Beans. McGee favors pole beans over bush beans because of their longer season of productivity. For support, she recommends sticking five 6-foot bamboo stakes inside the edges of a large container such as a half whisky barrel and lashing the tops together to create a teepee effect. Plant a couple of beans at the bottom of each stake. Beans are easy to grow from seed and are seldom sold as young plants. She likes the varieties Blue Lake, Kentucky Blue and colorful Purple Peacock, but there are many other good ones. Pole beans make good windbreaks on roof and balcony gardens because the vines are supple and don't mind being batted around, unlike tall tomato plants. (But lash them to a railing in a windy location.) They should never be allowed to dry out completely.

Cucumbers. You can't have a summer salad without these, and the fresh ones really do taste better. Steer away from the American slicing varieties similar to those in the supermarket, though. What would be the point? McGee suggests growing a European- or Asian-style cucumber. Her favorites are Sweet Success, Japanese style Suyo, and the heirloom variety Lemon (which looks like one), all of which need a trellis, and Fanfare, a compact plant that requires no support. 

If you buy these as seedlings, be careful when transplanting them to disturb the roots as little as possible. If you have trouble finding any of these varieties at local nurseries, it's not too late to grow cucumbers from seed, and now you can start them outdoors if you use the milk-can method. (''Put three seeds in a pot, then take a milk jug and cut the bottom off it and leave the cap off and use it to cover the pot and keep it warm,'' said McGee.) Cucumbers like constantly moist soil, and weekly fertilizing once they set fruit.

Eggplants. You either love eggplant or you don't. Most varieties adapt well to deck or roof-top living, so if you are an eggplant lover, go for it. The lime-green, Japanese variety Green Goddess is ''a little factory. If you see it, grab it!'' said McGee. She suggests covering the container with black plastic for a few days before planting to warm up the soil, and covering the seedlings with plastic on cool nights. After planting, keep the soil moist and fertilize every two weeks.

Peppers. There are a lot of choices. ''Hot peppers are really nice to grow because they turn red earlier and look pretty,'' said McGee, who prefers less fiery varieties such as Senorita Jalapeno. ''With sweet peppers, look for something that will mature in 70 days or less, like Ace and Gypsy, so you won't be hanging around all summer waiting for some fruit. (Remember, the `days to maturity' are peppers ripened to the green stage, not purple or red.) Get peppers that are smaller fruited, such as Jingle Bells or Cherrytime. Italian roasting types such as Giant Marconi tend to be really productive. Frying peppers are long and skinny but earlier maturing. Sometimes a pepper plant can take off, and if you see that happening, stake it.''

Summer squash. These plants can be easily grown in containers except that most varieties want to spill out onto your entire deck. However, Eight Ball is a very compact zucchini variety that works well in a 12-inch-wide container. The squashes are round (hence the name) and cluster around a strong central stalk.

Tomatoes. When it comes to growth habits, there are two types of tomatoes, determinate and indeterminate, and you need to find out which you are buying, even if it's in the tiniest print on the label. Determinate varieties are bushier and shorter, which would seem to make them better for containers. However, McGee generally prefers indeterminate varieties because their fruit doesn't ripen all at the same time. Indeterminate tomatoes require trellising systems or staking and you need to prune the plants to a single stem, unlike determinate types.

McGee recommends Celebrity, Early Girl, Jet Setter, or First Lady, top sellers widely available at garden centers now. Among grape or cherry tomatoes, she likes Sungold.

Heirloom and beefsteak tomatoes are not the best choices for containers, but she has successfully grown Big Beef and found it very disease resistant and productive.

No matter what you grow, many containers will fit the bill, as long as they can provide a minimum soil depth of 6 inches and a width of 12 inches and have drainage holes. Tomatoes, peppers, and beans need pots at least a foot deep.

Bear in mind that small pots often need daily watering. Putting a plastic pot inside a decorative outer container (called a cachepot) is one way to reduce moisture evaporation. There are also many ''self-watering'' pots on the market that let plant roots drink from a reservoir filled from below.

Seeds for all the varieties mentioned are available from Nichols Garden Nursery, 1190 Old Salem Road NE, Albany, OR, 97321, (800-422-3985, www.nichols

gardennursery.com). 

Memorial Day weekend is the traditional time to plant your summer vegetables, so next week's column will look at where to find large selections of seedlings locally.