It is still chilly out, but that just means you can grow a cool season container for Spring! One of the great things about cool season vegetables and flowers is that they will grow in a wide temperature range from 40-80 degrees. They can withstand a small cold snap, as well as love when temperatures heat up a bit. Here are some tips on how you can grow a cool season container for Spring.
Grow a Cool Season Container for Spring
The Container
Bigger is always better when growing a container garden. A larger container allows the plants roots to spread out, plus you have more space for more plants! At a minimum, use a one gallon size pot. Those that are smaller than that put a shorter lifespan on your plants. The container should have 3-4 drainage holes in the bottom. If it is a plastic container, you might have to grab your drill and create those holes.
The Plants
One of the best things about growing cool season plants in the Spring are the sheer number of different types of plants you can choose from! For flowers, you can’t go wrong with primrose, cyclamens, lobelia, snapdragons, and violas and pansies. If you live in a drier climate go ahead and add in succulents too – they are great additions to a container garden. As for vegetables to add, try broccoli, kale, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach, snow peas, plus carrots and radishes. The combinations you could try are limitless!
How to Plant It
Decide where the container will be placed. If it is going up against the wall, you want your tall plants like snapdragons and snow peas in the back and the smaller plants up front. If the container will be seen from all sides, you want your tall plants in the center and the small plants around the edge. Put trailing plants like lobelia and alyssum on the edges and tuck carrot and radishes next to them.
A container garden needs to be watered regularly so that the soil does not dry out. If you can, add an irrigation hose to the pot. When watering, make sure the water drains out the bottom each time. If you don’t you could end up with salt on the roots of the plants. Remember to water thoroughly!
Enjoy your cool season container garden all spring long!
You may also enjoy these:
Easy Step-by-Step Vegetable Container Gardening Guide
I love ornamental cabbage! I’ll have to get started on my planters. Thanks for the reminder.
wow nice ideas for coming spring ty
I love container gardening! I can’t wait to get this year’s started!
I love this idea. Although I am in West Virginia, and there is a considerable difference in the temperature I can use this idea on my inside porch. It’s always warmer than outside, and colder than inside. My point, thanks for sharing this. I plan to do it end of this month
~Crystal
To early for me, maybe if we had a coldframe. I cannot wait for spring
I can’t believe that it’s time to start planting. I used to garden every year. I love fresh vegetables.
What a fun idea and a great way to get an early start on spring
this is so pretty – I would have never thought cabbage could be so attractive!!!
The selection of plants sounds so nice. I am going to have to put one of these together.
I am so ready for spring! This post is making me want to go out and do this today! I have already started my seedlings in the house, for the garden.
I adore container gardening. Some plants I start from seeds (like nasturtium, so easy), others I buy as seedlings.
These are so beautiful planted together I have the ornamental cabbage in green and purple so easy to grow and looks great too.
I love violas and pansies. Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks so much for the Terrific Review Grow a Cool Season Container for Spring! This sounds absolutely wonderful, however, I think it’s still too cold here in PA to be planting these types of plants in a planter and putting it outside yet! We just had a full day of snow again and it was only 24 degrees today! It’s going to be cold again tomorrow! I love your idea of what to plant and how to plant them so that they look terrific all spring! I love having plants outside and inside! We have snap dragons from late spring and all through summer! I have been working on my front garden where I have plants that will come up at different times and last for most of the summer! Thanks so much for sharing your review with us along with how to plan a cool season container. I’m going to wait just a little while before I start mine! Thanks again, Michele
Thank you for sharing this, these are gorgeous!
I love these! Thank you for sharing how to make these.
This was a very informative post, thank you for all of the info! I am new to gardening and had no idea there was so much to grow in cold weather!
I am going to try your suggestions. This really looks like a great idea.