The vegetable garden in a pot: harvesting on your urban balcony

Do you live in the city and still want to harvest vegetables and herbs? You can. Everything that grows in the vegetable garden can also be planted in pots. In these, some plants do better than others, but admittedly, it usually works out surprisingly well. Because you don't always need an impressive number of square meters to be able to eat from your own garden. You can pick quite a bit on a terrace or balcony in the city. Below we share our tips to make growing in a pot even easier.

The advantage of gardening in pots is that you can get started faster. A pot warms up faster and thus provides a better growing environment for your plants. But heating up faster also means more watering. Keep a close eye on the soil and water when needed. Soil that needs water is dry, soil that feels moist can do without it for a while.

Gardening in pots with soil from the garden is not recommended. You will need potting soil for sowing and planting. This is because garden soil will quickly dry out and silt up or barely retain moisture if it is sandy soil. Potting soil contains the best of both worlds. It is airy, holds water well when needed and usually contains an organic base fertilizer, good for 6 to 8 weeks. You can garden in just about anything, as long as it has holes in it. That ensures that excess water can be drained and it doesn't stagnate at the roots of your plants. After all, that encourages mold and root rot.

Radishes almost always succeed in a pot; carrots are more difficult because they will grow deeper into the ground. Fortunately, there are resourceful alternatives. Take the Paris carrot. A small, bulbous carrot that is barely bigger than a radish and does just fine in pots. Wonderful, how Mother Nature has a solution to this kind of luxury problem. Peas, herbs and beets, among others, also do well in a pot.

You harvest a head of lettuce after an average of 6 weeks. Usually in one go. Among others, cut and pick lettuce, spinach and peas continue to form new shoots or pods - and thus need to be picked regularly. The more often you harvest, the more leaves or pods are produced. Crops growing in pots need to be followed up a bit more often, but it's all worth it when you can harvest later.

Pumpkins and zucchini are allowed to go outside after the frost heals in May, so they can also be kept in large pots. Both are hungry and thirsty plants, so they require some extra attention. But that doesn't outweigh the pleasure. Small pumpkins, by the way, can also grow in height along a stick or string. Ideal for small areas. Or consider keeping climbing beans in a large tub. Good yields and great for providing vegetation in height as well. This immediately makes a small area feel much more spacious.

And perhaps we forget the most important thing of all: proximity to a kitchen is very convenient, if you want to harvest later. You don't have to go through the whole garden to cut herbs, for example. While cooking, you can quickly go outside with a pair of scissors and quickly pick a few things to season your dishes with. In addition, a "pot garden" - let's just call it that - is also beautiful. It makes a terrace or balcony instantly cozier and it looks very soothing.