Best 13 Gardening Tips For Plants In Home

Best 13 Plants For Home Gardening

Where garden space is at a premium, pots are definitely the way to squeeze in a few productive plants. You can also use the portability of containers to chase the sun or find spaces protected from cold winds.

While most herbs are naturally at home in containers, vegies need a little more thought and planning. The key to success is to grow small or compact vegetables in as large a container as possible and to limit the number of plants in each pot.

1. The recommended spacing for a vegetable is a good indicator of pot size. 
2. Most vegies are planted at least 20cm apart so they need to be in individual 20cm-diameter pots or, for two plants, a heavy-duty 40cm pot.
3. Pot depth is also a consideration. Any vegie with a large or deep root system such as carrot needs a container that's at least 30cm deep and preferably deeper. 
4. Competitive vegetable growers who aim for record-breaking carrots, parsnips and leeks grow their crops in cylinders or lengths of guttering to get the vertical space that's needed.
5. Fast-growing but small vegies that are closely planted, such as radishes or spring onions, do well in troughs or even in recycled foam boxes. 
6. Rectangular troughs also fit well in narrow spaces.

The other consideration when choosing vegetables to grow in containers is how long the plant takes to crop. Mini cabbages and cauliflowers can be grown in containers but still take many months to mature.

Plants For Garden In Pots

The following selection is of small-growing plants or larger plants that can be trained vertically, making them suited to a container. Their crops may be slightly smaller or the same size as those produced on larger growers.

Best Tips For Planting 13 Plants In Gardening

S.No	Vegetable	Compact Varieties	Description & Size	Sow Seed
1	Beans (dwarf or bush)	Many including 'Bountiful Butter, 'Gourmet's Delight', 'Pioneer', 'Snapbean'	Stringless  beans on small bushes around 30cm high	Year round (Tr), Aug-Apr (S), Sep-Feb (T), Oct-Dec (C)
2	Cabbage	'Sugarloaf'	Small, crisp, conical cabbage	All year (Tr), Feb-Nov (5), Jul-Mar (T), Aug-Mar (C)
3	Capsicum	'Mini Orange'	Orange fruit 6cm long on a 60cm high plant	All year (Tr). Aug-Mar (S). Aug-Dec (T), Sep-Nov (C)
4	Carrot	'Baby', 'Paris Heirloom'	Small ('Baby'), round or stubby ('Paris Heirloom') roots; also good for poor soil	Feb-Sep (Tr), Feb-Sep (S), Jul-Mar (T), Aug-Feb (C)
5	Cauliflower	'Mini White'	Small heads 10-15cm across	Jan-Apr (Tr). Jan-Apr (5), Dec-Mar (T). Nov-Jan (C)
6	Chilli	Wide range including 'Purple Tiger'	Small, purple chillies on a long-lived, compact bush	All year (Tr). Aug-Mar (S). Aug-Dec (T). Sep-Nov (C)
7	Cucumber	'Lebanese'	Train on a tripod in a pot at least 40cm across	All year (Tr), Jul-Mar (S), Sep-Jan (T), Oct-Dec(C)
8	Eggplant	'Mini Lebanese'	Compact plant 30-40cm high with tiny fruit	All year (Tr), Sep-Mar (5), Sep-Dec (T), Oct -Nov (C)
9	Lettuce	Soft-hearted forms including 'Mignonette'. 'Red Oak'	Fast growing, start to harvest outer leaves	All year (Tr). All year (5). All year (T). All year (C)
10	Pumpkin	'Delicata Mini Sweet'. tern', told Nugget', 'Jack Be Little'	Small fruit on a bushy plant: grow one plant per pot	All year (Tr), All year (S), Aug-Dec (T). Sep-Nov (C)
11	Radish	'Salad Crunch' and other small, round varieties	One of the best root crops for containers	All year (Tr), All year (5), Aug-May (T), Sep-Apr (C)
12	Snow peas	All	Train up a stake or tripod: several plants can be grown per 40cm pot	Mar-Jul (Tr). Mar-Jul (S), Feb-Sep M. Jun-Oct (C)
13	Tomato	'Patio', 'Tumbler'	Compact or trailing plants with medium-sized fruit (tiny-fruited varieties such as cherry tomatoes form large, sprawling plants)	All year (Tr). All year (S). Aug-Dec (T). Sep-Nov (C)

Key: (Tr) Tropics. (S) Subtropics. (T) Temperate. (C) Cold 

* Where seedlings are available these can be planted up to one month later than sowing seeds 

Some Vegetable Plants For Gardening

• Small carrots are happy in a container
• That weird little space invader kohlrabi
• Try cherry tomatoes in a trough 
• Spuds in bags are all the rage 
• Bush beans manage to contain themselves 

Suitable Pots For Plants In Gardening

Plant breeders have come to the aid of those gardening in small spaces by developing compact strains of many of our favourite vegetables. Look for both seed-grown and seedlings (see table opposite for some options).

While naturally compact plants are ideal planting choices, some climbing vegetables such as snow peas, cucumbers and sweet potatoes are good value in containers as they can be trained on a climbing frame.

Although a traditional pumpkin isn't suitable for a container, there are bushy varieties for pots along with varieties that have compact growth and produce small pumpkins. One vegetable that's usually grown in the ground but has become increasingly popular in large containers is the potato.

Grow spuds in a deep container for best results. While the pot obviously needs to be large, each plant produces several kilograms of potatoes so is well worth the space it occupleS.lbite Windows