Image for Patio & Small-Space Gardening

Want a garden but don’t have much of a yard? Try your hand at container or small-space gardening! Many vegetables grow well in small spaces, providing you give them what they need: good soil, adequate watering, and sunshine. And there are many beautiful combinations of vegetables, herbs and flowers that provide texture, color, interest and nutrition that can take the place of an ordinary flowerpot.

Try These Combinations:

  • Dazzling blue kale, alyssum (for the pollinators!), parsley and Moroccan mint
  • Amish snap peas,* Penny Denim jump-up violas and spinach*
  • Salmon Jewel nasturtium and rainbow chard
  • Georgia Southern collards* and Red Salad Bowl lettuce*
  • African Blue basil and Lemon Gem marigold
  • Malabar spinach, Golden Lemon thyme, and Thai Kermit eggplant

*The asterisk denotes seeds we sell. The rest are plants we will have at the plant sale.

Vegetables That Grow Well in Containers:

  • Any herbs, lettuces or greens
  • Eggplants and most peppers
  • Some cucumbers: Bushy, Patio Snacker, Mexican Sour Gherkin, Tendergreen
  • Some tomatoes: Nebraska Wedding, Micro Tom, Principe Borghese
  • Caserta zucchini
  • Potatoes, if you are growing in a larger container
  • Peas and pole beans

All seeds and plants at the co-op suitable for growing in containers will be marked with a flowerpot symbol at the plant sale.

Most vegetables and flowering plants require sunshine to produce their fruit. If you do not have a space to grow with full sun, try growing greens such as kales, collards and lettuces. Even some herbs do well in lower light conditions. Experiment and have fun with it — for example, grow peas and harvest the shoots for your salads and stir-fries as they come up!