Container gardening is growing steadily in popularity as green-thumbed individuals become invested in the amount of control and flexibility gardening out of planters, pots, and tubs can give them. There’s a long list of beautiful trees, flowers, and shrubs that can be grown above ground, but the seedlings don’t stop at aesthetically pleasing plants. The catalog of vegetables that can thrive in your container garden is ample, and fixing your salad can be easy and satisfying with your own homegrown veg!

Lettuce

Growing leafy greens in a container is a great way to ensure your budding plant will thrive. Lettuce needs space to spread its broad root base and plenty of moisture; however, a lettuce plant’s roots don’t tolerate excess water well. For that reason, shallow pots, or planters between six and twelve inches deep and made of terra cotta or clay, are excellent, providing a porous surface for water to penetrate and escape the soil. Lettuce plants need between four and twelve inches of space between each head, less for leafy varieties. Use a soil mix specially formulated for vegetables high in water-retaining perlite, and give your lettuce plant plenty of consistent waterings to keep it producing!

Tomatoes

A great rule of thumb when endeavoring to grow your own tomatoes is to always purchase a larger planter than you think you need! Tomato plants love to sprawl with their roots and need plenty of sunlight and water, so five-gallon buckets work well, provided they have plenty of drainage holes added to the bottom. Avoid planting anything other than tomatoes in these containers alongside this fruit, as tomato plants tend to be nutrient hogs and will starve out the other plants. Consistent watering and excess nutrients are vital to your container tomato plant, so if your potting soil doesn’t have its own fertilizer, a slow-release vegetable food applied every two weeks will ensure your plant doesn’t run out of nitrogen or phosphorus.

Carrots

Growing carrots in containers can seem like a fool’s errand as a root vegetable. This isn’t the case! Carrots can thrive in containers provided they’re deep enough to allow the root to flourish and made of a water-retaining material. Carrots thrive in loose, well-draining soil rich in phosphorus, and need six to eight hours of sunlight a day, so watering them first thing in the morning while avoiding the leafy tops can help ensure your carrot plants thrive. Feed this plant once a month with a “compost tea” rich in phosphorous but not nitrogen, as the latter can encourage large leafy tops but spindly, sad carrots.

Mushrooms

While a few specific varieties of mushrooms can be easier to grow in containers than others, these fun vegetables are generally extremely easy to propagate! Oyster and button mushrooms thrive easily in containers, provided they are given plenty of moisture and dark space to spread. Mushrooms like wood-based growing media, like sawdust, straw, and woodchips, as they rely on it to carry and feed the spores. Any container eight to eighteen inches deep that is easily moveable can provide the perfect place for mushrooms to grow, as they are best kept in dark areas until ready to “fruit.”

With a little knowledge and a lot of patience, growing your own salad vegetables can be a rewarding (and tasty!) experience. There are tons more vegetables perfect for container gardening than what’s mentioned here, so head over to your local nursery and check out their stock!