Edible plants for hanging baskets – suggestions for salads, fruit and herbs that will happily grown in a hanging basket.
Garden Designers often harp on about using the vertical spaces in your garden. Hands up, guilty as charged: I’m one of the offenders!
But there is a good reason for our saying this. Fences, walls and hanging baskets add a whole new dimension to gardening by using the vertical. They also enable you to grow a wider range of plants, and not just the obvious climbers. Many plants can be encouraged to grow along and up – and down, which is where hanging baskets and wall baskets take a starring role.
Dark corners where nothing seems to grow can often be brought to life by using the vertical aspect offered by wall and hanging baskets. Plants which might struggle in the ground or in a pot, benefit from the extra light and air.
They are useful for those with only a balcony or tiny garden as they take up no floor space. And good for tenants and students as wall baskets can easily be taken with you when you move. Although check whether you’re allowed to drill holes in a wall for fixing them onto.
Still on a practical note, hanging baskets can be used for some plants that you might love but your toddler pulls up, your cat eats or your dog pees on.
But first off, into what are the plants going to be put?
Hanging Baskets or Wall Baskets?
I’ll use the terms hanging baskets and wall baskets interchangeably in this article, but there are some (probably obvious) differences.
Wall baskets have a flat side which goes against the wall or fence. They are generally static, ie don’t swing in the breeze. They’re sometimes referred to as wall pots, although this tends to be when they’re made of clay, or otherwise solid. The solid types hold water for longer than the more open materials, some have drip trays or saucers built in.
Hanging baskets may be hung next to a wall, but are generally meant to be seen from all sides. There are several different types of hanging basket available: the old favourite wire mesh type, which needs a liner, and can be planted through the sides and bottom to give a botanical ball effect; those made of wicker or bamboo may also need a liner.
You could be inventive and recycle or make some less obvious containers: an old kettle or preserving pan; a cleaned olive oil can – the 5 litre size; drill holes for wire to make a loop or handle, and holes in the base for drainage for these. A mesh basket used for bathroom storage; a concoction of wire coat hangers from the dry cleaners (very ‘Blue Peter’-ish); both of which would need a liner.
You get the general idea… and see the blog link below on unusual containers for more ideas.
Edible Plants for Hanging Baskets – Which Plants?
Are you an ardent cook but have no garden other than a windowsill and a small balcony? Add hanging baskets to your collection of pots and you have a lot more scope for the edible plants you can grow.
Some of these will need their own basket and some may share. I have concentrated on the trailing plants, but mention a few upright ones at the end that would fill the middle of a hanging basket. In a wall pot you‘ll probably only want the hanging plants.
Edible Plants for Hanging Baskets – Salads
Tomato
Cherry tomatoes are often the best type as the fruits are small and so less likely than standard tomatoes to drop off before ripening. Having said that, I have seen ordinary vining tomatoes grown over a small pergola – convenient for lunchtime salad in the garden!
Mini Cucumber
Just the right size for a lunch box or salad for two, I am rather fond of these small cucumbers and they do make good edible plants for hanging baskets in a sunny spot.
Mangetout
The peas you eat whole, also known as the edible podded pea. They come in green podded and purple podded varieties; flower colours include purple and bi-coloured purple & white. As they are lighter weight than ‘ordinary’ peas they work well in a hanging basket.
Mini courgette
Choose one of the smaller varieties of courgette, zucchini, Cucurbita pepo, and be sure to pick when ripe, but young. Personally I find them more flavoursome then many of the larger varieties. A trick I have used is to give these a bit of support as they trail down – fine mesh attached to the hanging basket works quite well. This helps with the weight issue. Yellow and green skinned types available.
Edible Plants for Hanging Baskets – Herbs
Trailing thymes and marjoram come in spicy and citrus varieties as well as the ‘ordinary’ types you’d expect.
Thyme
You need creeping plants for them to trail, so look for those labelled Thymus serpyllum. Although Woolly thyme, Thymus lanuginosus, is also good and adds texture.
Marjoram, Origanum
Gold leaved and variegated varieties are colourful edible plants for hanging baskets
Rosemary
The prostrate rosemary, Salvia rosmarinus prostatus group is the one you need. It can grow to a fair sized plant so its unlikely to be along term hanging basket occupant.
Mint
My favourite wall basket mint is Corsican mint, Mentha requienii. This is mainly because when planted int the same wall basket as tomatoes it acts as a companion plant helping to reduce pest problems. However, it does self seed; cutting off the flowers as they die and before they seed resolves this problem.
Nasturtium
If you can grow these in a pot of their own in poor soil. This encourages the nasturtiums, Tropaeolum majus, to produce flowers not just foliage.
Edible Plants for Hanging Baskets – Fruit
Strawberries
Alpine strawberries are usually the type suggested as edible plants for hanging baskets, but the usual garden strawberry grows just as well. For the longest season plant a selection of early mid and late season strawberries. Or one of the perpetual types – just be aware these often have smaller fruit – but just as delicious!
Rapberries
Although readily available, I haven’t yet seen a reliable raspberry crop from a hanging basket plant. If you have, please let me know as I would love to be proved wrong! They’re included in the list just in case.
Cucamelon
However, you could grow Cucamelon, Melothria scabra, mouse melon, if you fancied something a bit different as one of your edible plants for hanging baskets. They taste like a citrus-y cucumber and are rather nice added to Pimms as well as eaten straight off the plant!
Upright Plants
You may want an upright plant in the middle of the hanging basket, as a visual counterpoint to all the trailing foliage. My suggestion would be to include a flowering plant to encourage pollinators and possibly as pest repellent. For example, calendula, pot marigold and cleome, are good choices, but you could also have chives, and let them flower (but not with the mangetout).
Growing Edible Plants in Wall Baskets
One of the key points is to get the potting compost right for the plant and for the situation. This should reduce the watering requirements, but hanging baskets will need more attention than most pots ‘on the ground’.
Another thing to remember is not to overfill the baskets when you’re planting edibles rather than bedding plants. The edibles have to work harder so will need more space, air, light and nutrients.
Experiment and enjoy – happy gardening !
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