Grow Where You Are: A Realtor's Guide to Container Gardening in New Jersey
- Susan Heckman
- May 12
- 4 min read
I didn't start container gardening because I read about it in a magazine. I started because the neighborhood deer ate everything I planted, year after year.
Before my backyard was fenced, it was a 5-star restaurant for the local deer population. After losing hostas and impatiens summer after summer, and giving up on tomatoes, eggplant, and squash, I purchased a few large garden containers from Costco for my deck and never looked back. That was several years ago, and while my backyard is now fenced and free of deer, today my container gardens are some my favorite things about my home. Every spring I look forward to filling the planters with veggies, flowers, pollinators, and herbs, and there's something genuinely peaceful about sitting among them with a cup of coffee.
As a Realtor, I've toured hundreds of New Jersey properties. I've seen overgrown yards kill a first impression and beautifully tended gardens make buyers fall in love before they ever stepped inside. Container gardening sits in a sweet spot: it's manageable, flexible, HOA-friendly, and it photographs beautifully. Whether you're in a Middletown colonial, an Asbury Park condo, or a sprawling Colts Neck estate, container gardens work. Here's everything I've learned through trial, error, and more than a little deer-related frustration.
The Realtor's Take: Why This Matters for Your Home
Staged outdoor spaces can add perceived value and help a home sell faster, especially in the busy spring and summer months. Container gardens require no permanent landscaping changes, making them ideal for sellers prepping to list, or for homeowners who want low-commitment seasonal color without a landscape contractor. A few well-placed containers with coordinated plantings send a clear message to buyers: this home is cared for, and outdoor living is part of the lifestyle here.
Setting Up Your Container: Get the Foundation Right
This is the step most beginners skip — and the reason most beginners lose plants. In New Jersey's humid summers and wet springs, good drainage isn't optional. Waterlogged roots will kill almost anything you're growing, no matter how lovingly you tend it.
Drainage holes: Choose containers that already have them, or drill your own before filling.
Drainage layer: Add a few inches of broken terracotta shards or gravel to the bottom. For large containers, try the "pot-in-pot" trick: nestle an upside-down nursery pot in the bottom third before adding soil. This reduces weight dramatically — a real advantage on decks with weight limits, and helpful when you need to move containers inside ahead of a frost.
Potting mix: Fill the container with a quality potting mix, leaving the top 2–3 inches open.
Best Plants for New Jersey Container Gardens
They don't call this the Garden State for nothing. According to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, New Jersey now spans USDA hardiness zones 6b through 8a, meaning the state has gotten meaningfully warmer. Northern areas fall in zone 6b (lows of -5 to 0°F), central areas in zones 7a–7b (0 to 10°F), and southern and coastal areas reach zone 8a (10 to 15°F). Our growing season runs roughly 160 to 220 days (May through October) which means there's room for everything from heat-loving tomatoes and peppers to reliable cool-season crops.
Vegetables Lettuce and salad greens (start in April–May), cherry tomatoes, peppers, dwarf eggplant, dwarf cucumber, bush beans
Herbs Basil, parsley, chives, rosemary
Flowers Pansies and snapdragons (April–May), New Guinea impatiens, geraniums, petunias, lantana, marigolds
Perrenial Pollinators Purple coneflowers, milkweed, black-eyed Susans, catmint, coral bells
Spillers (for that lush, layered look) Nasturtiums, sweet potato vine, ivy
A note on companion planting: Marigolds, basil, and nasturtiums naturally deter pests that target tomatoes and peppers, so consider planting them around the perimeter of your vegetable containers. Basil is especially useful: it's said to actually improve the flavor of nearby tomatoes, both in the garden and on the plate.
Watering and Feeding
Containers dry out quickly, so plan to water daily, or close to it, especially in the heat of summer. If you have multiple containers (as I do), a hose with a gentle shower nozzle makes the whole routine much faster and more pleasant.
As for fertilizer: if you start with a quality potting mix, you may not need it at all. If you do choose to feed, I recommend an organic product and following the label directions. Less is more.
Off Season Care
As plants fade into the fall, I simply cut down the dead greenery and let the roots remain in the soil. Over the winter months, containers can stay in place, especially if they are oversized like mine.
Once temperatures begin to warm, you can turn the soil over, pull out dead roots and apply a fresh topper of new potting mix.
You don't need a green thumb or years of experience to get started. You need a garden container and a willingness to try. New Jersey's climate does the rest.
Questions? I'd love to talk about gardening or real estate. Whether you're thinking about selling, buying, or just trying to figure out what to plant in that big clay pot on your deck, I'm always happy to chat about New Jersey living.
Susan Heckman
Broker-Associate
732-687-9980
The Gallery Residential Brokerage
Serving New Jersey home buyers and sellers from Spring Lake, NJ
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