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A New Twist On Vegetable Gardening

© Marilyn Burns

Think "vegetable gardens" and images of rectangular plots containing orderly rows of lush plants come to mind. While this is certainly true, there are many other ways in which we can incorporate vegetable plants into our landscapes.

For those who are limited on space or time, one of the easiest ways to grow a few vegetables is to use containers and hanging baskets. By growing veggies in pots and other containers, we can control the soil and growing conditions to some degree, thus ensuring that the plants can be as productive as possible.

For example, let's say that your soil is clay-based. Some root crops such as long carrots will fork or otherwise not grow well in a heavy soil. Why not grow them in a large container? Not only can you grow the crop in an ideal growing medium, you can also enjoy the ornamental value of the carrot tops as they grow. Add a few trailing petunias or other flowering plants, and you will have a lovely container garden!

Parsley also makes another wonderful accent when grown with flowers in containers. The curled parsley is a lovely green, and the parsley is wonderful to use fresh or dried in cooking.

Instead of using spikes as a "filler plant", why not try bunching onions? They will provide a wonderful verticle accent and are also useful as a repellent to aphids and other insects that might be eyeballing the other plants that are sharing the same pot.

Some other vegetables to consider as containerized plants would be bush zuchinni, bush cucumbers, bush scallopini, and bush acorn squash. Use these as substitutes for sweet potato vines when you want a trailing accent. Be aware that these will do best in containers rather than in hanging baskets, though: Some of their fruits can become quite heavy! If you prefer, you can grow them in a large container with a tomato cage added for the short vines of these varieties to grow on.

Broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and some of the smaller-headed cabbages will work well when planted one plant to the large pot. An advantage to growing these cole crops in clean containters with potting soil or growing medium is that the home gardener can avoid club root, often the bane of those who grow cole crops in the open ground. It is a good way to avoid this disease. After harvesting the main flower stalk of broccoli, smaller side shoots can continue to be harvested. Once the cabbages, broccoli and cauliflower stop producing, the soil can be refreshed and other, later flowering plants can be added.