recommendation: container garden, part 1 of 4 - what to plant

This weekend, I completed the project of all projects, my container garden. I've been working on putting it together for a little over two months now. I did one last year and was happy with my peppers and herbs but wanted to try out a few new things this year. I'm splitting this project up into 4 posts for the week - 1. How I figured out what to plant. 2. How I actually planted it. 3. How I made it pretty. 4. And where I put the plants!

Part 1: What to plant?

I was sick of winter weather in February and wanted to be proactive about spring projects so I started planning my garden. I had already found out that it was too late to grow some things I wanted to because I should have planted them in the fall (garlic!). Oops. I had been reading different articles and found this awesome resource called Sprout Robot that my friend Jenny pinned.

This site is super helpful. I'm not even doing the paid version so I can only imagine. Basically you pick if you want to grow your garden in containers or a bed. And then you pick what you want to grow - and you can change this list at any time. Then they put together a master wonderful amazing list, of what you need to plant each week and how to do it and everything you need to know about it. how awesome is that?

Unfortunately I got caught up in other projects so after signing up and figuring out what I wanted to do, it pretty much ended there for a while. Last month, late in the game for starting seeds (you are supposed to start them indoors 6-8 weeks prior to the last frost), I decided to pull this project back out. To figure out what else I wanted to plant, I spent some time at Home Depot looking through the seed packets. It does take some time so don't go on a weekend when the place is packed! Any garden shop - big or small, local or chain, will have seed packets. I went through and read the backs to figure out which ones can be planted in the next few months. I decided to get the basics and then take a few risks to try something new. Here is what I got:

In Seed form: hot peppers, carrots, mini cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes, green onions, lavender and just for fun: cauliflower, cabbage, onions. giving it a try, why not!

Starter Plant: mint, basil, cilantro, chives, thyme, sage (by accident! someone stuck the wrong marker in it! thought it was lavender but it doesn't look or smell like it! hmph!)

I think there are a few important parts to figuring out "What to Plant"...

• Be reasonable. Don't waste money, soil, effort planting 15 pots if you can't remember to ever water your one indoor plant.
• Plant veggies & herbs that you will actually use, or gift. Otherwise what's the point? I'm thinking about returning the sage. I grew sage one year before and oregano last year and learned my lesson - they are two fresh herbs that I don't care for as much and its kind of a waste. Oregano is great dried but at $3 an herb plus a whole summer of watering plus the effort to dry it out, grind it and preserve it - just spend $3.99 and get a whole jar of it at the grocery store. Cilantro on the other hand, I don't like and feel like I'm wasting money every time I get a bundle for garnish for my hubby. Now I can just go pluck some from my garden.
• Have realistic expectations. By this, I mean read the stats on what you are planting. Some things take a long time to come to life. I waited all summer last year for my eggplants and got two that didn't turn out great, they were split and one was kind of rotten, I should have picked it sooner. Trial and error. But don't expect things to grow right away and provide bountiful amounts. These things take time!

Its not too late to start a container garden - not all plants have to be started in advance. With some veggies you can take the seeds and put them straight into the pots and after May 21st, its OK to plant outside so get to the store try planting something this Memorial Day weekend!

Next up - how I planted everything...stay tuned!