Heirlooms in Pots: Graceful Grazing on the Patio

I’m still deciding exactly what needs to go in the wine barrels on the patio, and Bill Thorness, author of Edible Heirlooms: Heritage Vegetables for the Maritime Garden has been kind enough to provide me with some terrific ideas, and the following guest post:

Growing heirloom vegetables in large pots can be a great way of showing them off, because after all, they are some of the most interesting conversation pieces in the edible garden. Each year I try to grow a few things in pots, often mixing veggies with ornamentals, and they do get comments.

I’d like to suggest a few things for spring, and some hot crops for the summer.

First, I’d plant some greens in those wine barrels right now. You could get a season’s worth of lettuce in one and European greens in the other. The nice part is they’d be up, eaten and out before the really warm weather hits, so you could then use the same pots for something else. With less than full sun on your patio, the pots should stay cool enough for the greens now, but in the summer you’d want to stay away from veggies that need lots of sun, like big beefsteak tomatoes or peppers.

Here are a few favorite lettuces from my book Edible Heirlooms that complement each other well and would be beautiful all jumbled together:

Black-seeded Simpson. The classic of green leaf lettuces, it has light green, curled leaves that are crisp and juicy. It also holds up well to drought (a danger when planting in a pot) and heat.

Forellenschluss. This is an old Austrian variety that translates as “speckled like a trout,” so you can guess that it has bursts of red and maroon freckles splashed upon a soft green field.

Green Deer Tongue. I know it doesn’t sound appetizing, but these arrow-shaped, olive-green leaves are succulent and a bit more hearty than some of the delicate leaf lettuces.

Here are a few favorite heirloom European greens:

Arugula. You might think of this nutty, peppery green as “yuppie chow” that was developed in the ‘80s, but it was being eaten by the colonists. The wild variety, Sylvetta, might be better in a pot, as it doesn’t get quite so large.

Rhubarb Chard. This is the mildest tasting chard, and one of the most ornamental. Also known as Ruby Red, it has crimson stalks and leave that can get dark green, almost black.

Corn Salad. Also called mache, it’s a very tender green that does well under many conditions. The variety Verte d’Etampes has a thicker, more succulent leaf on a compact rosette.

I think you could get a lot of colorful spring salads out of those. For the summer, why not try a cherry tomato in one of the big pots, and perhaps a bean trellis in the other.

Yellow Pear Cherry Tomato. This is one of the oldest tomatoes in America, a descendant of the Red Fig, which was the first tomato listed in the first U.S. gardening book. Fruit can be pear or fig-shaped, and they’re both meaty and juicy, making it almost the perfect cherry tomato.

For something different, try my second-favorite: Chadwick’s Cherry. I call this a “new heirloom” because it’s not that old; it was developed by Alan Chadwick at UC Santa Cruz in the 1970s. However, it’s a glorious, large, round cherry that I am certain will pass the test of time and be handed down for generations to come.

Painted Lady Scarlet Runner Bean. You might need some tall bamboo poles to satisfy this vigorous bean – it’s a “runner,” after all – but you will be wowed by the presentation. Its flowers are pink and red with white centers, named by English gardeners in honor of Queen Elizabeth I, who reportedly liked to put on a lot of makeup when she appeared in public. The flat bean pods can get up to 10 inches long, and can be eaten fresh or dried and used later. And check this out: the bean climbs its string or pole counter-clockwise. Amaze your friends!

Around the base of these summer veggies could be planted some heirloom flowers to complement them and bring in the beneficial insects.

Hope you have a great summer in your new place, and I look forward to seeing pictures on the blog!

ps: For some more ideas, a slide show and even some free seeds, come to my talk at the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show on Friday, March 26 at 3:45 p.m. Come up and say hi!

Photos provided by Bill Thorness