You can grow almost any vegetable in a container; just fill a big pot with good soil, and water, and fertilize your plants regularly. (Click here for container gardening in detail) Containers solve the problem of poor soil and garden pests, and they enable you to grow vegetables that you may not be able to grow in your garden. Some people grow vegetables in containers simply because they like having their crops nearby. With containers, you can bring your crops close to your house where you can enjoy them (and eat them at the peak of freshness!); and, you may not be able to move the sun, but you can certainly move your container to the sun!

Remember this one rule about soil: Don’t fill your pot with soil from your garden even if your garden has the very best soil on the planet. It’s too heavy and too dirty (you know, weed seeds, bugs, bacteria — stuff that you don’t want in your pots), and it may not drain properly in a pot. Use potting soil instead.

Containers come in a wealth of shapes and sizes. When choosing a container for vegetables, keep the following in mind:

• Size: In most cases, pots that are bigger (in terms of width and volume) are better, especially for growing large plants like tomatoes. With some vegetables, the depth of a container is as important — if not more important — as its width. You can grow quite a few carrots or radishes in a narrow container, but the container must be deep enough to accommodate the length of the plant’s mature roots.
• Material: If you want to use wood containers, choose root-resistant materials, such as cedar or redwood; otherwise, they won’t last very long. You can build containers with lumber that’s been pressure-treated with preservatives; however, even though there isn’t strong proof that vegetable roots absorb these materials, we prefer not to use preservative-treated wood containers for growing edibles.
  
  Remember that terra-cotta, no matter how attractive, tends to dry out quickly — a major problem for vegetables racing full steam ahead. You may be better off planting in plastic if you don’t use wood.
• Drainage: If your pots don’t come with drainage holes, drill your own (eight to ten evenly spaced, 1-inch / 2 cm holes should be fine).
• Accessories: When you buy containers, look for those that have a saucer to place underneath your pot. A saucer collects water that runs out of the holes in the bottom of a pot and prevents the pot from staining whatever it’s sitting on. Something with wheels makes your life much easier. Most nurseries sell wheeled platforms that you place under pots to move them easily.

If you’re persistent, you can grow any vegetable in a pot. However, some of the bigger plants, such as squash and watermelon, are pretty tricky to grow in containers and tend to get unruly. The following list looks at the most common vegetables to grow in containers:

• Beans: Bush varieties like ‘Provider’ and ‘Derby’ are best. You can grow pole types, but you have to attach some type of trellis.
• Beets: Any variety grows well in a pot, and smaller varieties like ‘Action’ and ‘Kestrel’ will grow in smaller pots.
• Carrots: Carrots are a perfect vegetable to grow in a pot. Start with baby varieties like ‘Baby Spike’, ‘Short ’n Sweet’, or ‘Thumbelina’.
• Cole crops — broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and so on: All the cole crops grow well in containers as long as your pots are big enough.
• Corn: Plant 10 to 15 seeds per half barrel, and then fertilize and water like crazy. You may get only one ear per plant, but hey, it’s fresh corn.  ....read more