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Planning Container Gardens Even if you don't have a large yard, gardening can still be accessible to you through the use of container gardens. As you might imagine, container gardens make use of various pots to allow you to create gardens with what little space you have and to keep it manageable and contained. However, because you're trying to create a garden with a very limited space, container gardens require careful consideration of your container, as well as soil and water needs. To help you plan container gardens that work, let's discuss some of the things you should think about when getting yours ready. The Container When you purchase the pots for container gardens, follow a few guidelines for your selection. Make sure to get pots with wide openings to make planting, fertilizing, and watering easier to do. Be sure to get pots with wide holes, at least a half inch in width, at the bottom so that you receive adequate drainage, or you risk having waterlogged roots. Because it can be easy to lose soil through these holes, line them with newspaper to allow drainage while blocking the soil from leaving. You'll want to consider the kind of pots you use in your container gardens, as different materials for pots hold different disadvantages. Plastic pots, for example, are inexpensive, but tend to deteriorate with heavy exposure to sunlight. Terracotta pots are well-made, but the soil tends to dry out quickly in them. On the other hand, pots made of glazed ceramics have the opposite problem, and may require extra holes to be drilled in them to obtain proper drainage. Watering One of the most important things in container gardens is water management. Because the container itself is a smaller space than a garden in the yard, the soil will generally dry faster than in the yard, so you may need daily watering, depending on how hot and dry the weather is. You want a soil that drains excess water rapidly, but still retains enough that it's not dry as a desert. For this, your best bets are compost or potting mixture, which should be available at your local gardening store. Sunlight Of course, the other consideration that you need to make when planning container gardens is the amount of sunlight your plants get. In general, plants like to have at least five hours of sunlight a day, though some, like tomatoes, want more and cool-weather vegetables like lettuce can make do with a little less. So when planning container gardens, carefully pick the plants that will do well in the amount of sunlight you have to work with, whether it's in the front of your house with a lot of sun or on your porch with more shade than anything. With these considerations, your potted garden will surely meet with some success.
The Container
When you purchase the pots for container gardens, follow a few guidelines for your selection. Make sure to get pots with wide openings to make planting, fertilizing, and watering easier to do. Be sure to get pots with wide holes, at least a half inch in width, at the bottom so that you receive adequate drainage, or you risk having waterlogged roots. Because it can be easy to lose soil through these holes, line them with newspaper to allow drainage while blocking the soil from leaving.
You'll want to consider the kind of pots you use in your container gardens, as different materials for pots hold different disadvantages. Plastic pots, for example, are inexpensive, but tend to deteriorate with heavy exposure to sunlight. Terracotta pots are well-made, but the soil tends to dry out quickly in them. On the other hand, pots made of glazed ceramics have the opposite problem, and may require extra holes to be drilled in them to obtain proper drainage.
Watering
One of the most important things in container gardens is water management. Because the container itself is a smaller space than a garden in the yard, the soil will generally dry faster than in the yard, so you may need daily watering, depending on how hot and dry the weather is. You want a soil that drains excess water rapidly, but still retains enough that it's not dry as a desert. For this, your best bets are compost or potting mixture, which should be available at your local gardening store.
Sunlight
Of course, the other consideration that you need to make when planning container gardens is the amount of sunlight your plants get. In general, plants like to have at least five hours of sunlight a day, though some, like tomatoes, want more and cool-weather vegetables like lettuce can make do with a little less. So when planning container gardens, carefully pick the plants that will do well in the amount of sunlight you have to work with, whether it's in the front of your house with a lot of sun or on your porch with more shade than anything. With these considerations, your potted garden will surely meet with some success. |
