Almost every veggie and fruit needs a minimum of 6 to 8 hours of full sun per day for success. Some examples of veggies that do well in containers: carrots, cucumbers, green onions, parsley, radishes, dark green spinach and frilly leaf lettuce.

Some fruits that do well in containers: avocados, guava, papayas, oranges, lemons, kumquats, figs, tomatoes and strawberries.

To start your vegetable garden, use any well-drained container as a planter. Just make sure there is a drainage hole.

What to grow?

Any vegetable that thrives in a backyard garden can, in theory, be grown in a container. However vegetables with deep root structures can start breaking through the bottom of a plant container, and plants like tomatoes that grow tall, or develop long, trailing vines, can overwhelm a small space.

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How do you start? I recommend that you start with either tomatoes or eggplant. They seem to be the easiest summer vegetables to grow.

1. You do not need a large space. Find a location in your yard that gets a good amount of sun. My first vegetable garden was only 3’ x 10’ before I upgraded to a much larger part of the yard.
2. If your yard is all cement or you only have a balcony, you can purchase raised planter beds at Lowe’s or Home Depot.
3. Your neighbors will not like you, but treat your soil with straight manure. I will put a couple of bags into the garden and turn it with the soil. If the soil is still hard and clay-like I would recommend bordering the planter with either raised plastic or wood and adding more manure (face mask is highly recommended).
4. Once you are done treating the soil it is all ready to plant!
5. Although seed planting is very rewarding I always find it easier to plant seedlings. They always grow stronger and produce more vegetables.