Spring Is Almost Here! Beautiful and Edible Planter Ideas

Spring is right around the corner! The weather is (mostly) beautiful here in Orange County and springtime is the perfect season for getting your planting on. Who doesn’t love a beautiful AND edible array of plants? Here are a few DIY edible planter ideas for you:

What To Buy To Get Started

 

Pots

A medium-to-large planter or several small pots you can group together will do for this project. Remember you need drainage, so make sure the pots have a hole at the bottom. You can also plant in the plastic nursery pots that have excellent drainage.

Sometimes I put those into a cache pot or cover pot for looks. This way your plants are not sitting in water rotting their roots. If you want to learn more about planting, check out my article “A Busy Mom’s Guide To Plant Parenthood” here.

 

Soil and Water

Grab a bag or two of potting soil for herbs and veggies from your local nursery or big box store. Also get a bag of Worm Castings – this is worm poo! It is a garden superstar. It works as fertilizer, improves soil quality, and deters pests. Mix it into the topsoil of all your plants this spring for a nice boost.

Get a watering can if you like! It’s not necessary, but is helpful and they sell some cute ones. Even dollar stores and thrift shops during this time of year have lots of pots and plant accessories so you don’t have to break the bank!

 

Plants To Grow Or Buy

Plants

The fun part! What are some plants your family eats often and would enjoy growing? Do you like fresh Basil for some Caprese? Some Cilantro for your tacos? Would the kids like to pick fresh strawberries? We are going to create edible planters so give the edible section of the plant section a thorough browsing.

 

Seeds!

This is a great time to germinate seeds, so they will be ready to plant when spring arrives. This is a super fun activity with the kiddos. Check out my post on “3 Fun Springtime Garden Projects With The Littles” here for advice on seed starting.

Just read the seed packet and it will tell you all the info you need to help them grow. This is the most affordable way to grow your food.

 

Plants

If you don’t feel confident growing your own seeds or would like to take a short cut for time, you can also buy fully grown plants at most plant nurseries though they will likely be more expensive than growing from seeds yourself.

 

Beautiful and edible planter ideas

 

So now that you have an idea of the plants you like, you can plan planters. A good way to do this is to grab the plants you like at the nursery and hold them together to see if you like how they look. in a mixed planter, you want different textures and shapes and even colors to draw your eye and look interesting. Also know that plants with strong scents repel many bugs, like mosquitos! For example, lavender smells great, looks beautiful, has many uses and repels some bugs, score!

 

Edible Planter Idea #1

Herbs! I love to have a herb planter around throughout the year. It is so nice and convenient to just pick fresh leaves off and throw them into your recipe or as a garnish. Did you decide which herbs you would use most? I love Sage so I have three varieties that are different colors (brown butter sage sauce, anyone?), plus lemon balm (which makes a refreshing tea and also repels insects!), lemon thyme (great in chicken recipes), and trailing rosemary (yummy and looks cool spilling over the edge of the pot).

Put them (in their nursery pots) into the bigger pot to see how they look together. Fill the pot halfway with soil and remove the plants, slightly loosening the roots at the bottom before adding in. Add extra soil mixed with some worm castings around them to give them all a snug fit. Tamp down the soil and water, adding extra soil if needed. There you go!

These herb planters always look awesome with a ton of different herbs but they will grow quickly so you do not have to overcrowd the pot. They will fill out, and you can always just snip away until it’s the shape you like.

Other herb ideas:

• Basil in the middle, with Thyme, Parsley, Cilantro, and Dill around it.
• How about an upright Rosemary in the middle, with Thai Basil, Parsley, Mint, Sage around it.
• Pesto anyone? Try two different basils with oregano, tarragon, mint.
• Sweet bay trees can be trimmed to stay small, you can surround this with other soup friendly herbs.

Most herbs look great together so it is all about what you would use and like the looks of!

 

Edible Planter Idea #2

Strawberries! We can’t get enough at my house and a constant supply can get pricey at the store. Why not grow some? They taste so much better, trust me.

There are many kinds, so read the signs and descriptions before you choose. There are everbearing or day-neutral kinds which provide fruit from spring through fall, and June-bearing or short-day types which produce in June.

You will need a sunny spot for these (6 hours at least). Here is a resource on proper growing conditions. Strawberryplants.org says that good companion plants for strawberries are Borage (you can eat the blue flowers), Alliums, Dwarf Marigolds (keep the bugs away), thyme, Lupin (attracts pollinators), and Cilantro to name a few. My fave is Spinach because I love spinach and strawberry salads.

Here I used some edible Viola flowers. If you do want to eat flowers, make sure you get organic ones that haven’t been sprayed or treated with any chemicals. Fancy grocery stores sell these too. your kids will love keeping track of when the strawberries are ready and they maaaay pick a few unripe ones.

 

Other beautiful and edible planter ideas

Try a dwarf fruit tree with edible flowers around the bottom or Chives in the middle surrounded by different kinds of lettuce. Feel free to consult a garden center associate for other great ideas!

 

Which combo of edible plants are you going to try growing this spring? Let us know in the comments below!