You don't need a big backyard to grow your own fresh produce -- in fact, you don't need a yard at all. Just about anything can be grown in a pot on your deck or porch. For advice on what to plant, we asked pro gardeners Rose Marie Nichols McGee and Maggie Stuckey, authors of edible-container-gardening bible The Bountiful Container. Here are their top picks -- foods that are easy to grow, pleasing to look at and miles ahead of their grocery-store counterparts in taste.
1. Tomatoes
McGee recommends tomatoes because they're such a popular food item, and "a nice crop of vine-ripened tomatoes brings such joy to gardeners." For standard varieties, use as large a container as you can -- even a garbage can. Or try Tumbler tomatoes, recommended by Stuckey, which are "specially developed for hanging containers, with an extra-strong joint where the branches come off the main stem, so that they don't break off when heavy with fruit." (Try making fresh tomato salsa with what you grow.)
2. Eggplant
Eggplant prefers warmer soil, and is thus well suited for containers -- in fact, McGee finds that it grows better in pots than in the ground. "The plants just pump out the fruits even in a medium-sized pot," she says. "They are very attractive with their contrasting flowers and purple fruits." Stuckey suggests growing Japanese eggplant: "The fruits are very handsome, the perfect size for grilling, and you get a lot of produce from just one plant."
3. Swiss chard
Stuckey chooses Swiss chard "because it doesn't faint in hot weather, is extremely nutritious, and is super good-looking, especially the Bright Lights cultivar." McGee also loves this variety of chard with stems of different bright colours, such as pink and yellow, adding, "the colour and ability of the plants to withstand multiple cuttings makes this a winner."
4. Mesclun and lettuce blends
Salad greens are one of the easiest things to grow in containers. "The salad blends that contain greens other than lettuce (such as mustards, kale, mizuna or other Asian greens) will handle warm weather more easily," says Stuckey, "and most can be harvested in cut-and-come-again fashion, so you get just enough for tonight's salad, and tomorrow there's more." McGee adds that when picking, you should "cut these off about an inch above the soil line and keep harvesting. When they slow down, resow -- most packets have lots of seed and you can keep planting."
5. Basil
Stuckey loves to grow basil "because there are so many wonderful cultivars, it's so delicious, and you get to feel so clever not having to pay a fortune in the market." McGee agrees -- she has a 14-inch-diameter container this year planted with five kinds of basil: Aussie Sweetie, Genovese, Large Green, Sweet Dani Lemon Basil, and Siam Queen Thai Basil, a purple variety. "It's important to start harvesting when plants are young so they don't just go to seed," she notes.
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