Learn How to Make a Delicious Soup Garden in Containers in a small space to prepare nutritious and heartwarming soup from tasty, homegrown ingredients!
If you love nutritious and heartwarming soups, why not next time prepare them from homegrown vegetables picked from your very own Container Soup Garden? This rewarding activity needs just a pinch of your time, small space to keep containers, and some tending.
Check out our article on protein-rich vegetables to grow here
How to Make Soup Garden in Containers
Before you move ahead, here are two of the most important aspects that you have to keep in mind.
Location
Soup Vegetables require five to six hours of sunlight daily to produce well. If you’ve got a balcony, patio, terrace, or even a sunny windowsill in your home–you can grow these.
Container size
It depends on the type of vegetable you’re planting. For herbs, small pots are fine! Vegetables like Tomatoes, zucchini, okra, and beans will need large pots. You can also use hanging baskets and window boxes in your balcony to start a soup garden.
Best Vegetables for Soup Garden
While you can add any vegetable of your choice in the soup, we’re listing the most essential and easiest to grow:
1. Tomatoes
Grow any type of tomato in your limited space soup garden and they’ll all test best, but it’d be best if you opt for plum tomatoes like Roma. You can grow them in hanging baskets as well!
2. Potatoes
Yukon Gold or Russets are ideal choices if you are looking for potato starch to thicken your soup. If you like soups with firm potato cubes, then plant waxy, low-starch potatoes like Red Norland or Kennebec.
3. Onions & Green Onions
Sweet onion varieties like Vidalia or Walla Walla don’t go well in soups, so grow traditional yellow varieties. Growing green onions in your soup garden is a must for added garnishing and flavor. You can also use it for other recipes.
4. Carrot
Enjoy super healthy carrot soup with sweet-spicy flavors of basil and black pepper! If you have a shortage of space, you can grow carrots on the balcony or in window boxes!
5. Garlic
Root crops like garlic, sweet potato, turnip, and rutabaga can be an excellent addition to your soup garden. Don’t forget to grow garlic greens in your soup garden as they are appetizing and tastes great!
6. Beans
Prepare a delicious bean soup by adding onions, garlic, carrot, celery, and beans that are rich in fiber, vitamins, protein, and mineral.
7. Okra
Okra pods become more gelatinous while cooking. You can use okras to thicken soups with their mucilaginous texture. Combine tomato, corn, and red lentils to okra soup and make it more delicious!
8. Zucchini
Include zucchini in your soup garden and prepare heart-warming zucchini soup with burnt garlic or yellow zucchini soup with carrots!
9. Celery
Celery is an important plant in your soup garden that cannot be missed! Just add garlic, ginger, onion, water, butter with chopped celery leaves and stalk to enjoy a tasty soup!
Growing Tips
Grow celery from summer to late fall. Give it plenty of water, rich soil, and 5-7 hours of daily sunlight.
10. Broccoli
Aspabroc and Big Boy varieties are perfect for your soup garden. Broccoli is rich in protein, calcium, zinc, and vitamin K. Combine broccoli florets, celery, chopped onion with chicken broth for a nutritious and mouthwatering treat!
11. Herbs
Fresh herbs are essential ingredients because their addition can add flavor to any type of soup. In lack of enough space, you can grow herbs in hanging baskets or create a herb tower. Grow basil, dill, rosemary, papalo, parsley, thyme, and cilantro for your soups. To learn more, check out this article here.
