Container gardening has become an American hobby, for some a passion. Even if you have room for full-size gardening, containers can be used in multiple spaces to add color, control weeds, and can reduce the amount of time it takes to maintain a larger garden.

You may want to start with something simple and useful. An herb garden is ideal. Sometimes called ‘kitchen gardens’, a good explanation for them is that they are things you bring into the kitchen: herbs, vegetables, fruits and berries, and even the cut flowers for your table.

Start with herbs like basil, chives, cilantro, dill, marjoram, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, and thyme. You can often find these plants in the produce section of your local grocery store. They are usually ready to harvest when you buy them. Recontain them, clipping leaves when needed, but never clipping more than a third of the foliage at any one time. Many herbs are perennial and can be overwintered by moving the container to your kitchen, garage, or basement.

For a salad, choose arugula, endive, lettuce, and mustard. How nice it is to be able to go outside or on your terrace or balcony and have your vegetable salad for your dinner. Fresh and fragrant.

Plant a tomato, cucumber, and some parsley or chives in a large container (24-30″). They grow well together and have the same water and sun requirements. You’ll harvest them until fall.

Flowering plants that do well in containers are petunias, geraniums, and impatiens. Pansies make excellent spring container gardening projects. Combine colors from opposite ends of the color wheel spectrum for maximum impact:

For fresh fruit, try strawberries. They are easily grown in containers. Plant them in barrels, tubs, hanging baskets, or strawberry jars. Plant in early spring and place them where they will receive at least 6 hours of sun per day. When the season is over, don’t throw them away. They can be overwintered by mulching or moving the container to your garage or basement. Next year’s plants will be bigger and better.