My most recent visit home to Boston was in summer and my family’s garden was bursting with brilliant flavors. We ate fresh herbs with everything: roughly ripped into salad and blended into pestos. We sautéed just-plucked broccoli with newly-dug garlic. A garden is a glorious thing, even though I did not always think so as a kid, when my mother would order me out to weed, and sweat, on humid summer days. However, recently, my mother’s garden has undergone a subtle but life-altering change. She, and many of our friends, has begun planting in shallow containers which hold just inches of soil, but all the space most garden plants need. Containers—really just long boxes—have transformed the requirements of a garden. What used to require feats of (child) labor—turning over the soil with manure and compost, then the interminable weeding—has become comparatively simple.

Before I returned to Shanghai I bought a detailed yet easy-to-follow book: Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew which outlines how to create a container garden, even if you have only a few feet of space. I trekked to a wholesale agricultural market in Songjiang to buy ingredients for my soil mix. I asked a neighborhood shop selling cheap plywood to nail together boxes: just six inches deep, and four feet by two feet. I began composting in a large old planter in my yard, so my fruit peels and eggshells can gradually rot into nutrients for new plants. Taobao.com sells a surprising variety of flower and vegetable seeds, and I had brought some varieties from the U.S. Then it was time to plant, a magical time of hope (and all the work is now behind you). When the first sprouts appeared, I yelled out with awe like a proud parent.

I have transplanted some crowded plants, but other than needing water and light, my tiny humble garden is delightfully independent—in the controlled environment of containers there is rarely a weed in sight. Now, in early autumn, it is harvest time. I make easy salads with arugula, olive oil and slivers of parmesan. Eduardo Vargas at Casa 13 (Mediterranean) serves just arugula in a snappy lemon dressing. Just touching my lemon basil plants releases a heady warm scent, and I’ve found it makes a fantastic citrusy pesto. Chef Partner Eric Johnson of Jean-Georges (French), whose menu is renowned for its inspired use of spices and herbs, says, "In terms of versatility it's pretty hard to beat basil, there are a million uses for it."

I think of my basil, and how it's time to start planting an autumn crop in my indoor containers. A peek into Jean-Georges' cold storage reveals over a dozen fresh herbs (many from premium purveyor Gusto Fine Foods) including an immense stock of tarragon, which Johnson tells me, with its delicate anise aroma, is one of his favorites. As I head home, I look forward to adding tarragon to my autumn garden.

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