Container Gardening in Florida: Grow Food With No Yard

Before the food forest, before the YouTube channel, before all of it, I was growing peppers in a bucket on a little concrete slab. So when somebody tells me they cannot grow food because they do not have a yard, I take it personal. Yes you can. I did.

If you have a patio, a balcony, or a sunny front step in Florida, you have a farm. It is just a small one.

Here is exactly how to do it in this state, because Florida container gardening has its own rules.

A few links below go to my Amazon storefront. If you buy through them I make a small commission and it costs you nothing extra. Everything on there is what we actually use in our own pots and beds.

Why Containers Actually Work Better in Florida Sometimes

Real talk, containers solve some Florida problems for free:

• No nematodes. Those microscopic root pests that live in our sandy soil cannot get into a pot of fresh mix.
• You control the soil. Florida sand is basically a beach with ambition. In a container, you start with good stuff on day one.
• You can chase the sun. Or run from it. When a July heat wave hits, you can slide pots into afternoon shade. Try doing that with a garden bed.
• Renters can take it all with them. Your landlord cannot keep your tomatoes.

Pick the Right Size Pot (This Is Where Most People Mess Up)

The number one container gardening mistake I see is pots that are too small. A stressed plant in a tiny pot in Florida heat is a crispy plant by Friday. Go bigger than you think:

• 5 gallon minimum for peppers, eggplant, and determinate tomatoes.
• 10 to 15 gallons for full size tomatoes and squash.
• 1 to 3 gallons is fine for herbs, lettuce, and green onions.
• Fabric grow bags are my favorite for Florida. They breathe, roots do not cook against hot plastic, and they store flat in the off season. The grow bags and pots I use are on my storefront.

Whatever you use, it needs drainage holes. Our summer downpours will drown a plant in a pot with no holes in one single afternoon.

The Soil Formula

Do not fill pots with dirt from the ground, and do not use the cheapest bagged stuff that turns into a brick. My basic mix is potting soil blended with compost, plus a scoop of perlite if the mix feels heavy. Container plants only get what you give them, so feed with a slow release organic fertilizer at planting and a liquid feed like fish emulsion every couple weeks once they are growing hard.

The potting mix, perlite and fertilizer I use in containers are on my storefront. Containers are the one place I do not cheap out on soil, because there is nowhere else for the roots to go.

Watering in Florida Heat

Here is the honest part. From May through September, containers in full Florida sun usually need water every single day, sometimes twice on the brutal days. The pot dries out way faster than the ground does.

Make it easy on yourself:

• Water in the morning before the heat arrives.
• Stick your finger two inches into the soil. Dry means water now.
• Group your pots together so they shade each other's roots.
• Mulch the top of each pot. Yes, pots get mulch too.

What to Grow in Containers in Florida

Some crops were born for pot life:

The Easy Wins

• Peppers. Hot or sweet, peppers might do better in containers than in the ground here. One Scotch bonnet in a 5 gallon bag will keep your kitchen dangerous all year.
• Everglades tomatoes. The tiny Florida native tomato that produces through summer heat. Give it a big pot and something to sprawl on.
• Herbs. Basil, rosemary, oregano, chives, mint. Keep mint in its own pot unless you want a mint themed balcony.
• Lettuce and greens. October through March, a wide shallow container of cut and come again lettuce beats any grocery store clamshell.
• Green onions. Practically unkillable. Even the store bought ones regrow in a pot.

The Slightly Bigger Projects

• Eggplant. Gorgeous in a pot and productive here from fall through spring.
• Bush beans. A wide container sown thick gives you real harvests fast.
• Sweet potatoes. A big grow bag of sweet potatoes is the closest thing to gardening on autopilot, and the leaves are edible while you wait.
• Dwarf fruit. A dwarf banana or a barbados cherry in a big pot turns a patio into a whole vibe.

If you want a fuller list of what grows well here season by season, grab my free Florida plant guide and screenshot it for your next plant shopping trip. The seeds I plant each season are on my storefront too, and this post covers what to start right now.

Reading Your Sun Before You Buy Anything

Do this first. Spend one day checking your space at 9am, noon, and 4pm and write down where the sun actually falls. Six or more hours means you can grow fruiting crops like tomatoes and peppers. Four hours means lean on greens and herbs. A hot west facing balcony that bakes all afternoon is actually great in winter and needs shade cloth in summer. Concrete and screen enclosures change everything, which is why guessing does not work.

Start With Three Pots

Do not go buy 20 containers this weekend. Start with three. One pepper, one pot of herbs, one container of something leafy for the season you are in. Learn your space, learn your watering rhythm, then grow the operation. That little concrete slab of mine started with one bucket, and now Jermaine claims he cannot park in the driveway. He is exaggerating. Mostly.

I put everything I know about growing food in pots in this state into my Florida Container Garden Guide. It is a digital download, so it is on your phone in two minutes, standing right there at the garden center. And for my paper people, the full print container book, If You Can Eat It, You Can Grow It, is coming soon, so keep an eye out.

I also post one thing a week on Patreon, garden journal one week and a recipe the next, five dollars a month.

Rooted In J's | YouTube | Patreon | My Amazon storefront