Let's Make a Beautiful, Edible Planter for the Front Porch for Fall

The autumn season is upon us, and it's time to spruce up the planters on your front porch or maybe introduce some welcoming greenery to a bare space.

I'm always looking for ways to add more productive plants to my home, so I love creating planters that can serve a dual purpose: look festive and pretty beside my front door but also grow things I can eat. I'm excited to redo my struggling summer planters and fill them with fresh growth for the fall.

Keep reading for tips to fill your own planter with edible plants for the fall season. If you go off my plant recommendations below, your planter will be 100 percent edible and something super bright and cheery to greet you every evening as the days grow shorter and shorter.

Step One: Prepare Your Planter

Make sure you're using a planter that has drainage holes at the bottom. The edible plants I'll recommend below don't like having wet feet (when their roots are sitting in water).

Fill your planter with a nutrient-rich organic potting soil.

If you need to refresh a planter from a previous season, remove any dead plants and debris so that you can start fresh for the new season. Add some compost to the top of the soil. You might want to grab another container that you can fill with some of the soil you'll need to take out of the planter to make room for all of the new plants. If you end up with soil left over, you can always top off other potted plants.

Step Two: Buy Plants for Your Fall Planter

Use my plant recommendations below to keep your fall planter edible and low-maintenance.

If you have two planters that you want to be symmetrical, make sure to buy everything in twos when you're shopping for plants.

The best places to find organically grown plant starts to fill your planter would be local nurseries and farmers' markets.

Step Three: Plant Up Your Fall Planter

Follow these tips as you're adding plants to your planter.

Tip #1

Use a gardening tool that's long and narrow so that you can dig deep to make a new planting hole without disturbing the other plants in the container. I love this long, thin trowel.

Tip #2

Remove each plant from its pot gently and use your fingers to loosen the roots a bit. Plants from the store have often been left in their pots for a little too long.

Tip #3

Make sure to dig a nice, deep hole for each plant so that you can bury the entire root ball. You want the neck of each plant (where the roots meet the stem) to be right on level with the soil.

Tip #4

Don't be afraid to push plants all the way to the edge of the planter since this is a one-season project. Many of these plants are annuals, so they won't stay in your planter forever. You can pack them in without worrying too much about their space needs.

Tip #5

Keep height in mind. Place taller plants in the back of your planter and shorter ones in the front. Plants like chives or trailing rosemary will look beautiful with their foliage hanging over the side of the planter.

Tip #6

As you add more plants to the planter, make sure to push soil away from whichever plant you've just planted.

Fall Planter Plant List

This list is by no means exhaustive, but here are some of my favorite plants for fall that are as attractive as they are easy to grow. Oh, and don't forget they're all edible, too!

• arp rosemary
• chives
• dianthus
• dill
• gomphrena
• lemon thyme
• marigolds
• pansies
• parsley
• sage
• Swiss chard
• violas

Let's look at a couple of my favorite edible plants for fall planters.

Rosemary Is a Great Herb for Fall Planters

Rosemary has two different growth habits. I'm using arp rosemary, which grows more vertically, making it an ideal centerpiece for a planter. If you want rosemary to cascade over the side of your planter, look for a trailing variety.

Rosemary likes to stay dry, so make sure you don't drown your herb by planting it too low in the pot.

Chives Add Texture to Your Fall Planter

Chives are great plants to squeeze in anywhere you have extra room along the edge of your planter. The foliage can drape over the sides. Bonus: Thanks to their onion-y scent, chives will help keep pests away from your leafy greens.

Dill Adds Height to Your Fall Planter

Dill is a great tall plant to add to the back of your planter. Even if the dill you have is small now, it'll grow to be nice and tall quickly and add height to your planter.

Gomphrena Is a Great Flower for Fall Planters

Gomphrena, also called globe amaranth, is a beautiful little edible flower that will add bright orbs of color to your autumnal planter. It can handle a light frost or two.

Marigolds Will Keep Pests Away from Your Fall Planter

Marigolds are a great fall flower. They'll not only add bright pops of color to your planter, they can even handle a light frost or two. Like chives, their scent can repel pests from your planter.

Parsley Is a Low-Maintenance Herb for Fall Planters

Parsley will grow to be nice and full; it can even drape over the side of the planter. When I'm going for looks and texture, I typically choose curly parsley over flat leaf parsley (also called Italian parsley).

Swiss Chard Is the Perfect Leafy Green for Fall Planters

Beautiful Swiss chard makes a great addition to any fall planter, especially if you grab a plant with orange or yellow stems to stay on theme for autumn.

Sometimes when you buy Swiss chard plants from the store, there will actually be several little plants in one container. You can very carefully pull the roots apart to divide the plants so that they can have their own space in the planter.

Swiss chard will grow tall and really fill in the space. The leaves will be so colorful and enticing that your guests will want to pick their own salad on their way into your house!

Once your planter is all planted up for the fall, give it a good watering. If it's still pretty warm where you live, consider giving your planter some afternoon shade until your plants adjust to the temperatures and their new container home. Your only maintenance tasks are to water your planter when the top two inches of soil feel dry and to harvest often.

If you'd like to encourage friends and neighbors to grab a couple leaves of something yummy from your planter, a fun idea is to add plant tags so they can see that everything is edible and ready for them to take a little bite!

I hope you get a lot of enjoyment from your edible fall planter and that it reminds you to find more ways to grow a beautiful and productive garden in whatever space you have. Thanks for being here and helping to make gardening ordinary once more.