Plants
How to Grow and Care for Petunia Flowers in Containers
Intro: This classic flower for plant containers comes in many colors, mostly blue, white, and shades of pink. There are a few different petunia flower varieties: large flowers (grandiflora), ground cover (hedgiflora), smaller flowers good for baskets (multiflora), or small flowers that do well in harsh weather (milliflora).
How to Grow and Care for the Onion Plant in Containers
Intro: The savory onion bulb is a popular vegetable for urban kitchen gardens. The onion plant thrives in the cooler months. Onions can be grown year-round, and some onion varieties are better for different seasons. Choose short day length varieties (about 10 hours of daylight), such as Onion Toughball, Troy or Radar variety for fall plantings. Choose long day length (roughly 15 daylight hours) varieties, Marco, Red Baron or Hyred, to plant in the container garden in the spring. White Lisbon is a good variety for the winter. There are many onion plant varieties – choose a variety that will do well in your area and one you would enjoy eating from the garden. Out of the yellow, white and red onions, yellow has the strongest onion flavor, and red is the sweetest.
How to Grow and Care for Daffodils in Containers
Intro: Daffodills, also called Narcissus, are hardy flowering plants that mostly flower in spring, but several species (such as Narcissus tazetta, commonly called paperwhites) flower in Autumn. All daffodil flowers have a trumpet surrounded by six floral leaves (outer three are sepals, and the inner three are petals). Most common daffodil flower colors are yellow, white or a mixture of the two. The daffodil flower has a pleasant sweet smell. Daffodils are great flowering plants for balcony container gardens.
How to Grow and Care for Broccoli in Containers
Intro: Broccoli is an easy cool-season crop to care for in kitchen gardens in balcony container gardens. The large flower heads are eaten raw, steamed or boiled. It is closely related to cauliflower, which is another cultivar of the Brassica oleracea species. It can get quite tall – up to 3 feet tall.
How to Grow and Care for Tomatillos in Containers
Intro: Tomatillos are great container plants for kitchen gardens that many people think are just green tomatoes. Tomatillos are a smaller (think the size of a golf ball) green fruit that grows inside of a papery husk. These little green vegetables (technically tomatillos are fruit) are popular in Mexican cuisine (they are native to Mexico) and are the key ingredient in salsa verde. You may also find some purple or red tomatillo varieties. Tomatillo plants will need stakes, a trellis or some other type of support. The flowers will attract bees, which will increase fruit production. They do well in small 5-gallon plant containers with well-draining potting soil. Each tomatillo plant will produce many tomatillos, so be prepared!
