Tomatoes make a colorful – and flavorful – addition to your patio. Courtesy photo

By Calvin R. Finch
Guest Columnist

When it warms up in the spring everyone’s gardening hormones begin to flow.

The urge to garden is easy to fulfill if you have some land, but even apartment dwellers can garden in containers if you have a balcony or patio.

Container gardening is a good idea even if you have a yard. A few containers can be a manageable hobby for someone with a very busy life.

If your patio or balcony has sun it is easier to garden with containers. The selection of plants that prosper in sun is greater than the number available for shade.

If flowers are your preference and you have shade, consider pentas or begonias. A single begonia will do fine in a one-gallon container. The semperfloren begonias have pink or red flowers and several shades of green leaves. Some are bronzy colored. As you increase the pot size, increase the number of begonias in the container.

Begonias look frail, but they are quite tough. They are drought-tolerant and have few pests.

Begonias can even be grown in the sun if they are established before hot weather arrives.

One of the best blooming plants for containers is penta. The tropical plant comes with red, pink or violet flowers.

Grown in full sun or shade, expect the plants to have blooms from the day you plant them until late fall. The foliage is also attractive and the plant is compact. Grow them in containers of two gallons or larger.

In addition to foliage, bloom and shade tolerance, pentas are great plants for the patio because they attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Pentas are not xeriscape plants so keep them well watered.

They also are a favorite feeding site for hornworms. If the leaves begin disappearing one day, look for the voracious caterpillar.

As large as they (hornworms) grow they are still hard to find. The damage is obvious, however, so be ready to spray Spinosad.

If your preference is vegetables, there is not much that will grow in the shade, but if you have full sun, consider peppers and tomatoes.

If tomato leaves begin disappearing, look for the ever-hungry hornworm. Courtesy photo

For most of us, one hot pepper plant provides all the hot peppers you could want, but a collection of three or four different hot pepper varieties makes for a decorative patio garden. Most nurseries offer lots of choices.

There are also several mild peppers to choose from. My favorite mild pepper is yellow banana. They are great for fresh eating, salads and cooked peppers. Ornamental peppers come in every color and combination of colors you can think of and you can eat the fruit.

All are hot peppers and sometimes the flavor is erratic, but they sure make a great show on the patio. Grow peppers in containers that are three gallons or larger.

Tomatoes do well in large containers such as half-whiskey barrels. If you cage them, any recommended variety will produce fruit if you are conscientious in watering and fertilizing. The best tomato for containers, however, are relatively small determinate or semi-determinate varieties.

Surefire has medium-sized fruit on a small plant and is a good container-grown tomato. You might also look for the new Cherry Dwarf Surprise tomato. It is a small plant that has been productive as disease-resistant in tests conducted by Dr. Jerry Parsons and his team of researchers.

For tomatoes and peppers, fill your container with a high quality potting soil (no or very little sand) enriched with Osmocote or a similar slow release fertilizer. Fertilize every two weeks in the case of tomatoes with a soluble fertilizer like Peters or Miracle Grow and every three to four weeks for peppers.

To maximize fruit production, the tomatoes should be watered when the soil dries to the touch, that may be every day in warm weather. Peppers will not be quite as thirsty. Peppers and tomatoes will grow foliage in the shade, but they need full sun for fruit production.

Insects will find container plants just like plants in the garden. Use a Bt product or Spinosad for caterpillars.

Calvin R. Finch, Ph.D., is a horticulturist and the director of water resources for the San Antonio Water System.