Choose varieties that are more compact for container gardening. Greenhouse varieties work well in containers.

Leaf lettuce and other greens like chard, spinach, and kale are cut-and-come-again plants that make it easy to quickly harvest greens from your patio. Greens must get sufficient light without too much heat.

Smaller cucumber varieties are available that don’t require tall stakes.

Cherry tomatoes and smaller tomato varieties like Romas do well in containers. New dwarf varieties are very small but produce a lot of tomatoes. Larger tomato varieties will need at least a 5-gallon pot. Choose determinate varieties that produce for only one season and grow as compact bushes. (Indeterminate varieties are perennials and can grow to be very tall.) Be sure to prune tomato plants by pinching off the suckers that grow in the joints, or “armpits,” to limit foliage and encourage the production of fruit. When a tomato plant has grown as tall as you wish, cut off the center stalk.

Combine shorter plants with taller plants to make full use of the container growing area. Leaf lettuce combines well with tomato plants.

Seed packets will indicate the days to harvest so that you can choose varieties with shorter growing seasons.

Seed Sources

Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company (rareseeds.com)
Burpee Seeds (burpee.com)
Mountain Valley Seed Co. (mvseeds.com)
Thompson & Morgan (thompson-morgan.com)
Carpenter Seed (1030 S State St, Provo, UT)

Seed favorites

Gourmet Blend—Burpee lettuce
Ching Chang Bok Choy
Bush Pickle
Patio Tomato, Window Box Roma, Bonny Best Tomato
St. Valery Carrot