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    Home » Gardening

    Summer Porch Garden (Weekend Gardening)

    Jun 25, 2007 · Modified: Jun 19, 2021 by Andrea · This post may contain affiliate links · This blog generates income via ads · 6 Comments

    Thai basil in a container on our porch - Andrea Meyers

    This year our summer garden is in containers. I usually start seeds indoors in early March for May planting, but we were moving around that time and didn't have a place set up in our new house for starting seeds; plus, we're putting in a fence and replacing the deck this summer so we didn't really have a place to set up our raised beds this year. So for the first summer in our new house, we're doing a reduced garden in pots on the porch.

    Tomatoes in containers on our front porch - Andrea Meyers

    We usually grow tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and sometimes squash and eggplant. Since we couldn't start our own seeds, I bought some plants from a recommended local organic nursery (Debaggio's Herb Farm, closed in 2020), and I thought it was great! They had a wonderful variety of plants, including heirlooms, and everything was very reasonably priced, so I came home with a few favorites plus some new things for us to try. I like the nursery so much that I may just start buying plants from them every year, that is if these do well. I tried to choose a mix of peppers and tomatoes that would be ready at different times, but we'll see how well-spaced they are in a few weeks.

    Tomatoes and peppers in containers on our porch - Andrea Meyers

    So this year we are growing the following:

    Tomatoes: Red Grape, San Marzano, Roma VF, Pineapple, Sungold

    Sweet Peppers: Big Bertha Red, Marconi Yellow, La Rouge Royale

    Hot Peppers: Habanero

    Herbs: Genoa Basil, Thai Basil, Italian Parsley, Spearmint, English Thyme, Oregano

    I'm also going to pick up jalapeno and thai pepper plants, plus a few more herbs that I use regularly.

    Pepper plant on our front porch - Andrea Meyers

    What about you? Do you grow some of your favorite vegetables and herbs? Do you start your own seeds or do you buy plants from a local nursery? I would love to hear about your garden, what you grow, and how you grow it. Please feel free to share in the comments.

    More Weekend Gardening

    Chard sprouts in September - Andrea Meyers
    Autumn Planting (Weekend Gardening)
    Lemon basil in our garden - Andrea Meyers
    Late June Basil and Shallots (Weekend Gardening)
    Second tomatoes of the summer - Andrea Meyers
    The First Fruits of Summer: Tomatoes (Weekend Gardening)
    « Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
    Blueberry Muffins »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. johanna says

      June 25, 2007 at 2:23 pm

      oh i wish i has similar successes to report... but i planted a container full of different varieties of basil (orange, lemon, cinnamon, etc) plus borage and others, but when i came back from my holiday in Tuscany, i had to find that nothing had happened, except for the soil getting incredibly mouldy! on previous occasions, snails had taken over my herbs, so i am afraid it'll be down to the local supermarket again for my herbs, luckily they have got a good selection!

      Reply
    2. Alex says

      June 26, 2007 at 4:52 am

      I have been good in previous years and have grown tomatoes, carrots and peppers, but this year my beds are weedy as I just haven't had time.
      I do have pots of thyme, rosemary, sage, mint and chives on the patio though, and a mini chilli pepper plant in the kitchen!
      That basil looks so lovely I can almost smell it.

      Reply
    3. Cris says

      June 26, 2007 at 6:06 pm

      I buy herbs from the grocery store because they have little containers that can be indoors in my sunny laundry room (I live in a condo). Basil never dies, it keeps coming and I use it a lot for salad dressings, pizza and tomato sauce. Another favorite is small celery, that I like to have it handy. Nice post!

      Reply
    4. Pille says

      July 04, 2007 at 4:17 pm

      I''ve got all my plants in containers this year, too, despite having a huge plot of land. I only moved in with my partner last autumn, and his garden has been totally neglected - it''s simply a huge grassland 🙂 Sadly we''ve got no time nor money to redo the whole thing - a pation, new soil, grass, raised beds etc - so I''ve got a small corner outside the door leading to the future terrace/patio, with containers. I''ve got some Alpine strawberries (1 container), tomatoes (2), butternut squash & zucchini (3 containers) and some green beans; additionally I''ve got quite a lot of various herbs and salad leaves in my kitchen "windowsill garden". We fried some zucchini flowers for a snack yesterday, and I expect to harvest my first zucchini later this week - very exciting 🙂

      Good luck with your gardening endeavour, Andrea!!

      Reply
    5. Jana says

      July 12, 2007 at 12:17 pm

      I have a pretty garden, with lots of herbs and fuits. They are doing really well. Thank you for your information.

      Reply
    6. Elena says

      July 19, 2007 at 4:18 pm

      I too do most of my gardening in containers on my front deck--full time employment, 2 kids, tomato-plant-devouring goat in the back yard--all that contributes. I have a huge pot of the basils as well. Cinnamon, lemon, lime, gigantic, etc. loveLoveLOVE the basils. and tomatoes. one regular patio tomato plant to get things rolling. 2 sweet 100's. 10-20 Brandywines and Black Brandywines. Garden Peach, Big Zebra, and Mortgage Lifter. I am going to have the prettiest tomato salads in town this summer! hehe

      Reply

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