by Susan Harris
As a still-new-to-all-this vegetable gardener whose only good space to grow them is on the deck, I need help choosing the best varieties to grow in containers.   Fortunately Marian Parsley, Behnkes’  buyer of annuals (including all vegetables), had some tips for me.

Cucumbers

All varieties grow well in containers, but especially Black beauty, Sweet Slice, Burpless, bush types, and pickling types.

Peppers

All varieties can be grown in containers.

Tomatoes

Most can be grown in containers but Marian does have some favorites for pots: Patio, Heartland, Santa, Juliet, Roma, Jet Star, Rutgers, Yellow Pear, Celebrity, and Husky Red.

Squash

Crookneck, Spagetti, Acorn, Straightneck Zucchini, Black Beauty, Aristocrat, Sundance, Cream of the Crop, Patty Pan, and Gold Rush.

“Don’t forget onions, pole beans and lettuce”

Those are Marian’s parting words on the subject of which vegetables to grow in containers.  Okay!

Vegetables to Grow Vertically

Marian rattled off some pretty darn good reasons to trellis, or “garden vertically”.

• Keeps produce off the ground
• Reduces exposure to pests and diseases
• Makes it easy to find and pick when it comes to harvesting
• Helps gardeners achieve double or even triple the amount of produce for a given space.

Natural climbers will benefit from trellising, and Marian offered these examples.

Tomatoes

Super Sweet 100, Sweet Million, pear-type, such as Yellow Pear, Big Boy, Brandywine, Early Girl.  And all indeterminate type.

Squash

Spaghetti, crookneck, zucchini and acorn.

Cucumbers

Pickling types, slicing types, burpless types and Armenian.

Pumpkins

Small ones!

Melon photo by Colin Purrington.