Mike - that's great! I'm doing something similar, by growing things in swc's for Auburn University. I think it would be neat to grow carrots in a clear container. I bet the kids would think it's cool.

EG

EG,

>> I bet the kids would think it's cool. I'm an old kid (55) and I think it would be neat to see, especially if the carrot is good size.

This will be a good measure of what I have learned in decades of growing plants in dirt, and less than three years of dabbling in container growing. I'll have to study the plants, dates to maturity, how to increase root growth rather than vegetation - the entire gamut.

This should be a fantastic summer!

Mike

That is SOOOOO coool! I would love to do the see through container thing and take it to some schools. It's amazing, even living in an AG area, that kids don't know where fruits/veges/milk etc comes from!
For the containers, you might do some lettuces in the center, then the root veges on the outside (use all that space!)
If you haven't already, you might want to post this on the "growing in containers" and the "square foot gardening" boards. They're the best at growing in small areas.
Good luck! I'm jealous!

How exciting for you!! Good idea to do showy varieties. And to maybe look at square foot gardening. The grounds crew at work plant showy things in square foot boxes in the demonstration garden at work (organic nursery) and it really does convince people to plant a garden. They see how pretty everything looks and want to do it.
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The top picture has a lot of Asian cabbages and greens ~ tatsoi, bok choi, red bok choi, kamatsuna, etc., along with some lettuce and parsley. The second pic is a side view of the bok choi (beautiful! ~ and there's a "baby" bok choi variety that's so cute at only 6 or 8 inches tall), and the last pic is Bright Lights Swiss chard with lettuce spilling out in front of it. (Not all Bright Lights seedlings are that brightly colored ~ the grounds crew picked the brightest ones from a bunch of transplants ~ so you'll want to start four or five times as many seedlings as you want plants to make sure you have plenty to pick from).

Then there are cheddar cauliflower (yellow curd) and graffitti cauliflower (purple curd), romanesco broccoli, dark red lettuces like Merlot and Firecracker. Here are those lettuces in my garden (Firecracker in front, Merlot alongside the Buttercrunch further back):

And Winter Density lettuce is another pretty one (again, from my garden):

Some more showy veggies:
Burgundy or red okra ~ Gorgeous plant with red/maroon stems, leaf veins and pods. Since this one needs hot weather to really get going, you might have to start this one extra early and grow to good size in large pots beforehand.
Musquee de Provence winter squash ~ MASSIVE silver-spangled leaves. It does take a long time to produce, so don't know if this would be a good choice for you. The plant itself is just beautiful though, and big so would look good tumbling out of one end of the plot.
Purple podded bush beans ~ Most aren't as purple as catalog pictures show, so you might want to find real pictures from real people or get opinions beforehand on which is the purplest.
Purple or yellow podded snow peas
Cardoon or artichokes ~ Cardoon might be a better choice for you. Since you eat the stalks, it might have a chance to mature enough from seed to get a harvest if you grow them in 2 or 3 gallon pots for a while before you put them in the plot. Lots of work, but talk about showy!
Purple Hyacinth beans ~ This one's every bit as gorgeous in person as the catalog pictures show you. It is edible, but you have to do a change of water or two when cooking. It's a pole bean, so you'd have to do some sort of trellis for it.
Scarlet Runner beans ~ Beautiful red flowers. Another pole bean.
Purple cabbage ~ The heads are pretty, but the plant itself is gorgeous and a real eye-catcher.
Redbor Kale ~ Gorgeous frilly burgundy leaves with red "hightlights".
Variegated peppers ~ Trifetti and Variegata are both purple and white variegated. Fish is white variegated. All produce edible peppers and some of those peppers are beautiful in their own right. You might also try one of the purple varieties like Purple Peruvian or Purple Beauty.
Variegated tomato ~ I can't remember the name, but there is one out there.
Early butternut squash ~ The plant itself isn't showy, but it produces so much so quickly that it'd definitely be worth growing in your plot imho. My plants were loaded with cute little butternut squash in no time.

I can't think of any more right now, but if I do I'll come back and post them.

knittlin,

I'm getting a lot of ideas from Baker Creek Seeds on-line catalog, especially for the greens and squash. I do like the purple/black/striped plants/fruit better than the plain green/red ones. Your pictures are what I hope to achieve!

When I sow seeds, I usually sow all of them in a package unless they are tiny, then maybe 80-100 of them. I'll transplant the healthiest ones into 3" nursery cell packs and then plan to transplant the best ones from those into the garden. I figure on one just a row (4-5 ft.) of each.

Mike

Sounds like you've got a good plan, Mike. Baker Creek is awesome. I was going to suggest starting lots of everything so you could pick the best looking transplants, but it sounds like you're a vet already, so know what you're doing. Bet it's going to be gorgeous! We need pictures when it's all set up and again when it's mature ... please? ;)

They've really got it figured out at work. My boss, John Dromgoole, has been espousing organic gardening for thirty years, so he really knows what he's doing. Between him and the head groundsman, there's an immense well of knowledge that makes all that possible. It's really incredible. I've been veggie gardening literally since I was a child (we grew all our food when I was a kid), but I'm learning SO much from them. The main thing? Compost, compost, compost ~ and lots of it. Couple that with general organic gardening principles and just look what you get ~ beautiful.
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(Don't forget a scarecrow in your plot, too. ;)

I thought of another one ~ Dinosaur kale. Just too cool looking, all blue-green and huge. That's it in the top left of the square foot box in the foreground of the following picture (last winter's square foot gardens at work), and another sticking up in the box in the back. Both of those aren't quite as full as they could be since my coworkers had been picking off them and eating them for lunch (a nice perk at work ;).
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And you can see that Redbor kale to the mid-right of this pic (the frilly looking red/purple plants):
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And don't forget a few flowers tucked into the corners! Here are stock in front of bok choi from my garden:
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