Mother's Day Gift

Aub 4/25/2011, 11:23 pm

I would like to redo my Mom's planter on her patio for Mother's Day. It's a round garden about 4 feet across. I was thinking a salsa, salad, and sauces garden. What would you plant in this little space to get the most bang?
*Round Foot Gardening* HeHe! Very Happy

shannon1 4/26/2011, 2:15 am

super patio tomato, that would ge good for all three. Not as prolific as a vineing type but no trellis required.

**walshevak** 4/26/2011, 7:02 am

There's also a patio cuke. I don't know how big it will sprawl, but it is recommended for containers. I was given some seed this year and have 3 started.

Kay

Lavender Debs 4/26/2011, 7:56 am

Aub wrote:snip.... salsa, salad, and sauces garden.....*Round Foot Gardening* HeHe!

I call those pi-r-SFG

For a patio I would hang a topsi-turvey tomato or two just to make sure you get enough tomatoes.

In the container I wouldn't do distinct grids. I would make it more like a mixed flower container and go for color and texture.

I would choose my base plants 1st—The stars of the circle, a small round tomato if I didn't do the topsie, and a dwarf Roma type. As a backbone or central plant, the tomato/pepper should either spill dramatically over the edge or have a fancy obelisk (trellis like thing) to train upon.

There is a dwarf bell pepper called Candice that I used to get from Renee's Gardens. I might also include a dwarf hot pepper like a jalapeno. UNLESS I wanted to put in a cucumber....the two do not like each other. My experience has been that both sweet and hot peppers kill cucumbers.

2ndary plants; specimens of celery, basil, cilantro and a parsley. In the PNW tomatoes are iffy so I would include a strawberry for color in a salad. We also like raw wax beans in our salad so I would include a specimen of a bush wax bean.

Filler plants: Every color of lettuce you can get your hands on, a mescaline mix, a kale or two in wild colors and leaf shapes, nasturtiums, borage, calendula and viola's (all have edible flowers)

If you have some money to spend buy the biggest, prettiest pot you can find, fill it with MM and put in a selection of perennial herbs for sauce (I have done this in an average size hanging basket like you would plant fuchsias in, so it doesn't have to be huge). I would include an English Thyme, a dwarf lavender, rosemary and oregano. They do not all have the same care needs but they might all make it to next year with care. I did not include sage because it usually isn't used in salad, sauce or salsa and they can get huge, their roots can take over a container and plug the drain hole.

I might also include a pretty pot of a dwarf cucumber and or zucchini. I have done both successfully in a 10" pot. They are not as fruitful as a large container but you are going for fresh specimens rather than all out replacement of groceries if you go this way.

Things I have not included are root crops like radishes, carrots and beets. There are no snap peas (hanging basket?) or fennel (it likes to kill things planted near it also). There isn't any dill, I like it in creamy salad dressing and it would sure add texture interest to a mixed pot. I also did not include a cherry tomato. Something as simple as a sweet 100 (or million) and sungold can become huge plants. That might be fine or it might take over.

Deborah....this sounds fun!

jayjaym 4/26/2011, 8:35 am

Excellent ideas. I've been kicking around the idea of building a 4x4 box on legs with a wicking box as a present for my in-laws. They have mentioned several times over the past couple years wanting a garden, but not knowing where to start. I'm planning on planting the box with an emphasis on salad. A couple tomato plants trellised along the back, and lots of varieties of lettuce and spinach. I hadn't considered edible flowers. My father-in-law would get a kick out of that, so I'll definitely be including some. I really hadn't considered pots either, but if I run out of space, that would be a good way to expand.

Lavender Debs 4/26/2011, 8:56 am

How could I forget? Without any sort of onion you must have chives! Even the flowers are good in salad.

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