what to put in railing boxes?

[kvet]

Hi:

Would you all be kind enough to suggest some plant ideas for my 3 railing boxes?

Original setup: one with early bloom wildflowers, another had alpine strawberries, and third had nasturtiums. The wildflowers were pretty but died quickly because I spread the entire seed packet over a 2sqft area. The bushy nasturtiums were mutants, twisted, ugly, and I did not like their taste. The strawberries began nicely but now they look terrible, browning leaves, the berries are very fragrant but "meh" in the flavor department. I am over them, just not worth the trouble.

The location gets full sun but subject to heavy wind. In inches, two boxes are 36*12*10, other is 24*12*10 (width, height, depth). I'm zone 10a, coastal southern california.

Ideal plant: something shorter, edible, and perennial with pretty blooms Bonus points if the blooms have an aroma! Am I greedy? Yes.

I read up on herbs, most seem to be annual, or, maybe grow tall so wind will be problematic? I tried growing some outdoors years ago and they became a haven for all sorts of bugs that made me switch to growing herbs indoors.

Perennial chamomile? Maybe some sort of tuber plant or berry bush or ?? Hmmmm.

Thanks for any ideas

[estación seca]

Strawberry and nasturtium flavor is highly dependent on soil pH and how much you fertilize. They have opposite requirements so don't grow them together. Strawberries need rich soil and lots of nitrogen for good flavor. Your nasturtiums might have had aphid attack or have been underwatered if they were gnarled. Don't give up yet.

Most wildflowers are winter annuals in your area. Plant in Sept or Oct. They grow in winter, flower in spring, then die. Look for ones lower in height. California poppies are perennial in your climate.

You didn't mention how much sun they get.

[Leafmite]

Herbs that might work well are Roman chamomile (reseeds itself, fragrant foliage, not particularly seasonal), oregano (perennial), french tarragon (perennial), thyme (perennial), rosemary (just keep it trimmed), basil (reseeds itself), and chives. These all can easily be grown in pots as they stay small and compact (roman chamomile will spread and often into the lawn but it doesn't get at all tall and, when you walk, it is nicely fragrant). There are small lavenders, too, if you like lavender (Many varieties do get large). If you want something small as a ground cover in your pots, Corsican mint is a nice, tiny herb. All these can probably be bought at Companion Plants if you need a source.

If you want to grow strawberries, probably the best one to grow in pots is 'Mara des Bois' as they produce all year as long as it is warm. I have bought these strawberry plants as gifts for family and friends and everyone seems to enjoy them. Here, they take a break during the winter but I grew these under lights one year and enjoyed strawberries all winter. As you are in zone 10, I won't recommend arctic raspberries even though those are really delicious and perfect for growing in pots. They tend not to fare well in warmer climates.

Flowers...Perhaps Jasmine 'Maid of Orleans.' It blooms all the time and you can use the flowers to flavor tea. It can be kept trimmed and neat. The smell of Jasmine is always heavenly, especially at night. It is flexible enough, too, that it can easily take the wind.
Scented geraniums are pretty good. Prince Rupert even has nice blooms and the leaves are lemon scented. I also like the rose geranium and peppermint.

These are just things that I grow and know well. I am sure that others will have some great suggestions, too.

[kvet]

Thank you, leafmite. Looks like herbs would be the best bet, and the jasmine certainly sounds interesting. Poppies mentioned by ES might be fun, too.

When I last tried outdoor herbs (10 years ago?), I had marjoram, thyme, chives, and rosemary. All became infested with bugs.. aphids, little spiders, etc. It discouraged me enough to stop. However, this past year of success with plants, including orchids, gives me some courage to try again!

Will need to rethink watering strategy. The make-shift self-watering design didn't work as well as I hoped, it became problematic to fill the reservoirs. Additionally, the home-made grow bags (landscape weed cloth sewn into shape of bags) became covered in algea and got ugly real quick. Maybe I'll run a drip line up to the railing.

[Leafmite]

Neem oil and soapy water should take care of the bug issues. I usually do not have issues with the herbs outside (except for mint--aphids seem to love the mint).

One way to help the water get to the soil from a reservoir is to use the wicking method. Buy cotton clothesline and cut it into pieces. Bend in an upside down U and put the ends through the holes in the pot. Put soil around the loop of the clothesline. It works amazingly well to keep the soil damp when there is water in the reservoir. I make certain that the ends of the rope reaches the bottom of the reservoir.

To make it easy to fill the reservoirs, some type of pipe or hose that extends from the reservoir to the top of the pot will help. (The top half of a water bottle makes a great funnel.) There are so many options for the tubing...pvc pipe, pieces of old hose.... Good luck!

[kvet]

There were three problems with the home-made self-watering design - the reservoir, the filling tube, and the bags. I'm happy to go into it if anyone's interested, I know what it would take to improve the design but I'm not sure how to accomplish it. While I think through which herbs/plants and whether to try self-watering again or something else, I have to install a hose bib, so I've got a few weeks to procrastinate