Shallow growing

[juliet]

Mirrored from Twisting Vines.

In the course of planning both back & front gardens, I need a list of things that will grow in shallow (6-9″) containers, as I have quite a lot of them. Herewith the results of my research thus far.

Greens:

• Rocket
• Lettuce generally
• Mustard greens?
• Peas – not 6″, apparently ok in 9″
• Beans – not 6″, apparently ok in 9″

Other veg:

• Tomatoes – not 6″, apparently ok in 9″
• Carrots – not 6″, apparently ok in 9″

Fruit:

• Strawberries

Flowers:

• Marigolds
• Nasturtiums
• Pansies
• Poppies

And some things which in my experience don’t do so well:

• Chard (probably because it’s secretly a root).
• Parsnips, roots generally.

I’ve had trouble with peas and beans in containers before, but it’s possible they were a bit shy of 9″, so I’ll give it another try. Unfortunately I think the majority of my containers are less than 9″ deep so planting is going to be a bit restricted. My inclination is to plant in the ground in the back garden wherever at all possible (perhaps taking a few more paving slabs up), and to keep the containers for the front balcony and porch). I will return to this at the end of the season with my findings.

Any other suggestions? I haven’t got anything particularly out of the ordinary here, nor indeed anything perennial except the pansies. I’m considering looking into the Plants for a Future database or something similar. On the other hand, time is getting on so I might just try some annuals out for this year.