These days who isn’t thinking of eating Locally and Organically?  One of the best ways possible to do this is to grow a few vegetables yourself in what’s called a “Container Garden”.

Newly planted pots with feet and irrigation.

Container gardening is simply the easiest, cheapest, safest and best way to ensure an actual crop of vegetables you can add to your menu – the satisfaction of a homegrown salad a few times a week  is well worth it. Many Seattle based garden and landscape companies do container planting. They have crews who specialize in the sometimes difficult task of getting heavy pots and the soil to special situation areas, such as terraces and balconies of condos or apartments.

Getting Started: When choosing a place to site your container garden, consider these factors first. Where will the plants get the most hours of full sunlight?  Is there a source of water that is close at hand and easy to use?  And what kind of vegetables do you want to grow?

Installing Pots: For large and deep rooted plants like tomatoes, pole beans or snap peas you want larger deep pots that can take the weight of the plants as they get large and grow up the stakes these climbing and “vining” types of vegetables need.  A big tomato plant can weigh far more than the pot and it’s soil when it is fruiting, so be sure to use big pots for the big plants. Shallow rooted plants, like lettuce, spinach and radish which don’t need full sun all day, can be tucked amongst the bigger pots so the bigger plants will provide the desired dappled light in the middle of summer.  Any type of container will do from a 5 gallon bucket to a beautiful piece of  pottery, but be SURE that there are plenty of drainage holes on the bottom of the pot.  Putting the pot up on “feet” is really best for good drainage and is very helpful for keeping the area cleaner (you can hose under the pots).  Pot feet can be purchased or can be made from anything that will keep the pot a few inches off the ground and stable, such as bricks, flagstone pieces, or blocks of wood.

Soil and fertilizers: You can grow Organic vegetables by making sure a) your container has been fully cleaned and not used for any kind of hazardous material (especially important if it is plastic), b) that you purchase organic potting soil for your containers.  Potting soil is recommended for container planting as the native soil from your yard is usually too heavy for the fast root work annual vegetables need to do in a very short time. Fertilizing throughout the growing season is great for getting a bumper crop but an organic fertilizer must be used. There are many to choose from on the market today and following the directions carefully is key to success. For a purely organic harvest purchase organic seeds to start with.

Top 5 Vegetable Plants (for the Pacific Northwest) Here in the Pacific Northwest we battle cool temperatures and wet environments – many of the  vegetables we would like to grow aren’t fond of this!  However, heat loving plants, like tomato, basil and peppers, can  be grown with great success if the guidelines for soil amounts and sunlight needs are satisfied (and proper watering of course). The top five plants listed here are vegetables we can grow easily here in our cooler, wetter climate.

1. Lettuce (and all kinds of salad greens) – Our cool weather is perfect for lettuces and they last a lot longer before bolting (going to seed) than they do in many parts of the country.  There are many beautiful and amazing lettuces on the market these days – seeds for Heirloom varieties are easily found at garden stores and nurseries and they are very easy to grow. Lettuce can be grown almost all year round in the Pacific Northwest.
2. Spinach (also Kale and Kohlrabi) – Since it requires the same weather as lettuce, spinach does fabulously here – right up until it gets over 75 degrees and it sets seed. Fortunately with our long cool springs you can stagger plant both spinach and lettuce (set new seeds every two weeks for April-June and then again in August for a fall crop) and won’t be out of salad greens for months!
3. Sugar snap peas – The sugar snap pea is the variety you eat “shell and all” and are a staple in most stir-frys. These cool weather plants need a big container and a set up of stakes to climb on as they reach about 4-5 feet as they start to produce pea pods. They are best to eat when still young and the peas inside are just forming.
4. Broccoli and Cabbage – Also cooler loving weather plants, Broccoli and Cabbage are planted later in the summer, so they will be ready for harvest as the weather cools down in the fall – the warmth of the summer is when they germinate and grow, and the start of the cooler weather makes them “flower”.
5. Herbs- herbs are the spice of life, and fresh ones can take your dinner to that next level. Pesto lovers of the Pacific Northwest know that you can get a basil to grow in a pot just about anywhere it will get a day’s full of sun and heat.  But, if you are sun challenged then find and plant the varieties that will be okay with some shade.  Herbs are generally sun loving plants, however, chive, oregano, parsley, cilantro and leeks will do fine with some shade during the day.

Special Tip: Drip line irrigation (which can ensure you don’t forget a watering!) installation should be done before any soil is put into the containers.