fruit and veg grown in containers

Please could anyone suggest fruit and veg plants which will grow easily in containers. I bought some terracotta strawberry planters yesterday and will be buying and planting the plants on Sunday, but would like to grow veg too. I am keen to get my children interested, so a reasonably reliable crop for them to look after would be great.
Thanks
Lili

 

I grow Blueberry bushes in pots, in eridaceous (sp) compost. Only planted them in winter 2007 and got a good crop last year. I was told to grow two for pollenating.

Potatoes are supposed to be dead easy in pots, also salad crops.

 

I have Potatoes in pots, but you do need large pots (dustbin size, almost! although they don't have to be THAT tall).

Carrots would fair well, need a reasonably deep container though. And a container like a window box would be good for a few lettuce and some hers - parsley for example.

But I'm the wrong person to ask as I have plenty of space for growing veg ...

 

Hi Liliane,
I'm pretty much restricted to containers in my garden, it's very small and I'm not allowed to dig up the lawn!
I'm growing potatoes (2 types) in small plastic bins, they're very easy and good for the kids as the foliage grows very quickly which should keep them interested as they measure them up every few days. I'm also growing courgettes, herbs (thyme, coriander, basil, chives and rosemary) outside, and tomatoes, chillies (a few different types) and sweet peppers in a cheap plastic greenhouse in pots.
I think fast growing crops are best for keeping children interested, so I'd probably go with radishes, any type of salad leaves, carrots, potatoes (go for a second early variety) and maybe some spring onions, chives and coriander. Oh, and also a seperate pot of mint (which goes beserk) for your potatoes.

 

My veggies in pots are potatoes, carrots, leeks, spring onions, radishes, courgettes and hestia beans ( the last two yet to be planted). Oh, and mangetout peas - I love them.

 

Last year I grew leeks, herbs, carrots, spinach, lettuce, spring onions, potatoes, courgettes in pots and as long as you keep an eye on watering and feeding they are fine. This year im also trying dwarf runner beans and broad beans aswell as chillies, peppers and hundreds and thousand tomatoes (the really tiny ones ) . Hopefully the summer will be better than last year but i have got a new greenhouse this year so the tomatoes and chillies should be ok.k-l

 

Kids love berries and stuff they can nick and eat when it's almost ripe (they always do this too early and get a tummy ache but it's a joy anyway). Definitely cherry tomatoes and those small strawberry varieties that produce several crops. Blackcurrant is a pretty plant in itself and can even be grown into a standard. Rhubarb is very impressive but needs very fertile soil and a large tub. (And someone who likes cooking, the stems are delicious only when young). Runner beans are a great fun, they grow so quickly they can be sown to form a secret hiding place trained over willow arches or just simply at an angle against a wall. No eating raw there though. Sugar peas (where the pod itself is edible) are less vigorous but very pretty and lovely to eat straight from the plant. They do well in containers.

I use trailing cherry tomatoes as underplanting for my large shrub containers. The foliage is very pretty. I also use chives as decorative plants, the flowers are lovely. The flavour is better in unflowered youngsters though.

Almost anything is worth a try, I once grew potatoes in those slim balcony containers, the flowers were very pretty although didn't last long. Anyway, I had no money whatsoever and wanted green things so instead of binning the sprouted potatoes in my fridge I just potted them. :D

 

We are doing lots of pots and containers this year due to having moved in the new year, and not having had the time to sort the garden properly (wanting to see what grows up where).
So far I have planted a strawberry bed, mangetout in a homemade wooden planter box beside the garage, horseradish in a pot sunk in the ground. I have two old dustbins with potatoes in them, some jerusalem artichoke growing in black tires filled with soil. In the greenhouse in pots at the moment are beets (patio variety?), female english cukes, courgette (though will plant these out somewhere!), lots of cherry tomatoes, plum tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, scarlet runner beans in two different pots (will move them out of greenhouse), I have carrots planted in several fairly deep pots, spring onions, several varieties of peppers from sweet to hot We made a wooden framed asparagus bed and put in two year old plants - and they could probably be grown on a patio as well, as the tuber is only two inches below soil level - but you would need to make it a permanent spot as they don't like to be moved. I have a spot that has about 15 sweet corn in it - but hoping for the allotment to come through so I can get a really good planting in.
We have a large area out back with the ducks to fence off for the vege garden next year - but with all the chalk, it's going to take an awful lot of work, or an awful lot of raised beds to get going - hence the containers this year and the request for the allotment.

It's different growing in pots and planters, but fun. If you want to get the kids involved, do loads of stuff that they can pick and eat after washing without having to cook it - peas, corn on cob (my kids love eating it just picked and not cooked), tomatoes, carrots etc.

 

i have a balcony so im restricted to pots also ive just put a tumbling tom tomatoes ideal for containers and hanging baskets, also have herbs and lettuce in two containers, great idea for the children. enjoy

 

Tomatoes - I grow them in grow-bags, actually. I had so many tomatoes last year I was able to make four jars of chutney!
I also grew peppers in pots next to the grow bags - put some of them in the chutney too! Isn't edible gardening wonderful...

I also grew beans in pots last year - I put them in pots by the fence, and had a wonderful crop of beans. This year I am also growing peas by the same method.
Perhaps I should explain - I have a terrace with pots, and in the pots I grow all my herbs and vegetables. Also I have some fruit trees in pots.

 

Yes, radishes, forgot about them!! I never used to like radishes!! I just planted them because I was given a free pack of seeds at Chelsea Flower Show....and when they grew they were absolutely delicious!!

 

"... In a Dustbin"

You will therefore be able to refer to them as your "Rubbish Runner Beans" WOO