Container gardens may ease grocery bill

Janelle Ammons may soon cut down on her trips to the grocery store produce section, and it's not because rising food prices have forced her to chop $2.69 red peppers from her diet.

SLIDESHOW: See pictures of vegetables and herbs you can grow to save money

The 23-year-old Mesan grows her own crops, tending gumball-sized tomatoes and coarse-leafed strawberry plants at home.

"I grow a few different things in containers at my apartment, on my patio," says Ammons. "It's really pretty easy."

Growing vegetables in pots can reap satisfying yields without the work of a traditional vegetable garden. There's no need to build a raised bed, amend poor desert soil or battle weeds, and all you need to get started are a few plants, containers to put them in and potting soil.

"You can do cucumbers, squash, okra, zucchini, eggplant, watermelon, even a couple of corn plants if you have a big enough container. Tomatoes, artichokes and peppers - they all do really well in the summer," says Ammons, a sales associate at A&P Nursery in Mesa. "Once you do well with one plant, you're going to be your own little farmer. I started with three pots on my patio, and now I have about 30."

Right now, garden centers are likely to stock tomatoes, hot and mild peppers, cucumbers, okra, melons, strawberries, artichokes, eggplants and herbs, eliminating the need to start plants from seed.

Ammons offers these tips for growing your own container veggies:

Choose light-colored containers. "You don't want a black plastic pot because that's going to absorb all the summer sun. You'll cook the plant in its container," she says. The material - plastic, terra cotta, ceramic - is your choice, but avoid using planters that may once have held anything toxic; you don't want poisons to be absorbed by the roots of vegetables you will later eat.

Use potting soil that drains well and stays moist. It sounds contradictory, Ammons says, but soil that stays moist without allowing water to puddle is a must. Garden center staff can help you select a good one, and some soil mixes list "for vegetables" or "moisture control" on their packaging. Organic potting soil is available.

Regulate sun exposure. Many plants - tomatoes, basil and artichokes - delight in summer's heat, but Arizona's triple-digit temperatures and unfiltered sun can burn up delicate leaves and produce if the plants are overexposed. To keep them safe, "afternoon shade is essential," says Ammons. Depending on the plant, she recommends three to six hours of direct sunlight in the morning, followed by solid afternoon shade.

Pay attention to watering. The volume of soil in a pot is relatively small, so containers can dry out quickly, especially on a concrete patio in full sun. If the plants wilt every day, that's a sign the dirt is drying out. Try grouping containers together to create more shade for the soil, or experiment with the placement of pots until you find a suitable sun-to-shade ratio. Water regularly.

Herbs do well in containers. "Basil loves the heat," says Ammons. "Sage, lavender, rosemary - they all do well in the sun. Landscapers use them out here because they do so well." You can plant several varieties together in one large pot, but be prepared to transplant them to their own containers if they begin to crowd each other.