Potted plants add color, texture, beauty and versatility to your indoor and outdoor spaces. Here's everything you need to know about container gardening.

How to Grow a Basket of Crops

Hang a basket brimming with leafy herbs and succulent tomatoes close to your kitchen door for easy access to fresh ingredients. With a sprinkling of annual flowers, this pretty mix is a match for any bedding design.

Excerpted from How to Grow Practically Everything
Filed under: Gardening, How To, Baskets, Herbs, Tomatoes

When to Start: Mid- to late spring
At Its Best: Summer
Time to Complete: 2 hours

Materials Needed:

large hanging basket with liner
soil-based potting mix, combined 50:50 with multipurpose potting mix
slow-release granular fertilizer
plastic bags
gravel mulch

liquid tomato fertilizer
tomato plants
violas and nasturtiums
herbs; those used here are: basil 'Magic Mountain', chives, flat-leaved parsley and thyme

Prepare the Basket

Buy the largest basket you can find, ideally with an integrated liner. Because tomatoes are greedy feeders and need lots of water, they may not be as successful in a small basket that holds a limited amount of soil, water and food. Line the base of the basket with a sheet of plastic to create a reservoir at the bottom. Stand the plants in a tray of water for 30 minutes until the top of the soil is moist. Remove, and leave them to drain.

How to Prepare a Basket for Planting Tomatoes

Plant the Sides

Half-fill the basket with potting mix. Cut two or three crosses in the liner above the soil. Tip a thyme plant from its pot and wrap the leaves in a plastic bag. Carefully push the bag from the inside out through a slit, so the root ball is resting on the soil. Repeat with the other thymes.