Your guide to container gardening in Pennsylvania

Whether you only have room for a balcony garden or you want to spruce up your front porch, container gardening allows you to grow plants via miniature, mobile gardens. 

Not everyone can grow large, lush gardens in their backyards — many of us don’t even have backyards! But you can still grow plants at home by way of container gardening. By adding one — or several — container gardens to your space, you can immediately bring a versatile slice of nature to your porch, balcony, or other outdoor area.

What is container gardening?

Just like it sounds, container gardening is the practice of growing plants in distinct containers, whether they’re traditional terracotta pots, window boxes, plastic buckets, wooden crates, or other planters. It’s a great option if you have limited space for a garden, as you can grow a container garden on your balcony, your porch, or even your front stoop.

What should I plant?

While you might think you should plant whatever plants you are drawn to, instead, you should focus on plants that will survive — and thrive! — where you live. The USDA has a helpful metric, hardiness zones, that will help you determine the plants that are best suited for your container garden. You simply need to figure out the hardiness zone where you live, and there are three different zones with two different subzones each across the state. Look at the map of Pennsylvania hardiness zones to help you figure out the zone where you live, or check out the USDA website where you can enter your zip code and quickly learn your zone and subzone.

The most recent USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map can help Pennsylvanians determine the best plants for their areas. (USDA Agricultural Research Service)

You can then fall into a veritable rabbit hole learning about what plants you can raise in your container garden, but we have some ideas to get you started!

Lots of vegetables do well in containers, including greens, tomatoes, beets, beans, radishes, squash, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, and more. To help ensure your vegetables fit your container, make sure the container is large enough to hold the fully grown plant (the back of the seed packet or the plant information card should have size information). You can also look for smaller varieties of crops, often called “bush,” “dwarf,” or even “container” varieties. Note that you can indeed plant many vegetables that grow tall — you’ll just need to support them with poles or trellises. 

In addition to an edible container garden, you can also create a delightful container garden focused on beauty (or attracting pollinators!) using flowers and other plants. On this front, we’ll focus on native perennials, which grow year-round. You’ll need to do some research to decide which plants will best fit the soil you will use, and the level of sun your container garden will get, but our suggestions should be a good starting point.

Remember, our suggestions are not exhaustive, and most of the plants we list can actually thrive across all the hardiness zones in Pennsylvania. For an immersive guide to what grows best in your area, head to your local plant nursery to browse options!

Zone 7b (Southern Philadelphia and Delaware County) 

In this zone, you can grow all sorts of vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, bush beans, peas, carrots (in deep pots), and herbs.

Other plants you might want to grow in your containers include flowers like asters, bee balm, coneflowers, and phlox. You can purchase native varieties that will also attract pollinators like bees and butterflies to your container garden.

Zone 7a (Greater Philadelphia outside of Zone 7b, Harrisburg, Eastern York County, and parts of Eastern Pennsylvania) 

On the veggie side, try growing beets, spinach, kale, and radishes.

Some native plants that are likely to thrive in containers in this area include wild columbine, butterfly weed, and golden ragwort.

Zone 6b (Pittsburgh and areas southwest of the city as well as most of Southeastern Pennsylvania)

Tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini (with support), and herbs will thrive in your containers.

Try native perennials like blazing star, milkweed, skullcap, mistflower, and phlox.

Zone 6a (Parts of Central and Northeastern Pennsylvania and Greater Pittsburgh outside of Zone 6b)

Try growing cucumbers (with added support), kale, radishes, and small varieties of squash.

Native plants that should do well in containers include Sweet Joe Pye Weed, wild bergamot, asters, and coral bells.

Zone 5b (Most of Northern Pennsylvania and some parts of South-Central Pennsylvania)

Veggies you might want to grow include beets, carrots (in deep pots), tomatoes, and greens like spinach and kale.

Plant perennials native to your area like nodding onion, wild columbine, and wild ginger.

Zone 5a (Parts of Northwestern Pennsylvania)

Though the growing season is shortest in this zone, you can still grow plenty of vegetables like squash (look for small varieties), peppers, lettuce, bush beans, and herbs.

You can grow many native perennials in containers in zone 5, including wild strawberry, asters, bluets, and grasses like Pennsylvania sedge.

Ripe strawberries in a terracotta pot. (Alejandro Piñero Amerio/Unsplash)

How should I design my container garden?

You can have as few as one container or even dozens of containers in your container garden—the choice is up to you and depends on how you want to design your space! Maybe you’ll create one large container garden with a giant terracotta pot containing sprawling plants. Or perhaps you’ll have several pots growing tomatoes, beans, and other vegetables so that you create your own container vegetable garden. 

Whatever you do, remember that your containers need to have drainage holes to prevent waterlogging. You also need to place your containers where they can receive at least some sunlight (though exact light requirements depend on your chosen plants) and where it will be convenient for you to water them (so that you actually water them).

We do have design suggestions for large containers of perennials. Rather than cram a bunch of plants into your container, you can thoughtfully combine flowers and plants that complement each other. For example, you could plant three different flowers that all bloom at different times so that your container garden is almost always in bloom. You could also plant short flowers and tall flowers next to plants that may spill over the side, like wild blue phlox, adding interest to your container garden.

When should I plant?

Container gardens are planted around the same time that traditional gardens are planted in the ground. That means you should plant your container garden after the last frost of the season, which in Pennsylvania depends on where you live and will be sometime between April and May. Figure out when you should plant based on your USDA hardiness zone, which you can determine by entering your zip code on the USDA website, and then check your area’s approximate last frost date below. (And if you want to start container gardening before the last frost, you can also start growing seeds inside and later transfer the plants to an outdoor container.)

While this guide is accurate for most plants, note that some vegetables will have different planting requirements—still usually based on the last frost date. For example, carrots should be planted a few weeks before the last frost. Research your favorite vegetables to learn more about their planting requirements.

Zone 7b (Southern Philadelphia and Delaware County) 

In the warmest zone in Pennsylvania, the last frost date is usually around April 15.

Zone 7a (Greater Philadelphia outside of Zone 7b, Harrisburg, Eastern York County, and parts of Eastern Pennsylvania) 

It’s usually a little cooler in this zone, but the last frost date is still around April 15.

Zone 6b (Pittsburgh and areas southwest of the city as well as most of Southeastern Pennsylvania)

Typically, the last frost in this area is around May 1.

Zone 6a (Parts of central and northeastern Pennsylvania and Greater Pittsburgh outside of Zone 6b)

Expect the last frost in this zone around May 1.

Zone 5b (Most of Northern Pennsylvania and some parts of South-Central Pennsylvania)

This zone makes up some of the chillier areas of Pennsylvania, and the date of the last frost is usually around May 15.

Zone 5a (Parts of Northwestern Pennsylvania)

The coldest zone in Pennsylvania usually experiences the last frost around May 15.

This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.