Patio Vegetable Garden FAQ’s
If you’re like me and don’t have a half acre of land, consider growing a patio vegetable garden. All you need is a sunny spot on a relatively flat surface, some containers, quality potting soil, and veggies and/or herbs. Follow along as I answer some frequently asked questions!
How much space do I need for a patio vegetable garden?
There’s no need to create something massive. Begin with just one or two pots your first year. Then you can plan to expand your garden as you learn how to grow. Of course, if you want to go big right out the gate, go for it. Thankfully, patio vegetable gardening isn’t super expensive, nor does it require a ton of labor beyond the initial set up. Sure, you’ll have to care for your plants all season long, but maintenance is minimal.
When determining the size of your patio vegetable garden ask yourself the following questions:
How many people are in your family?
Do you know how many different veggies you want to grow?
Do you have a lot of time to care for the plants in the summer?
How much space do you have?
Make a plan with the answers in mind, and remember there will be a learning curve to deal with, too.
Do I need a lot of sun for a patio vegetable garden?
Most vegetables and herbs grow best in full sun. That means you should choose a location that receives a minimum of 8 hours of full sun per day. If your patio doesn’t get that much sun, consider setting up the garden on a porch, deck, driveway, or parking pad. Any relatively sunny, level spot will do.
If you don’t have ANY spot with full sun, don’t fret! You can still have a veggie garden. You’ll just have to adjust what you grow. Leafy green vegetables, like lettuce, kale, and spinach, and some root crops, like carrots and radish, grow fine with as little as 4 to 6 hours of sun. If you’d like to grow heat-loving vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, and squash, you’ll want to choose the sunniest spot possible.
One nice feature of a patio vegetable garden is that you can make it mobile. Use wheeled planters and pot dollies to move the containers from one side of the patio to the other each day to increase their light exposure. Follow the sun if that’s what’s required for the plants to receive maximum light.
Warm-season crops, such as peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes, require full sun growing conditions.
Another thing to consider when choosing a location…
An important feature to be on the lookout for when choosing where to put your patio vegetable garden is a water source. Lugging full watering cans gets old fast. And you’ll be watering your garden a lot once the Summer heat arrives. If possible, keep the garden close to the spigot so it’s easy to turn on the hose and water your garden every day. Better yet, install a drip system or other automated system.
What kind of container is best?
Now that you know where your patio garden it going to go, it’s time to choose the types and sizes of pots to use. You can grow in any type of container, as long as there is a drainage hole in the bottom. Clay and glazed ceramics are two of my favorite options. When it comes to the size of the pots, always err on the larger side. The more soil a pot holds, the less often you’ll have to water, and bigger pots mean more room for roots to grow.
How large should my containers be?
The larger, the better! But, since space can often be the deciding factor with a patio garden, here are my recomendations:
Use 10-15 gallons minimum for each extra-large vegetable. These include full-sized indeterminate tomatoes, winter squash, pumpkins, melons, and artichokes.
Use 8-10 gallons minimum for each large fruit or vegetable plant. These include peppers, eggplants, tomatillos, dwarf blueberry bushes, cucumbers, summer squash/zucchini, and bush-type winter squash varieties.
Use 5-8 gallons minimum for each medium-sized vegetable or flowering plant. These include cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, bush-type cucumbers, determinate tomatoes (often called patio tomatoes), chard, collards, kale, and okra.
Use 1-2 gallons minimum for each small-statured or micro-sized vegetable. These include kohlrabi, lettuce, spinach, true micro tomatoes, and other greens. Individual herb plants fit into this category as well.
Root veggies, such as carrots, beets, radish, onions, and turnips, can be planted in almost any sized container, as long as the seeds or plants are spaced at the appropriate distance for optimum growth (as noted on the plant tag or seed packet) and the pot is deep enough for the roots to have ample room to grow.
Planning to combine different plants together into the same pot? I recommend adding the target soil volumes listed above together to ensure there’s enough room for all of the plants in the container to produce an ample root system. For example, if you want to combine a full-sized tomato plant with a pepper plant and a few herbs, you’ll need a container that holds at least 20-28 gallons of potting mix. Obviously the specific variety of any given vegetable is also closely tied to the size container it needs, so these are guidelines, not rules; there’s no doubt you’ll need a far bigger pot for a standard-sized tomato than you will for a dwarf-type tomato, but it’s always best to err on the side of a larger container.
What soil should I use?
When growing in containers, don’t use soil from the ground. It doesn’t drain well and is very heavy. Instead, use an organic potting soil. There are many brands of potting soil on the market and some are better quality than others. I prefer the Kellogg’s brand. Your local garden center likely has several brands to choose from. I suggest using an organic potting soil when growing vegetable plants. Choose a high-quality organic potting soil and mix it with some worm castings to bulk it up, add organic matter, and improve its water-holding capacity.
What are the best vegetables for a patio vegetable garden?
While you can grow just about any vegetable in a pot, not all varieties are suited to growing in tight quarters. Whenever possible, choose compact vegetable varieties for your patio vegetable garden. Most produce full-sized vegetables but on plants that stay smaller and are better suited to container growing.
Compact varieties, such as ‘Baby Pak Choi’ and ‘Micro Tom’ tomato, are just a few inches tall. They are the perfect fit for a patio food garden.
Should my patio vegetable garden have a design?
Once you’ve decided where to place your garden and what you’ll grow, it’s time to get creative! Patio vegetable gardens can be really beautiful when planted in gorgeous colorful pots. Or, they can be strictly utilitarian when planted in clay pots and metal tubs. If you want to get creative and build a patio vegetable garden with flair, here are three of my favorite patio garden design ideas worth considering.
Food fountain
Purchase wide, low pots in 4 or 5 different graduated sizes. Fill the pots and then stack them on top of each other to create a tiered food fountain for a corner of the patio or deck. Fill the pots with a mixture of edible greens, herbs, and compact tomato and pepper varieties. This is also a great way to grow strawberries.
Tiered containers stacked on top of each other and planted with vegetable plants makes a great patio food garden.
Milk crate garden
If you’re on a budget, consider growing your patio vegetable garden in repurposed milk crates. Line the crates with landscape fabric, burlap, or another porous fabric, fill them with soil, and get planting. You can even plant through the holes in the sides of the crate if you’d like. To grow multiple layers and maximize space, stack the crates checkerboard-style to create a “wall” of vegetable plants.
Galvanized stock tank planters
Metal livestock troughs make great patio planters. They come in a range of sizes and have a removable drain plug so you don’t have to drill holes in the bottom for drainage. Each stock tank can house multiple plants and become a patio vegetable garden in just an hour or two.
Galvanized stock tanks make great planters for decks, porches, and patios.
How do I water my patio vegetable garden?
Once your patio containers have been planted, it doesn’t mean it’s time to sit back and relax. You still have to take care of the plants if you expect them to produce. Watering is always the biggest maintenance task when growing a patio vegetable garden. Do not neglect this task or take short cuts! Water your pots deeply as often as they need it. In the summertime, that means daily. Don’t splash a little water on the soil and call it good enough. Hold the running hose directly on the soil of each pot for several minutes. Allow the water to penetrate deeply and drain out the hole in the bottom of the pot. Repeat this two or three times per pot when the weather is hot and dry. You can also set up automatic watering systems like drip systems. These are easy to do and are water effecient and cost effective.
Do I need to fertilize my patio food garden?
The next necessary task is fertilization. If you used an organic potting soil that contains a natural, slow-release fertilizer, you won’t have to fertilize again until mid to late summer. I suggest using a granular organic fertilizer if you water by hand, or a liquid organic fertilizer if using an automatic watering system.
How do I support and harvest my plants?
In addition to watering and fertilizing, provide support for any plants that need it. Use a tomato cage, trellis, obelisk, or stake to hold tall plants upright. If you want them to trail over the edge of the container (which is fine, too!), skip this step.
The last task is to harvest your patio vegetable garden regularly. I head out to the garden every morning to inspect my plants and pick what’s ripe. Many vegetables produce better when regularly harvested, including beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini.
Enjoy the bounty of your new patio vegetable garden. Plan to expand it each season and enjoy the process. Yes, you’ll make a few mistakes along the way, but it’s part of the process. Live and learn… and enjoy the fruits of your efforts.
If you would like personalized help with your patio garden, I’d be happy to help! You can book a coaching session by clicking here!
