What vegetables grow best in pots?

Tomatoes, salad leaves, radishes, dwarf beans, courgettes, potatoes in bags, chillies, spring onions and most herbs are the most productive and reliable container crops.

What is the easiest vegetable to grow in a container?

Salad leaves and radishes are the easiest and fastest, ideal for a first container crop.

The Best Vegetables for Containers

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The short version

Best all-rounders — salad leaves, radishes, tomatoes, chillies, dwarf French beans and herbs give the most reward for the space.
Easiest first crops — salad leaves and radishes are fast and almost foolproof; sow little and often from March onwards.
Match the pot to the crop — shallow troughs (15–20cm) for salad and spring onions, up to 30–40cm pots for tomatoes, courgettes and potatoes in bags.
The golden rule — bigger pots are more forgiving; more compost holds more water and feeds more roots, so when in doubt, size up.
Don't skimp on care — free-draining compost, regular summer watering and a weekly high-potash feed once cropping; drought is the main reason container crops fail.
Skip the wrong crops — maincrop potatoes, parsnips, sweetcorn, large brassicas and sprawling squash are a poor use of a pot.

You don't need a garden to grow a genuinely useful amount of food. A few well-chosen pots on a patio, balcony or sunny windowsill will keep a kitchen in salad, tomatoes, beans and herbs through the summer. The trick is picking crops that actually thrive in a confined root space — and giving each one a pot big enough to do its job.

This guide ranks the best vegetables for containers in the UK, with the pot size each one needs and a one-line reason it earns its place. It pairs with our complete guide to growing food in containers, which covers the how — this is the what. If you're still working out what to plant in, our notes on choosing pots and container sizes will save you a lot of trial and error.

The golden rule of container crops

Bigger pots are more forgiving. A larger volume of compost holds more water and feeds more roots, so it dries out and runs out of nutrients more slowly. When in doubt, size up.

How we ranked them

Three things make a vegetable a good container crop: it copes with a limited root run, it gives a worthwhile return for the space, and it doesn't demand more attention than a busy beginner can give. Crops that tick all three sit at the top.

Every crop below works outdoors in a typical UK season, sown or planted at the right time. Our planting calendar gives sowing and harvest windows for each one, and the yield calculator helps you work out how many pots you need to feed a household.

1. Salad leaves and lettuce — the easiest win

Pot size: a window box or any container 15–20cm deep.

Why: fast, forgiving and almost impossible to fail with. You can cut and come again for weeks.

Loose-leaf and cut-and-come-again lettuces are the single best crop for a first-time container grower. Sow a pinch of seed every couple of weeks from March to August (this is called successional sowing) and you'll never be short of leaves. They don't need a deep pot — a shallow trough or even a recycled tray with drainage holes will do.

Leaves bolt (run to seed) in hot, dry spells, so keep them watered and give them light shade in midsummer. Our lettuce guide has the full sowing routine, and winter salad leaves keep a windowsill productive into autumn.

2. Radishes — the fastest crop you can grow

Pot size: any pot 15cm or deeper.

Why: ready in as little as four weeks, perfect for kids and impatient beginners.

Nothing rewards a beginner faster than radishes. Sow them thinly across the top of a pot, thin the seedlings to a couple of centimetres apart, keep them watered, and you'll be pulling crisp roots within a month. They're so quick you can slot them between slower crops or sow them in gaps. See the radishes guide for varieties and the knack of avoiding woody, over-hot roots.

Quick UK timing

Sow salad leaves and radishes from March onwards once the worst frosts have passed. Both crop right through summer if you keep sowing little and often.

3. Tomatoes — the most rewarding by far

Pot size: one plant per 30cm pot (around 20–25 litres), or a grow bag for two to three plants.

Why: a single healthy plant can produce kilos of fruit from a tiny footprint.

If you only grow one thing in a pot, make it a tomato. They love the warmth that paving and walls hold onto, and a sunny, sheltered patio often suits them better than open ground. Bush (determinate) varieties such as 'Tumbling Tom' are made for pots and hanging baskets and need no training, while cordon types like 'Gardener's Delight' want a cane and a weekly pinch-out of side shoots.

Tomatoes are hungry and thirsty — once the first flowers set, feed weekly with a high-potash tomato food and never let the compost dry right out, or you'll get split fruit and blossom end rot. Our tomato guide covers it all; most beginners do well to buy young plants in May rather than raise them from seed, and a greenhouse is a bonus if you have one.

4. Chillies and peppers — small plants, big flavour

Pot size: one plant per 25–30cm pot.

Why: compact, ornamental and a single chilli plant gives more fruit than most people can eat.

Chillies are tailor-made for containers and a sunny windowsill. The plants stay small, look handsome, and a single one will hand you a glut of fruit. Sweet peppers work the same way but want a slightly bigger pot and a warm, sheltered spot — they're a touch fussier in a cool UK summer. Both need a long, warm season, so start them early or buy plug plants. Our peppers and chillies guide explains how to get fruit to ripen before autumn arrives.

5. Dwarf French beans — the no-fuss bean

Pot size: a 30cm pot holds five or six plants; a deep trough works well too.

Why: no canes, no training, and a steady picking of tender beans for weeks.

Climbing beans need a wigwam and a lot of root room, which makes them awkward in pots. Dwarf French beans solve that — they stay knee-high, need no support, and crop heavily for their size. Sow them after the last frost (late May in most of the UK) and keep picking to keep them producing. The wider beans guide covers varieties and the all-important "pick often" rule. For an earlier, hardier option, broad beans also do well in a deep container.

6. Potatoes in bags — surprisingly satisfying

Pot size: a 40-litre potato bag or large tub, three seed potatoes per bag.

Why: clean, easy and you tip out a bag of new potatoes with zero digging.

Growing potatoes in bags is one of the most satisfying container crops there is, and a brilliant one for kids. Plant a few seed potatoes in a third of compost, then "earth up" by adding more as the shoots grow. First and second earlies (new potatoes) suit bags best. Chit your seed potatoes on a windowsill first for a head start — our chitting guide shows how, and the main potatoes guide covers the earthing-up routine.

7. Courgettes — one plant feeds a family

Pot size: a large 40cm pot or half-barrel, 30 litres minimum, one plant only.

Why: astonishingly productive — a single plant can swamp you in summer.

A courgette is a big, thirsty plant, so it needs a big, thirsty pot. Give it one — a half-barrel is ideal — and a single plant will produce more courgettes than you'll know what to do with from July to September. Keep it well watered and well fed, and pick the courgettes young and often. Our courgettes guide has the routine that keeps them coming, and they're a great gateway crop for getting kids growing.

8. Beetroot — easy roots in a deep pot

Pot size: a pot 25–30cm deep; sow thinly across the surface.

Why: reliable, dual-purpose (roots and leaves) and happy in a deep trough.

Beetroot is one of the easiest root crops for pots, as long as the container is deep enough for the roots to swell. Each seed is actually a cluster, so thin the seedlings once they're up. There's a bonus crop too — the young leaves are lovely in salads. The beetroot guide has sowing tips and tender varieties.

9. Spring onions — the perfect gap-filler

Pot size: any pot or window box 15cm deep.

Why: quick, tidy, and they slot into the smallest spaces between other crops.

Spring onions take up almost no room and grow happily in a shallow pot or window box. Sow a thin row, keep them watered, and start pulling once they're pencil-thick. Sow a fresh batch every few weeks for a constant supply. For full-size bulbs, our onions guide covers growing from sets, though those prefer open ground.

10. Herbs — the most useful pots on the patio

Pot size: 20cm pots for most; bigger for mint and rosemary.

Why: expensive to buy, cheap to grow, and right by the kitchen door when you need them.

No container collection is complete without herbs. A few pots of basil, parsley, chives and coriander by the back door earn their space many times over. Mediterranean herbs love the sharp drainage a pot provides — see our guide to Mediterranean herbs for rosemary, thyme and oregano, which thrive on a little neglect. Keep mint in its own pot, though: given free root run it will bully everything else. Our mint guide explains why a pot is the kindest place for it.

Don't forget fruit

Containers aren't just for veg. Strawberries crop beautifully in pots and hanging baskets, and blueberries actually prefer a pot of ericaceous compost. Both are excellent additions to a small-space growing collection.

What doesn't suit a container

Honesty saves disappointment. A few crops are a poor return on the space, or simply struggle in a pot:

Maincrop potatoes — too greedy for the yield. Stick to new potatoes in bags.
Parsnips, swede and other long roots — they need deep, stone-free ground to grow straight.
Sweetcorn — needs to be grown in a block for pollination, which is impractical in pots; see the sweetcorn guide if you have a bed.
Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and large brassicas — tall, hungry and slow; a poor use of a single pot.
Pumpkins and winter squash — they sprawl for metres and drink endlessly; pumpkins want open ground.
Climbing/runner beans — possible in a very large tub, but the root run and support make them awkward. Choose dwarf French beans instead.

On a small balcony or windowsill, lean hard on the top of this list — salads, herbs, tomatoes, chillies and radishes give the best return per centimetre. Our notes on growing food with no garden and windowsill growing go further on the smallest spaces.

A starter kit for container crops

Most of these crops want the same few things: a free-draining compost, regular watering through summer, and a liquid feed once they're cropping. Get the compost and feed right and you've removed two of the three reasons container crops fail — the third is drought, so just keep on top of watering.

Where to start

If this is your first container, plant a pot of salad leaves and a bag of potatoes — both are nearly foolproof and give a quick, confidence-building harvest. Add a tomato plant in May and you've got the makings of a genuinely useful patio garden.

When you're ready for the detail on compost, watering and feeding, head back to the container growing guide, or browse the full container growing hub for crop-by-crop pot guides. New to growing altogether? Our advice on the easiest crops for beginners is the perfect companion to this list.