<p>Our yard doesn’t get much sun so I’ve decided to do another round of container gardening on the deck. I’ve got cherry tomatoes and beefsteaks (they’ll probably get too tall for the tomato cages) and one herb planted- basil. I was thinking of adding maybe one or 2 more items but cant decide what. I have plenty of dried rosemary from a neighbor’s garden last year. I hear cilantro grows like crazy so it may not be practical for a deck. I almost bought apple mint (it smelled divine) but do’nt drink enough iced tea at home to make it worthwhile, and probably won’t take up drinking mint juleps any time soon. </p>
<p>Any other suggestions or success stories to share?</p>
<p>Hot deck? Hot weather vegetables like tomatoes do really well.
Cool spots? Lettuces do beautifully in pots, as do snow peas. I grow my lettuce in pots just because it keeps the slugs out.</p>
<p>If you like the smell of the mint, isn’t that reason enough to have a pot of it?</p>
<p>I do like to cook with tarragon. Thats a good thought. The apple mint smelled great, dmd, but so does the basil. Maybe mext year instead of geraniums or begonias at the frond door (this year its fuscia) I’ll plant an aromatic herb. Thats a great thought.</p>
<p>Is there any plant I should plant that will keep the bugs or the critters (eg chipmunks or similar) away?</p>
<p>jym, last year I ordered a self watering planter from Gardeners Supply and planted my four favorite herbs. The planter has wheels and I kept it in an alcove next to my Weber grill. The whole set up was easy and worked out really well. In fact, this summer I plan to order a similar planter for tomatoes.</p>
<p>I have thyme and oregano in a pot on my patio. I love having fresh herbs near the kitchen. I also have parsley, sage and rosemary. I attempt cilantro since we love it but I find in my climate it quickly flowers and goes to seed. I also have had some luck growing jalepeno peppers in pots. Also strawberries.</p>
<p>How about sage (multiple kinds and colors) for fragrance, incense, and oils and a butterfly bush for fragrance, a yard full of butterflies which eat aphids and are fun to watch.</p>
<p>OOh. lots of good ideas. Too bad the stores are closed today And thanks for the link ek- looks like basil was the right thing to plant by the tomatoes. That was a pure fluke on my part!</p>
<p>You can grow pretty much anything you like. If you were German you’d grow potatoes! Seriously, when I was in Germany I had a book on how to garden on your terrace and with big pots you can put one plant of whatever you like pretty much. Personally, I like to grow things that either taste much better homegrown (like tomatoes) or are ridiculously expensive (like fresh herbs). I regularly grow mint, thyme, sage, rosemary, chives, oregano, nasturtiums (pretty and peppery in a salad), basil (Thai and Italian), and heirlloom tomatoes. I also like to grow various sorts of lettuces - [Renee’s</a> Garden Seeds-Vegetable Seed Descriptions,Photos and Ordering -Kale,Leeks,Lettuce,Mache,Melons,Watermelon](<a href=“Vegetables | Renee's Garden Seeds”>Vegetables | Renee's Garden Seeds) has nice lettuce blends. I wish they still had their picante salad blend which had some peppery mustard greens.</p>
<p>Mustard greens are great- I have some that wintered over.
I grow potatoes , one year I grew them in big garbage cans I had cut the bottoms out of, last year I grew them enclosed in a circle of hog wire, this year I am trying straw.
But not on my porch.</p>
<p>I am not a butterfly bush fan, you know what butterflies like to eat? Carrion. That’s what butterfly bush smells like to me.</p>
<p>Oh- blue berries! They have some nice dwarf or slower growing kinds, look for top hat, which is really dwarf, or sunshine which is only a few feet tall. Some are even evergreen.</p>
<p>I have grown tomatoes on my deck for years. My problem is that everytime I grow basil, it attracts Japanese beetles. Has anyone else had this problem? Does basil do better in sun or shade.</p>
<p>I grew eggplant in pots on my sunny deck. The variety was called Fairy Tale - it did very well in pots, and the purple flowers were quite pretty.</p>
<p>Lettuce of various perusasions. I like to keep parsley on my deck, but it bolts for me in the supper. Depending on the size of the pot, a pepper plant could be good. Habaneros are nice in a large pot, but how many can you use? Well, k grow two chinenses varieties anyway. Lately I’ve done serranos and fresno peppers in my pots.</p>
<p>Oh, but around here, shade is a GOOD thing, when we hit our 90 degree plus days from May to October.</p>
And thanks for the link ek- looks like basil was the right thing to plant by the tomatoes. That was a pure fluke on my part!</p>