Growing Easy Vegetables in Containers

By Pamela Crawford

Pamela Crawford was a plant expert, but had never grown a vegetable until she decided to write a book called ‘Easy Container Combos: Vegetables & Flowers.’ She thought her extensive plant knowledge would make learning to grow easy vegetables a cinch. She was wrong, and made every mistake in the book in her determined quest to learn the skill. And yes, she did learn that growing easy vegetables in containers could be quite easy indeed.

Pamela shows you some of her secrets in this video. Don’t miss it, especially if you would like to grow easy tomatoes on your back patio. This video focuses on self-watering planters, which are ideal for growing easy tomatoes.

Here are a list of 3 of the easiest vegetables from Pamela’s book, ‘Easy Container Combos: Vegetables & Flowers:

Easiest Vegetables for Containers (for more specifics, see the last chapter of the book):

If you have never tried growing vegetables, start with one of these. If planted correctly, these blue ribbon vegetables seldom require anything but water! Be sure to follow these simple guidelines:

– Use potting mix (not potting soil, top soil, or garden soil) with a brand name you trust.

– Use the fertilizer decribed on page 36 (available from kinsmangarden.com).

– Be sure the pot has holes in the bottom (page 13).

– Don’t bury the plant too deep (page 29).

– Plant in the right amount of light and in the correct season, which varies per plant. Check the individual plant profiles in the last chapter of this book for specifics.

– Water correctly (pages 38 to 40).

1. Arugula

– Sometimes classed as an herb, I’m calling it a vegetable because the leaves are eaten as opposed to just being used as a flavoring. Easy to grow.

– Cool-season vegetable

– At least six hours’ sun per day

– More information on page 142

2. Beans

– Extremely easy to grow from seeds. See my success on pages 46 to 47.

–  Bush and vine types

– Warm-season vegetable

–  At least six hours’ sun per day

– More information on page 144

3. Collards

– Sometimes get pests, but none in my trials. Very easy.

– Cool-season vegetable

– Grows fastest in full sun, but tolerates some shade.

– More information on page 151

 

 

 

 

 

Pamela Crawford designs gardens in Palm Beach County, Florida. This video is appropriate  throughout Pamela’s service area, including Boca Raton landscapes, town of Palm Beach landscapes, Palm Beach Gardens landscapes, Jupiter landscapes, and Wellington landscapes.

This article is taken from ‘Easy Container Combos, Vegetables & Flowers’ by Pamela Crawford, Copyright ©2010, Color Garden, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or ­transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system (including anywhere on the web) without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Published by Color Garden, Inc.