×
  • Home
  • Daily
    • Composting
    • Container Gardening
    • Easy Healthy Recipes
    • Food Preservation
    • Garden Design
    • Garden Tools
    • Growing Fruits & Berries
    • Indoor Gardening
    • Pests & Diseases
    • Seeds & Seedlings
    • Soil & Fertilizer
    • Spice & Herb Gardening
    • Vegetable Gardening
    • Watering & Irrigation
  • Freebies
  • Videos
  • Magazines
    • Food Gardening Magazine
    • RecipeLion Magazine
  • Guides
  • Cookbooks
    • Beverages
    • Bakery
    • Breakfast
    • Appetizers
    • Salads & Dressings
    • Soups
    • Entrées
    • Side Dishes & Sauces
    • Desserts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Affiliate Program
  • Sponsor Program
  • Give a Gift
  • Privacy Policy & Terms of Use
  • Manage Account
  • Authors
  • Keyword Index
  • Join

Food Gardening Network

Growing Good Food at Home

Join
Mequoda Publishing Network
  • Daily
    • Composting
    • Container Gardening
    • Easy Healthy Recipes
    • Food Preservation
    • Garden Design
    • Garden Tools
    • Growing Fruits & Berries
    • Indoor Gardening
    • Pests & Diseases
    • Seeds & Seedlings
    • Soil & Fertilizer
    • Spice & Herb Gardening
    • Vegetable Gardening
    • Watering & Irrigation
  • Freebies
  • Videos
  • Magazines
    • Food Gardening Magazine
    • RecipeLion Magazine
  • Guides
  • Cookbooks
    • Beverages
    • Bakery
    • Breakfast
    • Appetizers
    • Salads & Dressings
    • Soups
    • Entrées
    • Side Dishes & Sauces
    • Desserts
  • Sign In
  • Search

What Can You Grow in Deck Rail Planters?

What Can You Grow in Deck Rail Planters?

Deck rail planters are great for decorative flowers and adding visual appeal to your home, but you can grow vegetables in them, too.

By Amanda MacArthur | September 29, 2022

deck rail planters

I’ve always loved deck rail planters and window boxes. They’re kind of quaint, and they can bring some natural beauty to a space that’s usually ignored. It’s always nice to walk by a house and see lots of colorful flowers hanging over the railings of a front porch or balcony.

Don’t get me wrong; I really do love seeing all the flowers. But I also see those deck rail planters and think about all the vegetables and herbs that would fit perfectly in them. And we all know that a healthy rosemary plant is every bit as pretty as any daisy, right?

Discover 7 top tips for growing, harvesting, and enjoying tomatoes from your home garden—when you access the FREE guide The Best Way to Grow Tomatoes, right now!

Growing vegetables in deck rail planters and window boxes

Deck rail planters are great for herbs. Most herbs don’t need deep soil to thrive, so they’re ideally suited for these set ups. But not all deck rail planters are shallow. You can get them in a variety of sizes. In fact, there is a wide range of colors, materials, styles, and sizes available. Some are recessed in the bottom to fit over your rail, while others have hooks so they can hang from the rail. There are single pots and rectangular boxes and all sorts of possibilities.

Here are a few examples:




It’s easy to look just at the style and color and pick a planter, but it’s important to think about these other factors, as well. For instance, a black plastic planter will keep the soil warmer, which could be beneficial or not, depending on where you are. A wicker basket could offer plenty of drainage, which might be perfect for something like the aforementioned rosemary. The point is to match your plant with your planter. Which brings us to the original question: What vegetables can you grow in deck rail planters?

As it turns out, there are a lot of vegetables to choose from.

  1. Leafy salad greens grow quickly and they’re easy to care for.
  2. Radishes are perfect for deck rail planters. They grow quickly, don’t need a ton of space, and you can eat the greens as well as the root.
  3. Strawberries can thrive in containers as long as they have a good sunny spot.
  4. Hot peppers are easy to grow in containers and they’re such pretty vegetables that they can add some nice color and texture to your environment.
  5. Sweet peppers, too, can grow well in containers. Just make sure to leave enough space for them to spread out a bit.
  6. Spinach, like salad greens, can grow well in a planter, just be sure it doesn’t get overheated.
  7. Green onions don’t need a lot of depth to grow, so as long as you don’t overplant them, these work very well in deck rail planters.
  8. Cherry tomatoes can be prolific producers, they come in gorgeous yellow and red varieties, and they can be relatively low maintenance.
  9. Garlic is a set-it-and-forget-it plant if ever there was one. And since you plant them in the late fall or early winter, you won’t be growing much of anything else in your planters at that time.
  10. Swiss chard is colorful, nutritious, and easy to grow even in deck rail planters.

And if you’d still like more options, there are hybrid varieties of a number of different vegetables that are specially bred for containers. So while your options aren’t exactly limitless, you can go pretty darn far before you reach that limit.

Have you planted vegetables in deck rail planters? What would you recommend growing?

Discover 7 top tips for growing, harvesting, and enjoying tomatoes from your home garden—when you access the FREE guide The Best Way to Grow Tomatoes, right now!

« How to Preserve Zucchini and Summer Squash 5 Ways
The Best Health Benefits of Cruciferous Vegetables & 7 to Plant at Home »

Related Posts

  • Making Food-Safe DIY Window Box Planters Fit for a Home Chef
  • The 6 Best Containers for Container Gardening
  • Pros and Cons of Fabric Grow Bags for Vegetables

Tags

deck rail planters, garlic, green onions, growing vegetables, healthy rosemary plant, onions, peppers, rail planters, rosemary, salad greens, strawberries, swiss chard, tomatoes, vegetables and herbs

Comments
  • Em M. April 21, 2022

    Swiss chard and spinach have done very well for me over the years, in addition to lettuce mixes and herbs. I also throw in a few flowers like marigolds and nasturtiums for color and to be added to salads.

    Reply
  • Barbara H. July 15, 2021

    Bunching onions, we usually have them year round.

    Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Give a Gift

FREEBIE!

With your FREEBIE, you’ll also receive regular email messages from the Food Gardening Network. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Your email address is private. We promise never to sell, rent or disclose your email address to third parties.

Freebies

  • How to Grow a Vegetable Garden
  • 15 Easiest Fruits to Grow at Home
  • Growing Vegetables Indoors for Beginners
  • How to Master Spice and Herb Gardening at Home
  • The Best Way to Grow Tomatoes
  • Recipes from Your Garden
  • How to Start a Freedom Garden
  • Gardening in Every Season
  • Planning Your Perfect Food Garden
  • Plants for Bug Control Chart

Browse Topics

  • Composting
  • Container Gardening
  • Easy Healthy Recipes
  • Food Preservation
  • Garden Design
  • Garden Tools
  • Growing Fruits & Berries
  • Indoor Gardening
  • Pests & Diseases
  • Seeds & Seedlings
  • Soil & Fertilizer
  • Spice & Herb Gardening
  • Vegetable Gardening
  • Watering & Irrigation

We will be attending the following shows in 2023:

  • MANTS in Baltimore, MD
  • Connecticut Flower Show
  • Vermont Flower Show
  • Philadelphia Flower Show
Click here to schedule a time to visit with us at the show!

Enter Your Log In Credentials

This setting should only be used on your home or work computer.

  • Lost your password? Create New Password
  • No account? Sign up

Need Assistance?

Call Food Gardening Network Customer Service at
(800) 777-2658

Food Gardening Network is an active member of the following industry associations:

  • American Horticultural Society
  • GardenComm Logo
  • MCMA logo
  • Renewd logo
  • Manage Account
  • Join
  • About Food Gardening Network
  • Contact Us
  • Affiliate Program
  • Sponsor Program
  • Give a Gift
  • Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Food Gardening Network
99 Derby Street, Suite 200
Hingham, MA 02043
support@foodgardening.mequoda.com

FREE E-Newsletter for You!

Discover how to grow, harvest, and eat good food from your own garden—with our FREE e-newsletter, delivered directly to your email inbox.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Powered by
Mequoda Publishing Network
copyright © 2023 Mequoda Systems, LLC

Food Gardening Network® and Food Gardening Magazine® are registered trademarks of Mequoda Systems, LLC.

Go to mobile version