• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • How to Garden
    • Seed Starting
    • Plant Profiles
    • Tools & Equipment
    • Raised Bed Gardening
  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Herbs
  • About
    • Books & Classes
      • Herbalism Classes
      • Books for Christian Herbalists
      • Privacy Policy

What Size Pots Are Good for Container Gardens?

April 17, 2017 by Jeanne

Now we get to the question in this container gardening series that so many people ask: What size pots are good for container gardens?

What Size Pots Are Good for Container Gardens?

Pots and containers have three dimensions: height, width, and depth. The soil volume refers to how much soil (dirt) the container can hold.

Soil contains nutrients, minerals, and spaces between the grains of soil that allows water and air to move within the soil. The roots of your plant reach down and out into the soil, growing and searching for water and nutrients.

Shallow Containers Dry Out Quickly

If your container isn’t deep enough, it will dry out quickly. Unless you plant to water your containers several times a day, dry soil on a hot summer’s day can quickly weaken or kill your container vegetable garden.

Root Vegetables Need Deep Containers

Root crops also need deep containers. A root crop is a vegetable that produces its edible portion underground. Carrots are a common root crop. Other root crops include beets, turnips, potatoes, onions, garlic, parsnips, and sweet potatoes.

Tall Vegetables May Need Deep and Wide Containers

A tall vegetable plant can act like a sail in the wind. The branches and leaves catch the wind on a breezy day and the entire plant tumbles over, container and all. This can break or damage branches and vegetables.

Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant should be planted in containers broad and deep enough so that the soil acts as a weight. You can also brace your container and plant against a wall, deck railing, or another object to keep it from tipping over.

These pots are too small for most vegetables but fine for herbs.

Shallow Containers Can Be Used!

Let’s say you only have a few cut-down milk containers that you are recycling into vegetable garden containers. Or perhaps you have a window box or two. What can you plant in a shallow container?

  • Strawberries can be planted in window boxes, repurposed food containers and similar shallow pots. Their roots grow near the surface and they send out runners to make new plants. These runners can easily tumble over the side of the container without harming the plant.
  • Lettuce and leafy green vegetables don’t mind shallow containers.
  • Many herb plants grow just find in a shallow container! You can use common houseplant sized containers for an herb garden.
  • “Bush” type green beans can also be grown in a shallow container.

Find a Happy Medium

What size pots are good for container gardens varies according to the type of vegetables you are planting, the variety, and much more.

The following resources also provide charts that tell you how big of a container you need to grow specific vegetables:

  • Iowa State University – Container Vegetable Gardens
  • Vegetable Gardening in Containers

Happy gardening! Keep growing!

 

Filed Under: Vegetable Gardening

Previous Post: « Types of Containers for Container Gardening
Next Post: Soil for Container Vegetable Gardens »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ashley

    January 14, 2019 at

    I’d like to start a container garden this spring… where would I find some of the black containers like you have pictured?

    • Jeanne

      January 14, 2019 at

      Hi Ashley, you can find them at Home Depot, Lowes, or any garden supply store. You can also ask neighbors and friends to save them for you. Many of my pots originally came here when I bought plants. I planted the shrubs and saved the pots.

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram

As Seen in Porch

 As Seen in Porch

We were featured in Porch.com and answered reader's questions about indoor plants.

Explore All Gardening Articles

a zucchini growing in a raised bed

Growing Zucchini in Raised Beds

kale growing in a raised bed

Replenishing Raised Bed Garden Soil

raised bed garden

How to Build a Vegetable Garden Using Raised Beds

a watering can next to a seed tray on a sidewalk

What Veggies Can I Plant Now?

Herbalism Classes & Supplies

Goods Shop by Herbal Academy – botanically inspired products

Disclosure

Home Garden Joy participates in two affiliate programs: Amazon and The Herbal Academy. Home Garden Joy earns a commission from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate. As an Herbal Academy Associate, HGJ also earns a commission when you sign up for classes or purchase herbs or supplies from The Herbal Academy. Herbal information and recipes on this site are provided for educational purposes only.

Footer

butternut squash growing in a raised garden bed

How to Grow Butternut Squash Organically

Learning how to grow butternut squash organically ensures you know how to grow this tasty, nutritious vegetable in your home garden. I’ll share with you some basic information on growing butternut squash, followed by some organic gardening tips that have been helpful for me here at Seven Oaks Farm in dealing with the various pests…

Read More

herbs in a pink dish

How to Make the Perfect Cup of Herbal Tea

Make the perfect cup of herbal tea, right from your own garden! In May, I gave two free talks on how to grow, harvest, dry, and create your very own herbal teas. This lecture proved so popular that I recorded the narration and uploaded it to YouTube. You can view it below: Supplies to Make…

Read More

tent caterpillars on a pear tree

How to Get Rid of Tent Caterpillars

I spent last Saturday morning getting rid of Eastern tent caterpillars from the apple and pear trees in the orchard here on the farm. Malacosoma americanum, the Eastern tent caterpillar, is a regular visitor each spring. We first spot the shimmery webs on a clear spring day. The small ‘tents’ built by the caterpillars quickly…

Read More

kale growing in a raised bed

Replenishing Raised Bed Garden Soil

Raised bed vegetable garden soil soil needs to be replenished periodically. If you’ve done your job right and selected great soil, and amended it with nice compost, you’re going to have super garden soil for the first few years. Because you don’t walk on a raised bed garden the way that you do with typical…

Read More

  • Privacy Policy
  • About
  • Awards

Copyright © 2025 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme