I've been container growing at home for twenty years, mostly because
I've moved a lot and never wanted to leave plants for my landlord.
When I lived at married student housing down on Lake Austin Blvd. we
had this little four by six foot concrete patio that was just big
enough for a lawn chair and served for most folks in the apartment as
a "patio".
I nailed together 1 by six lumber, filled it with bulk potting soil
and had an instant patio garden. Most landloards I imagine would not
be too happy about that but I got away with it mostly because having
UT as a landlord they were perhaps not paying much attention.
I've got one hundred pots I use for my current garden, and have
tried just about everything I could at one time or another in pots. I
keep a limit of one hundred so I don't get carried away. I'm sure
there will be lots of lists with the obvious canidates, but some of
the more unusual ones I like in pots a
Beets ( I've got those right now, and pick leaves for our salad. )
Osaka Purple Mustard ( another oranmental and edible green I'm
harvesting )
Sedum Mexicana ( very tough sedum with little yellow flowers that
trail out of the pot )
Sambac Jasmine ( Very fragrant, right by the front door, this is the
first year I kept it out during the freeze and it still survived )
Bay Laurel tree ( I harvest the top so it never gets more than 18'")

Of the herbs, Rosemary is real finicky about well drained soil and not
overwatering, oregano grows like a weed, I have to replant thyme
constantly because my wife makes me grow it, but I've never had much
luck with it. As far as Basil goes I do it from seed because a bunch
of young plants crowded together do better for me than one of those
high dollar four inch pots.

Another good thing about container patio growing is that if your
getting old and decrepit like me you can hoist the pot up onto a table
to work and not have to spend so much time bending over.

take care, and by the way thanks for the folks who sent the tips on
deer resistant gardens, now I know why everyone's yard west of Mopac
looks the same.

Steve Coyle


One more thing, the biggest pest that bothers apartment gardens are
the pernacious 'landlords', My dear old mom lived in the luxurious Rio
Hondo apartments in Hyde Park and for some reason the landlord had
this almost obsessive hatred of green growing things. She battled him
to a draw over her potted plants by being relentlessly stubborn about
putting them out, and she snuck around the complex planting seeds and
tree seedlings, a couple of which finally grew big enough for him to
give up trying to kill with round up.