant strawberry variety look into alpine varieties.

Organic everbearing strawberry roots.

Heirloom Red Alpine Strawberries

Squash & Zucchini

Squash is a very hardy plant and will grow just about anywhere you put it. There are so many yummy ways to prepare squash bread, casseroles, grilled, sauteed, etc. I always grow lots of this! Just be sure to harvest the squash often or else it can get weighed down. I usually get 2-3 squash per plant each week once they really start producing. You also need to be sure to get a bush variety of squash.

Crookneck Heirloom Squash Seeds

Heirloom Zucchini Seeds

Peppers

Both sweet bell peppers and other spicy peppers like jalapenos grow well in containers. For most peppers I use a 5 gallon container although for some smaller varieties you may be able to use a 2 gallon container. Peppers need full sun and if you have a place where they can get 8 hours of sunlight a day then you will get the best yield out of them. Grow peppers the same way you would tomatoes making sure to stake them or use a cage.

Organic Bell Pepper Seeds

Variety Pepper Seeds Non-GMO/Organic: Cayenne, Sweet Banana, Jalapeno, and Yolo Wonder

Spinach

This is a great plant if you have lots of shaded areas. In fact spinach is heat sensitive and does best when kept out of direct sunlight. You need at least 8 inches of space for each plant I like to get long planter tray like this one. Spinach also grows very well indoors so you can have fresh delicious spinach year round!

You can get Spinach seeds Here.

These are my top 5 Fruits and Vegetables for beginning container gardening! What do you have in your container garden?