Not everyone is able or desires to have a large garden. But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy producing a few vegetables on a smaller scale. A simple window box, just six to eight inches deep, can become a productive mini-garden right outside your kitchen, on a balcony railing, or mounted along a sunny wall.

While the size of these containers limits the type of plants you can grow, there are still plenty of tasty, compact vegetables and herbs that thrive in these small spaces. The key to success in a shallow container is to choose plants with shallow root systems.

Leafy greens, certain herbs, and small root crops are all well-suited for window boxes.

Some of the easiest plants to grow in a shallow box are also some of the tastiest. Succession planting, perhaps using multiple containers, can extend the harvest.

Leafy greens

Lettuce, spinach, and scallions are a sure deal and make a wonderful salad mix. Harvesting the outer leaves of loose-leaf lettuce will keep a salad bowl filled as the plants keeps producing.

Arugula is also fast growing and the peppery flavor spices things up — for most, a little bit goes a long way.

Asian greens may be a little harder to grow. Mini bok choy, tatsoi, and mizuna grow quickly but tend to bolt in too much heat.

A real bang for the buck is growing mesclun. Mesclun is a mix of small assorted greens, harvested young and used fresh. Each mesclun seed mix is different but may contain some, or all, of the above vegetables plus many more.

To grow mesclun, plant the seeds in well-drained soil, ideally in early spring or fall (this is not a hot weather crop). Keep the soil moist and the first crop will be ready in about a month. These greens don’t require much root space and actually benefit from the close quarters of a compact window box.

Herbs

Many culinary herbs have shallow roots and grow well in limited soil. Cilantro might be best planted with the leafy greens. It needs to be planted in cooler weather and tends to bolt in hot weather.

Chives thrive in containers: plant it with other hardy herbs like thyme and oregano for a kitchen box that produces year after year.

Other herbs to consider such as dill, basil, and parsley can also adapt to a window box. It’s best to look for varieties that grow to a smaller size and are suited to container gardening.

Root crops

Most root crops are not well suited to window boxes, but the right choice can be fun to try. Radishes are fast and satisfying to grow. Choose small, round varieties and they will mature quickly, often in less than a month. For fun, this is the crop to grow with kids!

Most varieties of carrots grow too deep for a window box, but look for varieties labeled “baby” or “mini” and give it a try.

The same general gardening “rules” apply to window boxes as any other garden: good seed selection; rich, well drained soil; enough sun; careful watering; and a little fertilizer. Container veggies do better with a regular light feeding of fertilizer because nutrients tend to wash out fast.

Try growing a garden in a window box and enjoy.

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Successive seed planting is a gardening technique where seeds of the same crop are sown in intervals, usually weeks apart. There are several advantages to adopting this method.

• Extended harvest: Instead of harvesting all at once, the varied maturity dates make produce available over a longer period.

• Protects the harvest: Successive planting can reduce the risk of losing an entire crop to pests, disease, or unusual weather. If a problem occurs, replacement is possible.

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Susan Kalmar is a WSU Clallam County Master Gardener.