Growing Vegetables in Containers

I found a really cool article from the Ohio Extension. It gives container measurements for different plants.



Peppers, chard and dwarf tomatoes: soil volume of 1-2 gallons per plant
Full-sized tomato plants, cucumbers: soil volume of 4-5 gallons per plant
Lettuce, radish, onions, and beets: 6"-10" diameter pots
Most herbs: 4"-6" diameter pots


Estimating soil mix to use:
4" pot: 1 pint soil
6" pot: 3 pints soil
8" pot: 11/2 gallons soil
10" pot: 21/2 gallons soil
12" pot: 31/2 gallons soil
14" pot: 41/2 gallons soil
16" pot: 51/2 gallons soil
20" pot: 61/2 gallons soil


Beans, Lima Bush Baby, Fordhook Bush Lima, Fordhook 242 12" wide, 8-10" deep

Beans, Snap Bush Romano, Contender, Provider, Tendercrop Stringless, Bush Blue Lake 8" wide, 8-10" deep

Beets Baby Canning, Spinel Little Ball, Red Ace Hybrid, Burpee Golden 6"-12" deep

Broccoli Any variety but Crusader 20" deep

Brussels Sprouts All varieties 12" wide, 12" deep

Cabbage Baby Head, Dwarf Morden, Minicole, Fast Ball, Flash 8"-10" wide, 12" deep

Carrots Short root or round, Nantes, Gold Nugget, Best of the Bunch, Little Finger, Baby Spike, Short & Sweet, Thumbelina 10" wide, 10" deep

Chard Any variety 8-12" deep

Chinese Cabbage Bok Choy, Michihli, Wong Bok 20" deep

Collards Any variety 12" deep

Corn Space saving varieties, F-M Cross, Golden Bantam, Kandy Korn, Precocious 21" wide, 8" deep. Need 3 plants per container to assure pollination.

Cucumber Salad Bush, Burpee Hybrid II, Bush Crop, Spacemaster, Burpee Pickler, Bush Champion, Fanfare, Pickalot, Picklebush, Pot Luck 20" wide, 16" deep

Eggplant Dusky, Morden Midget, Bambino, Millionaire 16" deep

Horseradish Maliner Kren 5 gallon or larger

Kale Any variety 8" wide, 8" deep

Kohlrabi Grand Duke 12" deep

Lettuce Black-seeded Simpson, Red Sails, Salad Bowl, Tom Thumb, Green Ice, Little Gem 8" wide, 6-8" deep

Onion Bunching types work best: White Pear, Japanese Bunching, Beltsville Bunching, Crystal Wax Pickling PBR 10-12" deep

Peas Little Marvel, Sugar Bon, Sugar Mel, Laxton’s Progress, Sugar Rae, Melting Sugar, Burpee’s Blue Bantam, Early Patio, Snowbird 12" deep

Peppers Any variety 16" deep

Potatoes Charlotte, Kennebec, Red Pontiac, Irish Cobbler, Epicure 1-20 gallon containers

Pumpkins Autumn Gold Hybrid, Bushkin, Jack Be Little, Small Sugar, Baby Boo 5 gallon tub

Radish Cherry Belle, Early Scarlet, French Breakfast, Sparkler, Burpee White, Comet. Avoid winter radishes.4-6" deep

Spinach Any variety 4-6" deep

Squash, Summer Early Yellow Summer, Crookneck, Goldbar, Park’s Creamy Hybrid, Scallopine, Peter Pan, Gold Rush, Pic-N-Pic Hybrid, Richgreen Hybrid, SunburstStraightneck, 24" deep

Squash, Winter Butterbush, Bush Acorn, Table King, Cream of the Crop 24" deep

Tomatoes Patio VF, Pixie, Small Fry VFN, Yellow Pear, Sweet 100, Tumbling Tom, Container Choice, Rutgers, Tiny Tim, Husky Red, Husky Gold, Yellow Canary, Whippersnapper, Basket Pak, Red Cherry, Gardener’s Delight, Sundrop Dwarf—12" deep Standard—24" deep

Turnips Any variety 10-12" deep