Growing vegetables in containers, for city folks

If you are stuck in a urban appartment, and think you cannot grow any of your food, think again!

It´s quite easy to grow vegetables in containers if you have a patio or a balcony, but no land.

Tomatoes are very easy to grow in containers. Get a container that is at least 30cm wide and 30cm deep. Fill it with a lot of compost and some soil. Tomatoes need to as much sunlight as possible, and need to be indoors. They also need watering every two days, unless the container is larger. Keep 1 plant per pot. If you want beautiful plants, give them some compost tea, seaweed, or fish residues, once a week.

Salads are also easy to grow in a wide and shallow container. Salad, rucula, pak choy, mustard are possible choices. You can grow even carrots indoors, in containers at least 30cm deep filled with fine moist compost and some added sand. They all grow better outdoors. Give them plenty of sunlight.

Potatoes. You want to grow potatoes indoors? Grow them in a large container, like a cleaning bucket, something like 45 cm per 45cm.  And just stick two potatoes in there. They don´t need much watering. It´s better to keep them outdoors, but they can grow indoors if you can give them as much sunlight as possible.

Photo: Young tomatoplants, Paulo Bessa.