Hi everyone! Very new to container gardening. I love to cook, but haven't ever had much luck with growing anything! I have a 24 inch pot that I'd like to use for a garden this year. I was thinking of putting in one cherry tomato, one anaheim pepper, four lettuce (baby romaine) and four spinach plants in the container.

Is that too many plants for one container?
Could I also fit marigolds in there as well?

Looking forward to vanquishing my black thumb with your expert help!

Whit

Whit - how deep is your container? Need lots of room for tomato roots. I do grow some things in containers but not mixed so much. Is this pot going to get full sun? Any way you can do the romaine and spinach in a different pot? They might not like sitting in sun all day.

I should have been more specific. Actually, let me just start over.

I have several pots and seeds I've started because I was sure I was going to kill everything and wanted a variety. At any rate... I have the following containers that I'm planning on putting on a full sun patio out back.

1 20.5-in x 15-in.
4 6-in x 5.25-in
1 12-in x 10.5-in

and the following plants

cherry tomatoes (3 I've started indoors)
anaheim peppers (4 "")
dill
cilantro
basil
thai basil
onions
carrots (livingston carrot mix)
peas (green arrow and little marvel)
spinach
baby romaine

What combination of plants and containers would work best? I've found out a bunch about companion planting, however, I'm having trouble matching up the plants with the containers I have.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have absolutely zero clue what I'm doing.

Whit

That's a lot of plants for your number of pots. Good job on the seed-starting! For sure, one tomato in the big pot. Plant it as deep as you can while still leaving a few branches above the soil level. You can probably stick one of your peppers in there as well. I'm thinking a couple of spinaches and a couple of lettuces in two of the 6" pots (2 per pot). One each of the basils in another 6" pot. Carrots in the 12" pot with maybe a few cilantro. Keep in mind that the cilantro will mature fast and you'll want to use it before it flowers and goes to seed. You'll probably be done with the cilantro by the time the carrots need the space. And it might not like full sun. Shade it and the lettuces and spinach a bit if you can from the hot afternoon sun. I'm just not sure about the onions and peas - they both like to be planted early but you'll need a little more space for them than the pots allow in order to get enough to enjoy. Dill will get tall - maybe in the last 6" pot by itself? I hope someone more experienced drops by to chime in. I think you're going to have fun! Just keep an eye on the watering and remember that gardening is a continual learning curve.

That's what I'll do! Thank you!

Cindy, I usually put a grape tomato in one pot the same size that you recommended Whit using; do you think that I could put a couple of marigolds in there as well for the bug-controlling effect, or would it make better sense to plant one pot exclusively with marigolds and put it between two pots, each with a single grape tomato plant in it?

Hi Whit, if it isn't obnoxious for someone who has been here a few days longer than you to say welcome,

I wanted to put in my two cents about the basil -- I'm planting it like it's going to be a cash crop for me this year; I moved last summer and didn't do any gardening, and have gone the whole time without any fresh or frozen homegrown basil, which is completely alien to my existence as a matter of culture, practice and, I suspect, DNA. What Cindy said about the cilantro applies to the basil also as far as harvesting -- we pinch off the flowers so that it doesn't go to seed, so don't let it go so far. And if you find yourself with more than you can use, pick and sort the leaves, wash them, dry them thoroughly, place them in a (BPA free, if you can manage it!) plastic bag or container, and stick it in the freezer. I also make pesto and put it in dedicated ice cube trays; when they freeze, I pop them out and put them in said bag or container in the freezer. I only use olive oil and garlic, by culture, I'm supposed to use pignoli as well, we used to, until half the people in the family couldn't eat nuts. We never use cheese, and Italians start wars over food, so that's not meant to be provocative, just a statement of fact. I envy you using seed, I use plants. Seed never works out for me. I put my basil and other herbs in just after the 15th or so of April (we're in the same zone) and they last all summer. Sometimes, the basil might get a little tired in June, but the nursery still has plants left, so I'll replace any plants then to keep it going through September.

Abbey - I'm always a little leery about overcrowding pots but I'm lucky enough to have several large pots so I tend more to monoculture plantings. I'd say try the marigolds with the tomatoes and see what happens. If the tomato starts getting stressed later in summer, you can always yank out the marigolds. I tried making pesto a few times to freeze in ice cube trays. Now I just freeze chopped basil leaves in plain olive oil. I got lazy.
Do remember to check the moisture in your pots quite often in the summer. If we get into scorching weather, you may have to water every day.
Cilantro - I was always dismayed that it bolted and went to flower and seed so quick until I heard earlier this year that it likes some shade and can be more sensitive to heat than lettuces.

Shadegardener said:I tried making pesto a few times to freeze in ice cube trays. Now I just freeze chopped basil leaves in plain olive oil. I got lazy.

Lazy, or smart? I'm going to try that, thanks! And maybe I will just plant a thing of marigolds and keep the tomatoes on their own -- I tend to get stressed later in the summer as well. As Christopher Morley once wrote, "A flower, I think, should have to fight for itself the way I do. No one ever dusted ME against aphids."

Abbey - love the quote.