Planting new ideas for porches and windowsills
A backyard kitchen garden seems like a great idea, but in practice it can be complicated. In an urban kitchen, because the space is small, a potted kitchen garden is ideal. You can grow herbs, tomatoes, even a few zucchini or squash. First figure out where to put the pots. Andy Covell, owner of The Bird House Garden Center in Boxborough, says that ideally a potted garden should be close to the kitchen. A sunny porch, a terrace, a windowsill, will all work. "Sunlight is the most important thing," he says. "Tomatoes and Mediterranean herbs like sage, thyme, and rosemary love sun. Chervil, cilantro, tarragon, and mint can deal with some shade. The best thing about containers is that if you have them up on your deck, they are less accessible to critters."
Next you'll need containers to hold the plants. Flowerpots are the obvious choice, but anything that will keep the dirt in and drain the water out through the bottom will do the job. Basic terra cotta pots sold at any gardening center are classic and surprisingly inexpensive, but they crack easily. Plastic pots, even cheaper and much more durable, lack the good looks of real clay. Ginny Cherubini, from Marshfield, a salesperson at Quincy Adams Garden Center in Braintree, likes to plant in plastic and then slips the cheapo pots into fancier containers. She says that if you're on a budget, you can get creative and use recycled objects like half whiskey barrels, feeding troughs, tires, old rubber boots with holes poked in the soles, an old bathtub, watering cans, red wagons, wooden buckets, even plastic milk jugs.
Now comes the soil. The motto of most organic gardeners is that healthy soil means healthy plants. "Annuals have such a short time to flower so you need the best soil possible," says Cherubini. She recommends Coast of Maine organic products, widely available in Boston. Their Quoddy Blend Lobster Compost is made from composted crab, lobster, and aspen bark. "Combine the lobster compost with top soil and peat, and you have the perfect medium for growing most annuals," she says. One part peat, one part soil, and two parts compost is just about right for most vegetables and herbs. Before you fill the container with soil line the bottoms of the pots with a thin layer of gravel, so the pots will drain when you water them.
Once the pots are stuffed with dirt and settled into their sunny spots, it's time to plant. Herb and tomato seedlings are easy to find at garden centers, but other vegetables are usually sold in seed packets. Greens like arugula, lettuces, and mesclun mix can be sown directly into the planter, where they will sprout in just a few days and be ready for baby harvest in less than a month. Tomatoes should be planted as seedlings one to a big pot. If you have a choice, buy Sun Gold or Super Sweet 100 for great cherry tomatoes, and Brandywine or Big Beef for juicy slicers.
Helen Glotzer of Brookline's Allandale Farm says that there is no reason to limit the kitchen garden to herbs and tomatoes. "You can't grow pole beans but you can grow bush beans," says the nursery manager. "If your container is big enough, try squash, zucchini, and cucumbers. You can harvest the blossoms and the baby fruit, plus they're beautiful and fascinating to look at." She likes Marketmore as a slicing cucumber, and National is a dependable pickling cuke. Seneca is a prolific, slim green summer squash and Papaya Pear, a heart y yellow variety. Glotzer also recommends expanding herb horizons to include lesser-known plants like hyssop, lemon verbena, scented geraniums, and lavender.
When the weather is too cool for your outdoor pots, start again on a sunny windowsill with parsley, chervil, and basil in an indoor potting mix. Rosemary and thyme are fine in their summer pots, if they're taken indoors. "Just keep them trimmed back, and be careful not to water too much," Glotzer says. "They won't look gorgeous , but they will live and bounce back in the spring." Next summer, take them outdoors, and watch them thrive again. 