How to Grow in Containers Guide – Herbs and Flowers
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Even with limited space, you can grow vegetables and flowers in containers. Try vertical gardening, potted herbs, or colourful flowers to brighten balconies or small gardens. Hanging baskets add charm, and potted plants make lovely focal points or refresh tired garden corners.
Choosing the Right Plants
Vegetables
You can successfully grow many types of vegetables in pots or containers. Bigger veggies do need big pots, but with container gardening being so popular there are also many dwarf or mini-varieties now available.
- To get started, some lettuce varieties to try are “Tom Thumb”, “Little Gem” and other red leaf varieties which grow well and look great.
- You can also grow dwarf tomatoes such as Roma or Cherry Tomatoes, as well as capsicum, cucumber, courgettes and Asian greens etc.
- Start planting summer vegetables around Labour Weekend and just move pots to sheltered spots to limit the risk of late frosts.
- Winter veggies also do well in pots; plant them in late spring/early autumn.
- Position your veggie pots or containers in a warm sunny, north facing position, and away from strong winds.
- When growing veggies in pots, as with normal gardens, use succession planting to ensure you have a continuous supply eg. keep sowing seeds or planting seedlings every few weeks.