My garden has a lot of paved areas and as a result my garden has a lot of pots. I grow a pretty wide range of things in them, I have tried most things (except pumpkins) in pots at one time or another. Whilst most things do grow at least reasonably well I do find pots are better suited to some plants more than others. Generally the pot grown plants do not get as big, or produce as big a yield as bed grown plants, but there are exceptions, and there are also plants where a reduced yield doesn’t really matter at all.
1. Chillies
Chillies – I love chillies and even more I love chillies grown in pots. The plants are attractive, you get a decent yield from them and having them in pots allows you to grow a wide range of varieties in a comparatively small space.
2. Eggplant
Eggplant – One of my earliest posts was called Eggplant – The perfect pot plant? and I do think they work fabulously. They don’t seem to mind the constraints of the pot (provided its a reasonable size to start with – I use 40cm diameter pots for eggplant), they fruit happily and can be moved to maximise time in the sun.
3. Mint
Mint – Every book I’ve read on herbs seems to tell you that herbs are wonderful plants for pots and whilst most are fabulous there are others that I think do better in the garden. Parsley for instance seems to better suited to the garden bed as it likes to have room to stretch into. If you give mint room to stretch into it will take that room and more so I’ve always grown it in pots. I have 3 large pots of common mint, one large Vietnamese mint and this small spearmint. Mint is a water hungry plant and growing it in pots allows you to feed and water it to its hearts content.
4. Citrus
Citrus – I think there’s something terribly romantic about fruit trees in pots. Olives and particularly citrus remind me of Spain and fabulous courtyard gardens in the most amazing villas. Citrus also seems to like growing in pots. It is easy to control the drainage, you can keep the food and water up to them and ensure they have the best position year round. My citrus are all grafted onto dwarf rootstock which I do think helps their comfort level in a confined space.
5. Tropical plants
This could really read – anything out of its comfort zone, which for me is tropical plants. Melbourne is just inside what in Australia is called the Warm Temperate gardening zone, we have hot dry summers and cold wettish winters. These are not really ideal conditions for growing tropical plants and yet I like to eat them. The best solution I’ve found is to grow them in pots – that way I am better able to control their environment. I can allow them to follow the sun, or in ginger’s case, the shade. I can ensure they have adequate water (often more than the other crops need) and I can keep the food up to them. Currently I am growing cardamom, ginger, turmeric, lemongrass, and my pride and joy – my curry leaf tree – all in pots.
So what have I missed? What does fabulously well for you in a pot?
As for last week’s cookbook related Top 5: thankyou to everyone for their feedback. More shopping to do….. If you enjoyed the topic and want more The New Goodlife also chose it as her Top 5 theme for the week. She has some great recommendations here.
Not a food plant but we grow hostas in pots as in the garden they can’t compete with slugs!
Is that the secret? I shed so many tears over shredded hostas when I used to grow them…..here its too hot for them anyway which has saved a lot of angst.
Glad to see that Chillis are top of the list! 🙂 Are those “Bishop’s Kiss”?
I also vote for Tomatoes – very productive and when fruiting decorative too. Blueberries too: they need special compost so pots are ideal for them.
Actually the chillies are ‘Scotch Bonnet’ but are quite different to what i knew as that in the UK. Blueberries are a fabulous idea and one I am very, very keen to try – thankyou!
Ooh I like this post. I am pretty new to edibles in pots and have mostly stuck to herbs. But I like the idea of chilli in pots, i must try some. They are beautiful plants.
They are great, and in our climate they seem to be perennial – I have a couple of plants in their 3rd year now.
Mark’s on the money – blueberries in pots are great, and I’m also have great success with my strawberries. Fig trees tend to get huge in the ground, but are dwarfed and fruit earlier in a pot.
What sort of blueberry do you have? And what does it taste like – I’m partial to the ones that are a bit sour but have no idea what the variety is called. I like the idea of putting my strawberries in containers. We have one branch from next doors fig tree which has come up under our fence – perfect size for us – very convenient it was too.
I just bought the standard Nellie Kelly blueberry from Bunnings. I keep them in self-watering pots (they don’t like to dry out) potted in azalea mix and mulched. I feed them regularly with dynamic lifter, and they have grown enormously in just one year.
If you like blueberries a bit sour, you just pick them a bit earlier. First they turn blue, then about a week later they sweeten up. Give them a go – I adore them!
Oh perfect – good advice! As soon as it gets a bit cooler then I’ll make a purchase complete with potting mix. Very excited about this!!!!!!
Oh, definitely chile peppers, I’ve got them in pots all over the place. At this time of year (winter) I move the pots to protected spots to keep them from freezing (hopefully, brrr, it got really cold last night). The baccatum species can last a few years when I grow them that way. But large sweet peppers do better in the ground for me, they need more root space to produce a decent number of pods of any size. I haven’t tried eggplant in pots, I might have to give that a try, I might be able to give them a bit of a head start that way. Mint, yup. Citrus, yup. Tropicals, yup, although my cardamom and lemon grass are happy in the ground, but I do want to try growing ginger in a pot. Hmmm, strawberries in pots, maybe I could keep them put of the reach of the rats if I grow them in pots… And I just bought s couple of bare root blueberries to put in pots.
So, one thing I’ve had great success with is sweet bay (laurus nobilis), which would grow to be a huge tree in the ground but is quite happy confined to a pot. I haven’t had to buy a jar of tired out old dry bay leaves in years. And I have a very cute topiary olive tree in a pot which even produces olives every year.
Michelle I should probably clarify that my strawberries are in ‘planters’, which are actually styrofoam produce boxes. Thanks for mentioning the olive- I really should start taking care of my kalamata olive tree that has been living in a small pot despite my neglect. It’s clearly hardier than I gave it credit for. Never imagined it could fruit!
Great topic Liz!
My parents use the sytrofoam boxes for strawberries as well with great success – I think I will have to try that this year as my ones in the ground just get eaten and frankly are a bit of a mess.
I have a bay tree and you’re right they are perfect. I do like the idea of an olive but I am toying with the idea of putting one in the front garden, ditto pomegranite. That’s great to know that you get olives from your pot grown tree – food for thought!
Rosemary is good in pot so is basil, and yes fig, my fig is doing well in pot.
Rosemary I have’t tried – nice idea, basil I grow both in pots and in the ground and you’re right it does grow well.
I agree with the bay laurel and then everything you mentioned Liz. Although my eggplant in the ground is going much better than the one in the pot (it was planted later though so I’ll pass final judgement in a little while).
Shock horror I don’t have any chillis growing at the moment, but like you I have quite a bit of paving, so I’ll give it a go in pots next season.
I’ll be writing another top 5 this afternoon – different topic this week though.
I would highly recommend chillies in pots. The eggplants do often do better in the ground but if you are short of bed space I think that they are better in pots than say carrots, or broccoli, or climbing beans etc etc. It will be interesting to see how big a difference there is in your two plants by March.
Hi, I’ve just come across your blog. I also live in the north suburbs and just bought a cardamom from CERES to put in a pot. How has yours been going? What size pot do you have it in and what do you feed it with? And your cumin? Same questions for that plant too! Cheers.
Hi Morgana, My cardamom is in a 40cm diameter pot. I put slow release fertiliser in it yearly and that is about it. It has grown well but has never flowered. I suspect Melbourne may just be too cold to get flowers and indeed seeds. Cumin I have yet to grow successfully. I have germinated it fine but I have never got it to survive to a flowering age. Maybe this year….