Container Gardening in Colorado

What to grow, when to plant, and how

Want to have a garden, but don’t have a yard? No problem! In Colorado, you can easily grow plants and veggies from your patio or balcony without needing much space at all. Container garden is perfect for anyone living in an apartment and wants to grow some of their own food.

Getting Started Indoors

How to decide what to grow: Your location and the amount of daily sunlight on your space will influence what kinds of plants will do best in your environment. If you live in a place that gets a lot of sun, then look for plants that require sunlight and do well in the heat when you’re doing your plant shopping. If you have a shadier space, then look for plants that don’t require a whole lot of sunlight.

My patio in Colorado is west facing, with little shade, and almost constant direct sunlight from 7:00am to 3:00pm. The plants that loved sunlight thrived, but I had a few plants that could not take the heat and ended up scorched and dry.

How much space you have will also dictate the kinds of plants you get. Some larger plants, like large tomatoes and bell peppers, need deep soil which require large planters or containers. If you live on a small balcony, you may simply not have the space for those kinds of plants. But don’t let that discourage you from starting a garden. Even in a smaller space, you can still grow herbs and leafy greens like spinach or komatsuna.

When to plant: After you have selected your plants and vegetables you’d like to grow, let the seed packets be your guide. Each packet of seeds has instructions for how to cultivate your plant. Every plant varies, but I started sowing my seeds indoors at the end of March.

Indoor care: You’ll want to regularly water or spray your seedlings and keep them in direct sunlight until they are ready to be planted outside. In Colorado, wait until May before moving them outdoors, when the temperature is consistently above freezing at night and we’ve had out last frost so your plants don’t die from the cold. Since most seeds require heat to germinate, you’re going to want to keep your plants in a warm spot inside your home or buy a heating pad, which is what I did.

What you’ll need to start sowing:

Seed starting soil (different than potting soil)
Seed starter tray with cells
Hand trowel or gardening gloves
Heating pad
A sunny spot inside

What grew well on my patio in Colorado (Denver area):

Cherry tomatoes
Thai red peppers
Spinach
Radishes
Cilantro
Basil
Komatsuna

Moving Plants Outdoors

In mid to late May, you can finally transfer your plants into their final planters and move them outside. Obviously, you’ll need to put the taller, fuller plants in large containers, while smaller plants, like herbs, in shallower troughs.

For the soil, I’d recommend Miracle Gro or Pro Mix soil made for planters. Fill up your containers with the new soil, remove your plants from their cells, and gently place them in their container. Water daily and watch your plants grow!

If you notice your plants struggling, you can add a fertilizer to the soil or move them to a shadier or sunnier spot depending on what they need.