Growing a garden in containers makes it easy for small spaces. It’s actually one of the best small vegetable garden ideas.
You can plant just about anything in a container, really. Of course, the larger plants may need bigger containers, but just about any garden can be grown in a container.
All you need are some containers with some drainage holes, dirt, and a plant or seed. Here are some of my favorite reasons to grow a garden in containers.
The best thing I love about this is that it’s fairly portable.
I use larger flower pots for things like pepper plants or even cherry tomatoes. When we need to mow our grass, the pots easily lift up off the ground, and can be mowed. Need to move to a more sunny space? Just pick it up and go!
Want to re-arrange your yard or deck? Simply pick up the pots and go! Small spaces? Container gardening is perfect! You can throw a couple lettuce seeds in a small pot on a kitchen counter or windowsill.
They are also so easy to weed.
Weeding a large garden, or even raised bed can be a huge job. But, weeding a potted veggie plant can be more along the lines of “10 seconds, that’s amazing!”. Our compost this year had a ton of lamb’s quarter seeds in it, and therefore, all of our pots have it as well. Weeding those out (and saving for a salad) took all of 15 seconds in each pot.
You can move your garden indoors.
Growing season almost over? Late frost warnings? Just pick up the pots, move indoors, and continue on! Of course, you will most likely want to put some plastic down to catch any drips. I like to grow some basil in a pot each year, and just take that pot indoors during the winter for fresh basil all year long. We had one bell pepper plant that lasted and fruited nearly 3 years by taking it indoors in the winter.
You can use nearly any container you have to grow plants.
You may want to consider a larger pot for larger or climbing veggies, but nearly any size pot or container that you have can be used for growing. You can reuse, repurpose, and recycle containers to grow your garden on the super cheap too! We have recycled old tires into garden containers as well. Our cucumbers are shown growing in one that is close to our fence to climb.
What do you like best about gardening? Do you grow your garden in containers? Be sure to pin this for later!
Heather’s homesteading journey started in 2006, with baby steps: first, she got a few raised beds, some chickens, and rabbits. Over the years, she amassed a wealth of homesteading knowledge, knowledge that you can find in the articles of this blog.
Learn more about Heather and the rest of the writers on this page.
I have a big garden but I still might end up doing some garden containers because I ran out of room and I keep on thinking of more things I want to add!
This post inspires me. I’m planning on doing some gardening with the kids over the summer to keep them busy and be more involved with the foods they eat.
This would definitely be a great project for the kiddos and I to tackle on summer vacation!
I live in an urban environment, so I’ve always wanted to try something like this out on my balcony!!
I’ve always wanted to grow a garden, but was afraid that my dogs would dig it up..this might be a good option for me.
When we do grow a few veggies, we only do it in containers. It ‘s just so much easier for all the benefits you’ve mentioned here.
I love this idea.. gives gardening more of a contained and clean approach.
I did container gardening last year, but I think the containers got too hot. I should have moved them, like you suggest. I haven’t done anything this year because I was going to move it to the ground, but I think you convinced me to try it in containers again.
I never really thought that I could do this. I may have to give it a try 🙂
Container gardening is hard work, yo. I do not enjoy it and I’ve yet to have anything worth harvesting. Because I live in a complex it is my only option, but I’ve just been throwing money away at this point. Nature is so much better at making things grow.
How deep of a container do you suggest for carrots? I have a 12 inch deep one that I was gonna use
that sounds like it would work…just make sure the soil is nice and loose, not compacted so the carrots have a place to grow down.
I love how versatile containers are. I used to use pots to grow seedlings that I couldn’t find space for in the garden. Last year, I grew lettuce in pots and was able to move them to a shady spot when temperatures rose. I was able to extend my spring lettuce for almost a month that way. Thank you for sharing at Green Thumb Thursday!
Great information. We love a garden!
Great minds think alike :). I was posting about container gardening too, using grow bags. Our first garden was a container garden on a balcony.we had so much fun growing a whole lot plants in containers.
I used to have my entire garden in containers because my yard was so shaded that I couldn’t grow anywhere else!
We had a full container garden since we planned on moving last summer. It worked great!