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Container Gardening – All You Need To Know

November 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Days are gone when anyone without adequate space could not practice gardening. Today all you need is a balcony, deck or a patio to start your own little beautification program through a wonderful process called container gardening. This article provides more information about this great pastime.

If you are keen on gardening yet do not have adequate space to accommodate your ‘green’ desires, do not fret, help is at hand. You can actually run a lovely indoor garden, also known as ‘container gardening’ in your own patio, balcony, and deck or even on the ledge of a window that receives a lot of sunshine! So, are you ready?

There was a time was gardening was a hobby pursued only by people who owned little or big plots of land. Today, the scenario has changed. Even residents of small flats can grow their own landscape garden in their own little flat. It is called container gardening, or put more simply, it is growing plants and flowers in a container. One of the biggest benefits of container gardening is that you need not toil out in the sun, with the weekly mowing schedule, etc., yet enjoy all the benefits of a beautiful scenery right inside your home. You could grow some of the perennials, annuals and even small shrubs and trees in your containers.

While container gardening is a definite possibility, never presume that it is going to an easy task. Just like traditional gardening, container gardening also requires meticulous planning. This planning involves finding out from USDA, the specific climate zone that you live in. finding this critical information will help you to choose the right types of plants for your house. Secondly you need to be sure that your home or at least some parts of it get enough sunlight during the day. After ascertaining all these factors, you can go out and get the plants you so desire for indoor gardening.

The first advice to start your container gardening is to buy the plants from the local nursery. Otherwise you ought to have adequate facilities to go for indoor seedlings. You should never expose the tender plants outside if the temperature is below 45° F or the weather is highly windy. You should also remember not to keep your plants outside overnight, or else your plants may get damaged by frost.

Many people falsely believe that any plant that thrives on the ground will not be suitable for container gardening. This is completely untrue. If you do not believe, try it out yourself. Moreover, any plant will grow well if kept in containers which have holes at the bottom, for proper water drainage.

Not only does most container gardening require very little fertilizer and water support, depending on the variety that you have chosen, it also requires very little budget as starting expenses and has very low maintenance costs.

Not just flowers, you could grow many types of pot-growing vegetables as part of your container gardening. All that these plants need are water and plenty of sunlight. If you can provide these two basic ingredients then you could grow your own bunch of your own favorite vegetables for your ratatouille or salad. Its time to surprise your friends, right?

Even if you do not have the right balcony or deck, you could manage a special sanction from your landlord and install window boxes, a modern version of container gardening. Your sunny window could be the idea venue for growing some annuals or indoor vegetables. Another type of garden called community garden also exists, which can make any city dweller happy.

Once autumn dawns, there is no need to stop your container gardening activity as then you can continue with plants which can resist frost. Few of the common plants which can withstand frost are: Eulalia grasses, Mexican feather grass, Cornflowers, Lavender cottons, Jasmine, Million bells, Stonecrops, etc.

There is a unique way to extend the lifecycle of you container garden from early spring to late fall. Simply replant to tally well with the surrounding environment and weather conditions. To get a good design idea for your container garden, you could get in touch with some of America’s leading gardeners online. These remarkable gardeners offer advice on caring and choosing plants for pots, tips on how to grow vibrant roses and bulbs in small containers, and more.

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What Container Gardening Entails

November 13, 2010 By 2 Comments
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Container gardening is usually suited to people who live in places with a lack of space such as built-up urban areas. The different issues involved in container gardening and a number of brilliant ideas, are covered in this piece.

Container gardening is usually designed for people who think that they’re days of gardening have ended when they move into an apartment of a condo. Plants that are pretty and useful can still be grown if you opt to have a container garden instead. A few simple rules will have to be followed before you start your container garden. Five essential elements are important to your container garden and they include the pot, the soil, the light, the watering requirements and the fertilizer. Think of herbs for instance, they do not require big pots but they need at least six good hours of sunlight. The fertilizer that they need is small and they require good drainage in their soil.

Selecting the right container is quite important for you as well as your plants. You will preferably need to choose a pot which complements your home or your outside patio; you may also want to meet the needs of your plants. Cedar and redwood containers tend to be rot resistant while other woods tend to root easily. If wood pots are used you should ensure that they have not been treated with harmful chemicals which are harmful to your plants. Plastic pots should not be used in the sun as they will disintegrate quite quickly. Terracotta Containers are vulnerable in the sunlight as well as they tend to dry out easily and are prone to crack and break. The best pots that can be used for your container garden on the patio are usually ceramic glazed pots. These pots tend to be pretty and colorful but you should ensure that they have a lot of drainage holes.

For soil, everything is entirely about the nature of plants that you intend to grow. You should remember that your garden is going to be grown in limited space so you have to ensure that the soil will drain sufficiently. The whole key is usually to have a soil mixture which will retain moisture and has adequate drainage so as not to drown the roots. Making some research into the type of plant that you are growing will give you an idea of what each plant requires. Certain plants may require that some sand is added to the mix. In container gardening you cannot afford to go wrong where any of the essential components is concerned.

One more aspect of research is to understand how much light that your plants require. All plants which are available have different levels of light. Impatiens tends to do excellently in the shade while vegetables and flowers tend to do wonderfully in sunlight.

Fertilizing is one more crucial aspect of container gardening. When a plant is placed in a container, it only requires a minimal amount of solid which to draw nutrients from, because of this you will have to give it a little help. In order to be consistent, you should fertilize on every other watering. One fertilizer alone shouldn’t be used, a whole mix of nutrients will aid in keeping your plants happy and healthy as well.

Watering your container gardening should be quite crucial to you. It will take a certain amount of time to develop the right schedule for the different plants since they all tend to have different requirements. If you are having extremely hot weather then you may need to water your plants on a daily basis.

Container gardening is a very rewarding venture. It permits people in the city to enjoy something of the great outdoors in their own limited space. As soon as you have done your research and you have decided on the nature of plants to grow, the next step for you is to gather all the necessary materials and plant your container garden. You will no doubt enjoy the container gardening experience.

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Container Gardening – Making Use of Small Spaces

November 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

For people who don’t have a yard, container gardening is an alternative solution if they really want to garden. These are some ways which container gardening can be implemented even when you don’t have a large yard.

There are a number of ways that you can have your own personal garden even though you don’t have a large yard.

1. Place pots of flowers on one side of your steps. This tends to work excellently if you have each container around the same size and the flowers/plants the same or similar.

2. Hanging baskets on the porch. Getting one or many containers that have colorful cascading flowers, such as ivy geraniums, petunias, begonias, in one color or combinations of colors, can create a wonderful garden effect in your home.

3. You can place planters on both sides of your front door. Tall, narrow plantings usually do quite well. You can also consider, Topiary, sculpted green shrubs, or even a vine on an obelisk or similar standing structures.

4. You can put a group of containers on a bench. If you have a bench, table or shelf lying around, you should have a number of containers of varying sizes. The plants available can be of different colors as well as types.

5. A container on a pedestal in entryway. If your entrance is large enough, having an urn that is filled with flowers on a pedestal usually creates a very powerful impression.

6. Lining a patio. As long as your flowers don’t obstruct your pathway, having a patio that is lined with containers of colorful flowers is a wonderful addition to any home.

7. A grouping in the corner of a deck. Decks tend to be usually boring and devoid of any form of color. By grouping several containers of different sizes, shapes and types with a lot of colorful flowers, you create a much more exciting atmosphere.

8. Encircling a tree trunk. As long as there is enough light, making a “flower box” around a tree trunk and filling it with flowers, adds color and interest to an otherwise empty space.

9. Hanging on a wall. You can use wall brackets to attach containers to a wall and fill them with flowers that tend to oppose the particular wall color. This works well for grabbing attention from everybody passing by as long as you make proper use of the available space.

10. in an old wagon or wheelbarrow. If you collect antiques or have some similar items you can easily fill everything up with a collection of annual plants. This works well for some people but others can use alternative solutions.

11. Hanging from deck railings. A number of different containers are usually specially made to attach to deck railings that look wonderful when filled with flowers. The containers shouldn’t be extraordinarily large but should be shaped in proportion to each other as well as your home.

12. A window box filled with flowers. Regardless of whether or not you have no yard, porch, patio or deck you can have a window box filled with a number of different bright flowers for your viewing pleasure and that of a number of people who may be visiting your home.

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