Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Small space garden plants
I have a raised bed for my vegetables but I also plant in pots. This year I’ll be doing more of that as I also have to move some boulevard plants due to street mill and overlay.
Anyhoo, a great cuke option is ‘Patio Snacker’ it’s the perfect size to plant in a 15 inch pot with a trellis for the 3 to 5 foot vines to grow on. It’s fruits are 6 to 8 inches with non-bitter skin. And they mature in 50 days!
For early planting sow loose leaf lettuce varieties. You can pack these into small spaces and have an abundance of leafy lettuce for your salads. Put them with your pansies!
Or maybe you’d like swiss chard, packed with phytonutrients. Think how pretty those leaves are packed with other annuals or in your perennial bed.
Patio or cherry tomatoes are a great choice for small spaces. ‘Sweetheart of the Patio’ cherry toms are the perfect choice for delicious flavor, disease resistance and they’re determinate. That means they’ll grow to 3 feet and stop yet deliver plenty of tasty fruit. It matures in 68 days.
‘Bush Early Girl’ is meatier yet very tasty and delivers in 54 days. It’s also disease resistant and determinate. Most determinate varieties of tomatoes are the ticket for your small space.
Consider bush or dwarf type plants, such as bush beans. Remember too, that you can take advantage of the time it takes for your tomatoes to grow and plant things like radishes and lettuce in that same area. When they’re done is when your tomatoes are really starting to grow.
For fruit trees in a small space, columnar apples are a great option. ‘Blushing Delight’ produces abundant green apples blushed with red – ripening in September.
It grows to just 8 feet tall and only needs 3 feet spacing between. You’ll need another variety for cross pollination. Consider ‘Tangy Green’ or ‘Tasty Red’? These trees can also be planted in containers.
If you’re in zone 4, give them protection if planted in a container. PS, that container should be AT LEAST 20 inches in diameter. Plants in the soil only need mulch.