CONTAINER GARDEN RECIPES
L
ast year, when I planted spring greens and beets, I surround-
ed them with perennial chives to help repel pests and yellow yar-
row to attract beneficial insects. When they were ready to harvest, I had summer crops, including eggplant and bush beans, all lined up
and ready to be planted in their place. With a little planning, that one pot yielded a healthy supply of food, and kept a swarm of pollinators happy, all season long.
Growing more than one crop in a planter can be as simple as team-
ing up lettuce and carrots, or tucking in some basil around the bottom
of a tomato plant. But if you’re up for producing as much food as you can in a way that looks good and makes your corner of the world a bit Half-barrel with squash: A whiskey barrel offers depth, which makes it a good option for deep-rooted plants. One drawback is how heavy it can be, so make sure you’re happy with where you put it.
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more eco-friendly, aim to batch three, four, or six different vegetables in a single pot.
It took me a while to pull this off—and I’m familiar with the pref-
erences of different plants. So to help get you started, and maybe
spare you some pain, I’m sharing a few of my favorite container recipes—ones that look good, encourage resilience, and help you get the most out of your small plot.
Every one of the following combinations can be grown indoors or
outdoors. With indoor gardens, start them any time of the year. With outdoor ones, plant them after the last spring frost. If you’re ambitious and decide to plant all the recipes at once, they will blossom at different times so you can give visiting pollinators plenty to feed on.
Each of these tiny gardens can be planted in one big pot. If that’s
too bulky for your space, it’s okay to break out any combination of the
ingredients into smaller containers. Clustering the smaller planters will still look good, because I’ve chosen these combinations in part for
their looks. And you’ll attract more pollinators than you would with the plants on their own. If you’re working with a spacious raised bed,
consider filling it out with more than one recipe so you get a greater variety of crops.
I’ve offered fairly precise instructions and amounts because I
want to make these easy for you to follow. But they’re meant to be
The simplest way to create more space in your planter is to plant your seeds or starts in a staggered or zigzag pattern. This allows for more plants, and gives them the room they need to mature.
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Container Garden Recipes
tinkered with, so please do experiment. As in any recipe, just double the quantity if you have the space.
TINY HERB GARDEN Herbs are small and resilient plants, which make them a good lowmaintenance option. This particular collection of perennial herbs is also beautiful, thanks largely to purple chive flowers and lavender-tinged sage leaves. They’re companionable because they all like
full sun and share the same water requirements, unlike thirstier herbs like basil and parsley. When grown indoors, they’ll produce fresh sprigs to clip all winter long. Outside, they’ll attract pollinators and deter some pests, which is why I keep a cluster of potted herbs at the base of my larger salad containers.
Pots: Use a single planter at least two feet wide, or spread out the plants among a few containers.
Plants: Use starts (baby plants). Thrill: Hill hardy or Arp rosemary, cold hardy (one start) Fill: Onion or garlic chives (two starts) Tri-color sage (two starts)
Spill: Marjoram or oregano (two starts) Lemon thyme (two starts)
Planting tips: Most perennial herbs can take up to four weeks or
more to sprout. So I prefer picking up plants from a garden center
or starting my own seedlings indoors during the winter. They need eight hours of direct sunlight to thrive, so use artificial light if growing indoors in low-light conditions.
Plant your rosemary in the center of your pot and place the chives
and sage around it in an alternating pattern. Aim to space your herbs Container Garden Recipes
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six to eight inches apart. If you can’t find a big enough container, it’s fine to move them closer. Plant the thyme and marjoram around the
edges of the container, so they can spill over the sides and open up more space for the rosemary, chives, and sage.
Indoor/outdoor: If your garden lives indoors, move it outdoors in the
late spring to help feed the neighborhood population of pollinators,
which love to drink from these aromatic plants. Or swap in some hardier oregano for the marjoram, and keep it outdoors year-round.
Upkeep: Prune your herbs every spring to keep the garden compact, or move it into a bigger pot every other year. Clipping blooms as they
appear helps keep your herbs tasting fresh; otherwise they can turn bitter. I tend to sacrifice a few plants to attract pollinators.
Harvest: Snip sprigs of herbs as needed. To minimize stress, avoid removing more than one third of the plant at a time. 52
Container Garden Recipes
SUPER SALAD MIX This mixed greens planter is so fast-growing it’s usually ready to har-
vest within six weeks. It’s also beautiful, thanks to rich bands of pur-
ple and green lettuces mixed in with edible, peppery orange, yellow, or red nasturtiums, and yellow-orange calendula. The calendula is a popular attraction for pollinators like native bumblebees, and its foliage provides some shelter for pest-eating bugs, like lacewings.
Pots: Use one pot at least eighteen inches wide, or two pots if you want the full benefit of succession planting and an uninterrupted harvest.
Plants: To make this cool-season mix work, I recommend using both seeds and starts.
Container Garden Recipes
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