Don’t have enough space for the garden of your dreams? Never fear, container gardening is here! And this article is here to help you through your container gardening journey! But first, what even is container gardening?
Container gardening is simply the act of growing your plants in containers rather than planting them directly into the ground. Some pros of container gardening besides the whole space thing include portability, which is important when you want to grow plants that need to be moved inside for certain seasons, versatility, and the fact that container gardens are an amazing form of decoration! You can grow everything from flowers to food to small trees in containers, but in this article we are specifically going to be focusing on herbs and vegetables!
Picking a Container
First and foremost, however, how do you even know what kind of container to pick for your container garden? Seems like this would be important considering that the topic of this article is container gardening and all. The first thing you should note about your container gardening containers is that you are going to NEED drainage holes, without them, your plants will flood. You can put your container inside another cachepot without holes to catch the excess water coming out of the drainage holes if you are concerned about this.
Another really important thing to consider when deciding on a container is size. The size of your container should depend on:
The root sizes and shapes of your plants (the denser / more rootbound your plants are, the bigger container you are going to need)
Whether or not the plants you are working with are annual or perennial, (with you climate in mind, perennial plants may need to come in for certain seasons, which could potentially limit the weight / size / capacity of the container you choose)
How fast your plants grow (this one is pretty obvious, faster growth = bigger container)
The temperatures your plants thrive in (darker colored pot = warms plants, lighter colored pot = keeps plants cooler)
Where you are planning to place your container and what kind of weight / space that area can withstand / fit
Material is another really important thing to consider when choosing pots. Different kinds of materials have different pros and cons and fit different plants and spaces better. Here is a comprehensive list below of the pros and cons of a number of popular container gardening pot materials:
Wood:
Pros: natural-looking aesthetic, you can build wood planters yourself, protects roots from temperature swings
Cons: you would have to specifically pick a rot resistant wood (locust, cedar, treated pine, (not with creosote, it’s toxic to plants!))
Note: molded wood-fiber can also be used, it is pretty cheap and hardy
Cast concrete:
Pros: long-lasting, plenty of size / shape options, can be left outside year-long
Cons: Heavy, difficult to move -> therefore not good for decks and balconies
Note: Concrete and fiberglass blends have similar qualities, but are much lighter, a good one of these to look into would be hypertufa
Metal:
Pros: strong
Cons: conducts heat, so not good for protecting against temperature swings
Terracotta / Clay:
Pros: attractive
Cons: breakable, not good for colder weather (can be broken by freezing & thawing), and therefore cannot be used with perennials in colder places
Plastic & Fiberglass:
Pros: light, not overly-expensive, lots of size/shape options
Cons: you would have to specifically choose thick / sturdy ones because thin ones can become brittle over time and with cold
Note: Polyurethane containers are very light, look like terracotta, are chip and crack resistant, and can insulate plants against heat & cold (good to be outside all year-long)
Container Preparations
Now that you have an idea of what kind of container you would be needing, let’s get into how you would actually prepare these containers! Firstly, you should start your preparations wherever you are planning to ultimately leave your containers because they can get fairly heavy. If your container is initially too deep, you can add a layer of styrofoam at the bottom to decrease the amount of soil you will need. For your next layer, you do not need gravel or potting shards, instead use a few layers of paper towels or newspapers to help drainage. As for the actual soil going into your pot, because normal garden soil is too dense for container gardening, instead you should use a houseplant soil mixture for containers with a capacity less than a gallon and a coarse, soilless planting mixture for containers with a capacity greater than a gallon. To wet your soil beforehand you can either water it or flood your containers a couple times and stir - you should make sure the soil is EVENLY wet. When filling up your container, don’t fill it all the way to the top, leave some plants for future plants’ roots and water.
Container Placement
Picking the right place for your containers to be is essential for the well-being of your container garden. Here are a few tips and tricks so you can pick the perfect place where your plants will thrive:
If watering during the day will be hard, pick a place that only gets morning sun, not afternoon sun, this will reduce the amount of water the plants require
Pick a place that will work with the temperature / shade / water requirements your plants need
If you are growing plants with smells, you should place them where there is not much breeze / a place that can help block breezes, so the smell doesn't get swept away and possible attract animals
You can arrange your containers to last one season then get rid of them or you can make your arrangement to last multiple seasons, therefore, for perennials, you should make sure that your placement is sustainable
Picking Plants
Let’s be honest, even if you have the perfect container and the perfect container placement, without the just right plants, your garden isn't exactly going to thrive. After all, gardening is pretty much all about the plants. Most vegetables, flowers, herbs, shrubs, and small trees will work for container gardening , however, smaller plants tend to work better for container gardening.
For longer-lasting containers, remember that plants will not be as hardy because their roots will not be able to go as deep and because their roots will be exposed to more variances in temperature. Because of this, you should either pick hardier plants or have them be in lighter pots so you can move them indoors during the winter.
You can fill a container with one kind of plant or mix-and-match multiple different species of plants together, there are tons of fun combinations. For mix-and-match, one strategy is to include a “thriller”, “spiller”, and “filler”:
The thriller is the main part of the arrangement
The spiller is the plant that spills over the edge of the pot
The filler is the plant(s) that are smaller and add small pops of color while keep the arrangement green all year-long
Note: Remember, you can always remove/add plants to containers after the initial set-up if you have the space!
Growing Vegetables and Herbs
As this is a blog about vegetable gardening specifically, it would probably be a good idea to delve a bit deeper into the whole vegetable side of container gardening. You can either grow one larger vegetable on its own in a larger container, grow multiple smaller plants together in a large container, or pick a smaller container and just put in one type of smaller plant.
One cool idea would be to make themed gardens. Themed gardens are essentially pots that include different kinds of food that all fit some sort of theme usually relating to some sort of food. Examples include a pizza garden or a garden themed around a specific kind of salad.
In addition, making a garden full of edible flowers could be a cute way to incorporate both flowers and something edible into your plots. Plus, edible flowers made or amazing garnishes!
Container Gardening Care
Maintaining your container garden is just as important as making it! After all, we don’t want all your hard work going down the drain. Below are a few tips to help you keep your garden top-notch:
Container gardens should be watered often and you should never let the soil dry out completely
It is an good idea, in larger containers, to occasionally spread a layer of mulch to help the container retain water and for nutrients, this Keep mulch should be kept about an inch away from plants stems
You should be regularly feeding your plants with fertilizer, this can include a fish mix, seaweed extract, or composted tea
You could also foliar feed with these, just dilute the mixture twice as much with water
You should feed about once every two weeks and adjust based on the plants’ response
Make sure to prune plants
Remove dead leaves
Prune extra-long stems/plants
And ta-da, that’s it! Enjoy your container gardens!
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