Best Fruits and Vegetables to Grow in Hanging Baskets

What are the best fruits and vegetables to grow in hanging baskets? The best edible plants for hanging baskets will depend on your location and preferences. There is no right or wrong answer when opting for hanging edible plants.

We’ve all seen them – those beautiful hanging baskets filled with annual flowers decorating the town square or even our own patios or decks. But these beauties can become useful as well as ornamental with the addition of edible plants for hanging baskets. Edible hanging baskets can hold a mix of edible fruits and vegetables as well as annuals.

Edible Hanging Basket Considerations

Edible hanging baskets are also a great vertical growing idea for those with limited space. If all you have is a small porch next to your condo, hanging baskets filled with your favorite fruits and vegetables double as garden space.

There are obviously some reservations. You can’t grow a full-sized peach tree or tomato plant, but you can grow hanging basket cherry tomatoes and certainly hanging strawberries to complement your menu.

You will want to select the lightest, yet sturdiest container that has adequate drainage holes.

If your hanging basket doesn’t have sides, you’ll need to line it with coconut fiber or a similar organic material to keep the soil and plants inside.

Most fruits and vegetables (and herbs) require at least 6 hours of full sun per day.

Your soil selection should be well-drained, light but rich in organic matter.

As for how many plants can fit in your hanging basket: a container 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm) in diameter will hold 1 to 2 plants. You want to give the plant some room to grow, so don’t overcrowd it.

Make sure that if you combine hanging herbs, annuals, vegetables and fruits, that they all benefit from similar conditions of light, water, fertilizer, etc.

Finally, you’ll want to think about smaller varieties of vegetables and fruits that can thrive in a container. Space is limited, so opt for dwarf cultivars when available.

Best Edible Plants for Hanging Baskets

You can grow almost any herb in potted baskets, but I would avoid taller ones like fennel.

As for fruits and vegetables, again, look for dwarf cultivars. Cherry or grape tomatoes, compact hot peppers, dwarf eggplants (Patio Baby), garden or Alpine strawberries, Patio Pickle or Summer Dance cucumbers, trailing sweet potatoes, cucamelon, most types of green vegetables or lettuces and radishes will all work well suspended. baskets.

You can even grow the prolific zucchini in a hanging basket, but probably just one. Green or new onions and garlic can be grown as the centerpiece of the basket surrounded by shorter plants. Tomatoes or ground cherries can be grown in hanging baskets.

Dwarf bean varieties can be grown in the center of the hanging basket while trailing varieties can hang and dangle over the sides. Any variety of peas can be grown as a hanging plant or trained on a trellis or supports on your patio or deck.

Edible Hanging Basket Ideas

You can make your baskets really pop by adding blooming annuals or even edible flowers such as calendula, chrysanthemum, dianthus, French marigold, fuchsia, nasturtiums, pansies or violas. Additionally, bees and beneficial pollinators love the flowers and will help with pollination.

Don’t overfill your basket with plants. Trust me on this. I know the basket looks better when it’s full, but give the plants space to grow. Too many plants are competing for nutrients and water.

Start in the center of the basket when planting. Place the tallest mature plants in the center and radiate out with progressively shorter plantings. Place hanging plants on the outer edges to drape them over the sides of the pot.

When possible, hang your edible baskets near the house or outdoor kitchen. If it is nearby, you will not only use it, but also remember to water it.

Concerning water, hanging planters require more water than plants in the ground. On a sunny, hot day, you might end up watering them more than once a day.

You should also fertilize more frequently than you would for plants in the ground; feed them lightly but more frequently. This is because there is little nutrient-rich soil for plants to draw from and watering plants leaches nutrients from the container as it drains.

If you know you probably won’t think to fertilize (I’m scolding myself here), it’s a good idea to incorporate a slow-release fertilizer into the soil before repotting your plants.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best fruits to hang?

Alpine and evergreen strawberries, dwarf or ground blueberries, raspberries (Ruby Fall or Raspberry Shortcake), and Baby Cake or Cascade blackberries can all be grown in hanging baskets. If we go by the botanical definition of “fruit,” our list expands to include various cucumbers, cherry or grape tomatoes, dwarf eggplants, and even zucchini.

Can you grow cucumbers in a hanging basket?

Yes, cucumbers can be grown in hanging baskets. It is a good idea to choose from smaller sized fruits such as Picolino, Spacemaster, Mini Munch, Lemon and Apple cucumbers.