Here are 7 easiest vegetables to grow in containers with minimal effort. It is important to choose the size of container to suit the size of plant that you intend to grow and the area you have available to put your planters.
The self-watering buckets used were DIY by me using the least expensive items. Follow the link for detailed instructions.
If you have a small balcony, it would be wise to pick a few of your favourite vegetables that can comfortably fit in your given area. It is also important not to plant too many in a pot or you will end up with very small plants.
I have tried quite a few different plants and mostly been very pleased with the results. Plan to use the best premium potting mix so as to avoid problems with nutrition and disease. I have found that plants with good fertilizer and even watering performed well.
If you follow those basic things that I did, I’m sure you will enjoy the fruits of your labour.
Nothing beats the taste of chemical-free home grown vegetables.
Chili
This chili was completely trouble free plant to grow. It required no special treatment,was disease free and only needed some extra liquid fertilizer from flowering until harvest. I used Seasol, Australia’s top selling liquid seaweed fertiliser.
As you can see from the featured image at the top of the page, this chili thrived in a self-watering bucket and produced a really good harvest.
Carrots
Carrots are very easy to grow and where I live there are no disease or pest problems to deal with. Just like all container plants, it is better to have a few less than planting too many.
Sowing carrots can be a little tricky because of the small seed size. I sowed them in a circle around the bucket in a very shallow line made with a pencil and covered them with sand and a damp cloth. I find that I get a better germination this way.
All my container vegetables are grown in premium potting mix
It is now just a matter of keeping the cloth damp and waiting until you see some emerging plants under the cloth. Now remove the cloth and sprinkle a very thin layer of mulch ever so gently. Keep moist with a fine mist sprayer. As they grow you can begin to thin them out so as to reduce competition.
These are a good size carrot and were very tasty. When you start to use the carrots, keep the tops and plant them. You will now get a new plant.
Zucchini
Zucchini or courgette is a favourite summer squash. I found it easy to grow without any major problems. they are a rapid grower and as many will know a small fruit can very quickly become oversized.
They are well suited to growing in containers and with my self-watering buckets, managing watering is simple. Never water from above as they are susceptible to powdery mildew. With this method there is little humidity and the plant is well above ground. I did get some mildew but cut off the leaves to reduce the spread.
The plants are grown in premium potting mix that has slow release fertilizer. When fruiting began I did use some Seasol which is a seaweed based liquid fertilizer applied once every two weeks.
Always use the best potting mix and fertilizers as I have stressed many times a healthy plant is best able to combat disease or pests. On the contrary a sick plant will suffer from any disease pressure. Best to keep on top of the watering and nutrition.
Home grown vegetables are always the best tasting by a country mile.
Beetroot or Beets
Beets or beetroot are simple to grow in my DIY self-watering buckets. I just planted seedlings bought from a local plant nursery. Put in about 6 around the bucket.
I had no disease or pest issues with this plant. As with all my plants, they were planted in premium potting mix that had slow release fertilizer. These plants were vigorous growers and easy to look after.
Self-watering planters are always in my opinion going to perform well because of the constantly available water and the plants are elevated and kept in a low humid environment.
They were a delicious treat, eaten raw grated in a salad, or cooked. Remember home grown is always best.
Tomatoes
Growing tomatoes in a self-watering container was easy enough but had its own special needs. I planted 1 plant in a bucket as they do tend to grow quite large.
I did not have any problems with nutrition as the potting mix had all the necessary requirements for optimal growth. this eliminate end blossom rot.
Watering was made easy in these buckets. Tomatoes will tend to crack if watering is not even during the development of the fruit. The humidity was very low because of the watering method and being elevated in the bucket.
I did however have to wrap some exclusion netting around the tomato plant to prevent the fruit from being attacked by fruit fly. This little pest will bore many small holes in the fruit to lay their eggs. These hatch out into maggots which will devour the fruit and make mit inedible.
The image below shows the plant protected by exclusion netting.
This is what it is all about, beautiful tasty fruit from the garden.
Leeks
These leeks were harvested from 1 bucket. A good amount for the given area. The leeks were easy to grow with no special requirements.
Using my self-watering buckets with premium potting mix the seedlings purchased from the gardening store were planted around the bucket.
These guys developed a massive root system that went all the way into the wicking pot at the bottom. The roots mainly followed the outer part of the bucket. I am not sure why that happened, but I will show an image of it below.
This image clearly shows the roots following the outer part of the bucket. I have a theory that it might have something to do with light coming through the side.
This image shows not so many roots through the centre
Golden Nugget Pumpkin
This golden nugget pumpkin was planted in a 60 litre or about 13 gallons DIY self-watering bin. I tried a larger container hoping for a better yield and was not disappointed.
As with all the other plants a premium potting mix with slow release fertilizer and an even supply of water throughout the growing season.
you can see some powdery mildew starting to develop. This is a common problem, but the leaf was removed before too much damage was done.
The pumpkins are resting on dry mulch and because the plant is elevated there is no added humidity. Air flows freely around the whole plant. We have had some dry seasons and extended droughts which helped keep the powdery mildew infection low.
It was also necessary for to start container gardening because we had limited water and have on several occasions been limited to 150 litres per person per day with no outdoor watering.
There are many more vegetables and fruits suited to growing in containers, that is why I decided to list 7 easiest vegetables to grow in containers that I had tried. All information and images on this post from my garden.
