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Urban gardening is all about making the most out of the space you’ve got. All it takes to turn your outdoor balcony or back porch into a full-on garden is a pinch of creativity and a dash of strategy.
Rather than planting one crop in one small pot, we are going to focus on planting multiple crops in one sizeable pot. This method makes the most of your space and gives you the most variety of veggies and herbs possible.
Vegetables and herbs can grow together harmoniously as long as they have enough space between them and the depth of the pot allows those roots to stretch out. To match the perfect veggie combinations, you want to plant crops that require similar depths and thus, make the most out of their environment.
Here are 10 herb and vegetable combinations you can grow in one pot.
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Chard, Spinach, Onions
The roots of chard and spinach need a healthy depth below the soil, but not a lot of width. You can take that extra width and allow onions to occupy it instead. Windowsill planters are perfect for this task.
Pot Depth: 5-6 inches
Sunlight: Full Sun
Eggplant, Green Beans
Stick a couple of tall garden stakes into the soil to allow the green beans and the eggplant vines to climb. The eggplants will grow nice and big right above the soil while the green beans will spread upwards.
Pot Depth: 8-9 inches
Sunlight: Full Sun
Green Beans, Squash, Carrots
This veggie combination is similar to #2, but requires a bit more depth to accommodate the carrots who want to grow deep in the soil. The above ground sprouts of the carrots don’t disturb the green beans or squash one bit.
Pot Depth: 10-12 inches
Sunlight: Full Sun
Onions, Tomato, Basil
You’ve basically got a brilliant pasta sauce in one garden pot here! Start with a tomato cage to help the tomato vines grow nice and tall while allowing the onions to take up space below the soil and the basil to grow in a circle along the perimeter of the pot with at least 2 inches from the pot wall. This planter is ideal.
Pot Depth: 9 inches
Sunlight: Full Sun
Romaine, Kale, Radishes
Salad greens like romaine and kale take up a lot of space above the soil as they grow to be full and leafy, but they only require a small amount of space below the soil for their roots. Make use of the extra space by planting radishes sporadically. Make sure to keep the salad leaves moist!
Pot Depth: 4-5 inches
Sunlight: Partial Sun
Garlic, Mint, Thyme
The essentials! Mint and thyme can both grow to be rather full and bushy, and both require partial sunlight. The stalk of the garlic greens grow straight up like an arrow, so they don’t get tangled with the herbs while the bulbs mind their own business below the soil.
Pot Depth: 6-7 inches
Sunlight: Partial Sun
Carrots, Cucumbers, Parsley
Let the full carrots take up residence below the surface, let the cucumbers use the surface of the soil, and let the parsley grow nice and full in-between.
Pot Depth: 8-9 inches
Sunlight: Full Sun
Carrots, Chili Peppers, Rosemary
Again, the carrots have full reign of space below the surface, while the rosemary bush and chili pepper plant have enough space to grow nice and full with proper space between them.
Pot Depth: 8-9 inches
Sunlight: Full Sun
Broccoli and Potatoes
A nice long planter is best to get about 4 yields of broccoli growing above the surface while potatoes grow below. This tall planter serves as a multipurpose planter as you can use its shade for your other partial sun crops.
Pot Depth: 10-12 inches
Sunlight: Full Sun
Lettuce, Chives
Lettuce grows wide and chives grow tall–they make for ideal neighbors in your pot. While the root of the lettuce can grow quite thick, it won’t have any trouble making room around the thin roots of the chives.
Pot Depth: 5-6 inches
Sunlight: Partial Sun
Create Your Own Potted Combinations
Once you take each plant’s sunlight needs and depth requirements into consideration, it’s easy to create your own veggie combinations. The ideal trifecta is as follows:
- Upright/Climbing Plants: Ones that use height like tomatoes.
- Root Plants: Ones whose yield grows below the surface.
- Bushy Plants: Ones that occupy the space mid-level space above the soil.
Points to Consider
Now that you know what you’re going to plant, you need to decide how you’re going to plant. Assess the space you're working with–whether it’s a back porch, windowsill, or balcony–and decide if it will do best with long rectangular pots, nice round pots, wall mounted pots, or hanging pots.
Depending on whether your crop combination needs full sun (6 hours or more per day) or partial sun (5 hours or less per day) will help you decide what pots to choose and how to arrange them according to the sun’s schedule.
When you are planting your crops, it is key to give the seeds or the baby plants enough space between each other so that their roots aren’t forced to get tangled up. Say, for example, you’ve planted your onions too close to your spinach. When you pull up your onions, you might uproot your spinach.
Urban gardening certainly has its benefits. Mobile pots allow you to give your plants the right amount of sunlight throughout the day, the urban environment will give shelter from harsh wind and rain, and the soil quality is totally up to you.
Have fun, be patient, and go for it. No matter where you live and how much space you have, you’ll find that having your own urban garden to nurture and harvest is extremely rewarding.
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