23 Vegetables I’m Growing This Spring In My Container Garden

There is nothing more exciting to me than those first days of spring weather signaling that we’ve survived the winter and it’s finally time for the vegetable growing season!

I have an urban container and raised bed garden in Zone 6b.

Because I have a smaller space for growing vegetables, I have to be intentional with what I plant.

I don’t do too much experimenting or planting of vegetables that I don’t love.

That’s just a waste of space!

Below, I’ll share the vegetables I am growing this spring and share my thinking behind how I choose which ones to grow.

Planning Out The Spring Vegetable Garden

As a beginning vegetable gardener seven years ago, I made many mistakes when it came to choosing what to grow.

If you’re like me and have a smaller space to grow in, you need a different approach than those with larger gardens.

Of course, the approach to seasonality will be the same, although it will depend on where you live.

I am in Missouri in Zone 6b, so in the spring I can only grow cool season vegetables. Those tomatoes, peppers, squash and other warm season vegetables have to wait until June.

When deciding what to grow, I base it off what we prefer to eat, the size of the mature plant and how long it takes to get there, and what my shade versus sunlight situation is.

 Below are the vegetables I am growing this spring, and further down, I’ll share what spring vegetables I don’t grow in my container gardens and why.

For these, I note whether I am growing them from seed or transplant – sometimes I grow from seed and then can’t help myself and purchase transplants when I see them on the garden store shelf too. Whoops! I only do this if I know I have room for more.

• Radishes (seed): I’ll do several succession plantings of these since they go from seed to harvest in about a month.
• Herbs (transplants): I always have several herbs in my garden, and in the spring, I start with parsley, cilantro, thyme, rosemary, oregano, mint, and chives.
• Beets (seed): I find beets cumbersome to cook, so I grow a small amount.
• Spinach (seed): I absolutely love growing spinach because it is so versatile in the kitchen. This year, I am growing a more traditional variety as well as a Mustard Spinach, which is new to me.
• Arugula (seed): This grows pretty quickly in the spring garden.
• Carrots (seed): Although they take a long time to grow to maturity, I have a couple sections where I am growing carrots. They are always hit and miss for me, but I still try them each year.
• Red Cabbage and Napa Cabbage (transplant): I am growing two heads of each variety. I don’t love growing cabbage because they take up so much room, but I love using them in the kitchen, so I am willing sacrifice some space.
• Green Onions (transplants): I don’t have the patience to grow bulb onions, so I opt for green onions instead and plant them from kitchen scraps.
• Lettuces – so many lettuces (seeds): I am growing several varieties of leaf lettuces. We love salads as the weather warms up. The seeds I purchased for these are adapted for my regional climate. I try to purchase these types of seeds as much as possible.
• Celery (transplants): This is my first year growing celery, so we’ll see how I like it!
• Swiss Chard (transplant): I can confidently say that Swiss Chard is my favorite leafy green to grow. It does well in both shade and sun AND it doesn’t bolt in the warm months!
• Tatsoi (transplant): This is my first year growing tatsoi, so we’ll see how I like it!
• Kale (transplant): I am growing a few different varieties this year, Winter Hardy, Tuscan, and White Russian.  
• Snap Peas and Snow Peas: I am trying out two new trellis systems this year, so hopefully they work well for my peas this spring.

Spring Vegetable Plants I Don’t Grow

Below are spring cool season vegetables that you could grow in containers, but I don’t simply because we don’t cook with them much.

• Collards
• Kohlrabi
• Mustard Greens
• Bok Choy
• Turnip

There is another category of spring vegetables that I have tried to grow in the past, but I realized they were not a good fit for me.

These are vegetables that took up a large amount of space and did not mature until the end of the season.

While I have other vegetable plants that stay put until harvest, I try as much as possible to grow vegetables that can be harvested throughout their growing season. Examples of these are lettuces, spinach, peas, arugula, kale, and herbs.

The spring vegetables I grow that can’t be harvested until they mature are on the smaller side: carrots, beets, and radishes.

The exception I make is for cabbage. I grow four heads of this because I really love using it in the kitchen – and I can get several meals out of them. I have a wooden raised garden bed in my front lawn that gets plenty of sunlight, and I grow them in there.

The spring vegetables I do not grow are listed below.

• Broccoli and Cauliflower: The leaves of these vegetable plant are large, so it takes up a good amount of room. And then when it is ready to harvest, you just get one head, which lasts one meal for me. You can get shoots after harvesting the main head, but my shoots were pretty small. It’s just not worth it for me to take up space in my smaller garden.
• Brussels Sprouts: I have never attempted to grow these, but based on what I have read, it would be a similar situation to the broccoli and cauliflower.

Well, there you have it – that’s what I’m growing and not growing this spring!