Do you like to cook with fresh herbs whenever possible? ✔︎
Do you need plants to fill your front entryway flower pots? ✔︎
Do you hate it when you buy fresh herbs, put them on the windowsill and slowly watch them wilt and die before you ever get to use them? ✔︎
Do you think purple flowers and green foliage are a gorgeous color combo? ✔︎
Me, too. Why not fill your front porch pots with cool weather herbs and pansies this spring? They’ll be easy to water because of their proximity to your house, and they’ll make you happy every time you walk in or out the front door.
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Ingredients for each flower pot:
1 arugula plant (for height)
1 rosemary plant
1 sage plant
1 oregano plant
1 parsley plant
1 cilantro or basil plant (spring: cilantro, summer: basil)
3 pansy or marigold plants (spring: pansy, summer: marigold)
Instructions:
Fill each flower pot with dirt. I put a 6-inch layer of foam packaging peanuts in the bottom of each pot. Arrange plants by putting the tallest in the center and the thin, floppy plants along the rim. This photo was taken March 1st
The temps dipped into the 20s one night, and I covered them. They survived just fine.
One year, it snowed on March 11th!
The pots flourished — April 12th.
I love the soft colors in this version.
And in this one, too.
When the plants start to get leggy, I move them to the herb garden. Typically, I move the pots away from the front of the house for the summer and bring them back out in November when I fill them with greenery.
Introducing the Summer Porch Pot as seen in Edible Nashville!
Doubles as a centerpiece!
Related Posts:
Spring Planting Guide for Your Kitchen Garden
Seed Starting in Recycled Milk Jugs @JudysChickens
How to Build a 4 x 4 Raised Garden Bed
Lemon Tree Very Pretty
Asteraceae: My Favorite Family of Pollinator Plants
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What a great idea, Judy! I am going to take your advice and plant some basil in my flower pots.
Good Morning, Lynne! In our part of the country, it’s a little too early to put basil out, or believe me, it would be out there! It’s my favorite herb.
BTW, the Triumph Aerostructures volunteers at TNFP’s Meatopia were amazing! What a tremendous group of people.
That’s so pretty Judy! Where did you get your plants? Also, just discovered one of my chickens is actually a rooster! He found his voice this week. Any suggestions on what to do with him? Cooking him is not an option for me. Thanks!
Thank you, Dana! I bought all of the plants at Home Depot on Sunday. About the rooster. That’s a bummer. It happened to us, too, with our first flock. We ended up giving him to a friend who had a farm. Good luck.
What a lovely, simple idea! My doorways are shaded, but I’m thinking of making a set of windowboxes for the south wall of my porch this Spring, for growing herbs, sweet peas, and nasturtiums…flavor, scent and color…all in one! The first step would be buying a compound miter saw, which I *think* would pay for itself with one year of projects…hmmmm.
Quinn, you are amazing! Such a good, homesteading, can-do approach to life. Send me a picture of your completed window boxes!
This is a great idea, Judy. Planting right now is not an option in our state. We live in Pennsylvania, one day it is 60 and the next day back into the 20’s and next week we should reach 70. This will be great for one of our window boxes.
MaryLynn, our forecast for the next two weeks is 50-70s with no freezes in sight so I felt comfortable planting these cool weather herbs. It’s one of the many reasons I love living in TN! I grew up in the Northeast where the growing season wasn’t as long as it is here in the South. I’ve already planted my peas! Seed potatoes go in by 3/15. Sorry to tempt the lovely people from the gorgeous state of PA!!
Hello Judy! The plants look amazing! I am trying to ‘build’ my own little herb garden too to have everything fresh, can’t stand seeing any plants to die anymore. I wrote a post on oregano’s sibling, the not so well-known dittany of Crete. Check it out, I think you will like it http://greekality.com/2016/02/29/small-but-mighty-dittany-of-crete/
Hi Judy… I’m really happy I found your blog. I’m learning a lot, and as a recent transplant from Chicago to Nashville, I’m trying to take advantage of the great growing season we have here!
I’m curious if there’s somewhere you would recommend for obtaining plants for the ‘recipe’ you provide in this article.
I bought these plants at Home Depot. I think you will like the long growing season in Nashville. Thinks for subscribing!
As a Hoosier, I am envious of your zone in TN. However, that said, we are experiencing a record warm March, so I have already planted snow peas, peas, lettuce, spinach, arugula, shallots, onions, beets, mustard, pac choi, and more. My potager is new, but I’ve been an herb farmer for 40 years, newly retired. Herbal blessings.
I’ve never grown shallots before. I’m going to look into that. I enjoy cooking with them. I’ll look for pictures of your potager on your blog.