Ideal Crops for a Patio or Container Garden
Ideal Crops for a Patio or Container Garden
Part 2 in our patio gardening series. We are talking in this episode about picking ideal varieties and what makes a good crop for a patio or container garden.
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Does a stressed plant that goes to seed quickly affect the seeds produced?
My tip for outside containers is to have them be white if you are growing in full sun. The roots are less likely to get cooked. And a bit of mulch on top of the potting mix will help keep water from evaporating too fast.
Will you be restocking the rare tomatoes soon? Ex: champagne bubble and Mexico midget?
Thank you for the tips! I just moved to the pnw so finding plants that can tolerate a lot of shade and do well in containers has been quite the challenge. This is very helpful information
It’s not worth it. Get out a pen and piece of paper and do the math. To grow a cabbage for instance, a $4 5-gallon bucket from Home Depot. Next $8.99 for a bag of reasonable soil. Say you you get your seeds for free there’s no cost. There’s nothing to the cost of seeds for two or three dollars a pack. Then add the cost of and soil amendments and then the cost of fertilizers and the other things that adds up. Before you know it is going to cost you $20 to grow one head of cabbage you can get at the grocery store for $2. Growing vegetables certainly is not for saving money in fact it is very expensive. It’s more of a hobby.
When I was younger we would grow vegetables to save money and now the price is so out of control it is only for a hobby or people who have a lot of money to spend and acreage or else a very large yard to plant them in.
What would you recommend as an indoor container garden? We have a Keter planter and a good light, and I’m looking for ideas on what is good to plant indoors during winter. Also, what soil would you recommend for indoor?
I grew Early Girl tomatoes in containers last year. It can work; but, the tomato plant definitely needs to be staked. I’ve seen many YouTube videos where the grower was able to trellis those vining plants while still growing in a container on a deck or patio. Even watermelon or cantaloupe can be grown on a trellis. But, I’d recommend smaller, personal size watermelons, unless your container is large enough and you can create a sturdy trellis for it. My mom always said, "Where there’s a will, there’s a way." Don’t let limited space stop you from experimenting.
I planted 2 different radishes, 3 different carrots, 3 different spinach, swiss chard, beets, mixed lettuce, and 11 different herbs.
Everything is crushing right now. Although it has only been 10 days. Everything but the mint has sprouted.
Could always go vertical with vining crops.
I have alot of vegtables in containers in a small greenhouse now i wish i had a bigger greenhouse my porch has no direct sun will try to grow more in the ground next year being a busy full time nurse and a part time gardener it can get stressfull making sure things are growing right and managing pests
I’ve been somewhat disappointed with the Tiny Tim & Tess’ Land Race Currant Tomato varieties that I bought from you. I’m sure the varieties are good but it is probably my inexperience as a gardener. I have sold some of each of the plants at the farmers’ market, but they are not the sensation I had hoped they would be. I know the currant tomato is not a dwarf variety, but I still had hoped they would work well cascading from a hanging basket. I’ll keep trying; in another month or so we will be facing our first frost here in Zone 6 and maybe tomato lovers will be a little more eager for tomato plants they can grow indoors. Love the flavor of the Tiny Tims I have harvested so far, though. Plants I don’t sell will be welcome in my home come fall & winter.
could you talk about what you do when you take plants in from your patio? Do you change the dirt and wash the plant to keep bugs off? I’m thinking to take a rosemary, thyme and sage plant in for the winter, because I live in Canada and they most likely will die. It is a pain starting those plants every year. I would like them to grow into big plants.
thanks for the great video. I have to ask about veining crops…why not do it vertical? I have heard of many people having huge success with vertical growing these type of crops. Supporting the fruit (cantaloupe/watermelon – smaller varieties) with a mess bag tied onto the trellis.
Id like to learn the varieties of vegetables more resistant to pest and insects
What kind of grow boxes do you have behind you in the last part of the video. They look nice,
Great video! Hi from Uruguay!
There are dwarf varieties of cucumbers too. I’m growing two Dar cucumbers (great Polish variety) in pots on my window sill (I live in an apartment without a balcony) and two small bamboo sticks + the window’s surface they are partially propped on are enough to keep them in check and not falling over. I’ve harvested a bunch of nice fat cucumbers for my sandwiches throughout the summer. Their lives will probably come to an end soon though since the fall is coming in and they are also being attacked by powdery mildew.
I live in Maine. I have a fairly large deck, 16’ x 20’. I have great success in container gardening growing all kinds of different vegetable, including, watermelon, squash, cucumbers etc. Its all about knowing where the patio sits in the sun, how much sunlight your plants will be under. We use trellises as well as shade frames if necessary. Shade frames we make out of furring wood and lightweight row cover fabric. We put things like lettuce on the floor of the deck, being shaded from a bigger plant, like tomatoes. Squash grows great in a large container with the runners being trained along the deck rails. We use nylons to tie up the fruit. We also make sure we grow things like marigolds, nasturtium and daisys for bee pollination and pest control. We do find that we have to fertilize 2-3 extra times in the growing season. Planning what you want to grow and placing it in the right sunlight is really the hardest part about container gardening. Everything else is basic gardening requirement. I would encourage anybody to try it
I mainly do container gardening. Cucumbers do well in containers, especially if you go vertical. I use sturdy tomato cages and train the cucumbers up the cage. This year I had 4 marketmore plants in containers and had a nice harvest all summer long. The last remaining one still has a few cucumbers growing on it.
Luke, are you already out of climbing triple crop?? I need two! Help!
Hello sir actually I am growing mango plants in a container and the leaves are getting yellow spots on them i couldn’t able to solve it kindly help me out how solve that issue
Great video, thanks. All of my gardening has been in containers before I commit to raised beds. I have had success growing vertically, and being able to maximize yields. If someone really does want cucumbers, I am growing a bush variety cucumber, saladmore, and I get just enough cucumbers for summer cucumber and tomato salads. It gets about 2 feet tall and I have a small trellis for it to climb. I put two plants next to each other in separate pots to climb up the same trellis. You just have to stay up on watering and fertilizing.
This is great, Luke!
Here in the south rosemary makes a bush. Fig trees do well with no protection. We are blessed with those but I would love to have a variety of apple trees.
Working on my basement winter garden. Have a hydroponic tower, a bunch of pots, several patio pickers boxes, and grow lights. I think I’m officially addicted.
How does MIGardener feel about putting in a winter cover crop?
My cloth patio pots are loaded. Carrots, beets, pole beans, onions, garlic, summer squash, radish, broccoli, peppers, honey rocks, green onions, celery, parsley, chives, and want to add potatoes next year. Going to ditch the squash and honey rocks as they seem to get powdery mildew too easily. Most of the seeds came from you!
Not sure if you already have a vid on this, but how do you maintain or amend the soil in the pots? Does it need to be replaced?
Chives spread easily? That’s news to me. I guess I had them in a really bad spot in my garden, because they didn’t spread at all. Or maybe it was a different variety.
Loving this series on patio gardening, thanks so much!! I make all kinds of mistakes, like growing artichokes and rhubarb in a container in NYC, but it’s all so fascinating, I don’t mind!! For me, even if I don’t get any vegetables, it’s all still the miracle of science and nature. That being said, my indeterminate tomatoes and lemon cukes (grown from MI gardener seeds, of course!) did great in my city patio garden!!
Colorado Red Star Artichoke
A 2- to 3-foot tall edible ornamental perennial that produces stunning purple globes easily in the first season. Ideal temp is 60 to 80 degrees. This is a frost hardy and drought tolerant plant. Prefers full sun 6 to 12 hours. Transplant to rich deep well drained soil that is 5.0 to 5.5 ph. You can feed it with Blueberry food or a balanced fertilizer with unused coffee grounds sprinkled around it to add acid. A ripe artichoke will have a green stem like the rest of the vegetable. Cut the Artichoke at the bud stage where it is tightly packed and not showing any signs of opening.
Is this your patio? I love those planters.
I have had great success with tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and both vining and bush beans in pots. Basil has to be the easiest edible to grow.
I have to respectfully disagree with you on vining plants not doing well in containers for patio gardens. I had great success this year planting cucumbers, cantelopes, and watermelons in grow bags, and using makeshift trellises and large tomato cages to grow them vertically. I think its all about making the most of your space. I chose not to do an in ground garden due to getting started gardening for the first time this year, and wanting the flexibility a patio garden offers. I really enjoyed myself, and your videos continue to inspire me to grow big or go home. 🙂
Had a very large patio crop this year. 4 Pea plants in spring (got 6 more growing right now and about to harvest again!) 1 pepper plant (birds tore this up, did get a very nice pepper from it just recently. Strung yarn above it and not had issues since.) 2 tomato’s, 1 cherry tomato (Highly recommend the cherry tomatoes, I don’t think I’ll ever do a non-cherry tomato again, never had luck with them and thus far from 2 plants I’ve had 1 good tomato to harvest. Did get to play with rooting the suckers which I had never done before. But cherry tomatoes are where its at! 1 plant its taller than my wife and they taste superb.) Trying out pole beans, Beets and turnips (found out after I had started them beets and turnips do not pair well together, oops) Carrots which didn’t survive, they popped out right as bugs found my patio (used crushed eggs which I read works as a decent deterrent, seemed to work for me) had 2 harvests of Lettuce (1st one I started from the bottom of a store bought head, bolted quickly but got a ton of seeds from it.) 2 harvests of Spinach (think I need to increase the nitrogen as the leaves are pretty small?) Rosemary, Dill and Basil, also experimented with a cutting of this which is also growing great! And finally Radishes per my daughter’s request. Took a short plastic tote drilled some holes in the bottom and filled it with them, they seem to be doing amazing. Had so much fun this year doing all this from an apartment patio.
Would strawberries do well on a balcony with almost full day sun?
Awesome tips!!!
I only have a container garden because I don’t have a yard so this is perfect.
How do I order seeds from you?
Bush sugar baby watermelons do fine in containers provided you send them up a trellis. You can make hammocks out of old nylons to support the fruit while it matures. Also, in Washington DC Rosemary survives the winter just fine and does not have to be taken indoors.
I am a first year gardener and that’s how I have been growing, in containers, (though not on a rooftop). Hopefully someday I will live in a space where I can grow in raised beds but I have really enjoyed the container garden this year. It’s great to see small space gardening content here, thank you. Anyone know what that red plant is behind Luke? It’s very pretty..
I’ve had success with cucumbers with 5 to 10 gallon pots and a tomato cage. Granted you will have to water twice a day usually
Hey! We have black clayey soil in our house
Which plants do u prefer to grow?