Container Gardening

 No space for a garden?  Start a container garden.

One of my favorite garden pastimes is making up new ideas for container gardening.

No matter how many pots I display, I have come to realize there is no mystery in container gardening, as long as I follow a simple three ingredient recipe for each garden container. First I start with a "thriller" which is the centerpiece, something big, bold, and beautiful.  Then I add a few spicy "fillers" - foliage or flowering plants that will complement, but not overwhelm the centerpiece.  Finally, I add a splash of "spillers" that just tumble out of the pot.  Combining thrillers, fillers, and spillers creates a lush composition rich in color, texture, and form.

Container Gardening is especially favorable for city dwellers with little or no land and don’t have space available for a garden plot. Lack of yard space is no excuse for not gardening.  All plants and flowers and most any kinds of vegetables can be readily grown in garden containers.  

Garden Containers are available in many sizes, shapes, and materials. Select different varieties and sizes of planters and flower pots to create an eye catching and  beautiful container garden.   It is important that the garden containers have adequate draining holes in the bottom.  Mix plants of different height and textures of foliage, and vary the shape of the flowers to add interest to your container gardening.

Soil to be used in garden containers should contain plenty of organic matter.  A good brand of potting soil should work well. Because the volume of soil in the container usually is not great, you may need to water every few days, depending where you live. Factors influencing the frequency of watering of the garden container depend on the size and amount of plants within the container, the volume of soil, the porosity of the soil mix and porosity of the container.  A large plant in a small container will require watering every few days, or maybe every day in sunny, hot, windy weather.  Porous containers, such as unglazed clay pots, will let the soil dry out much faster than a container with a sealed outer surface.

Fertilize your garden containers with the recommended rate of a water-soluble fertilizer every two to three weeks. Do not add more than the recommended rate of any fertilizer, by doing so may cause your plants to burn. Unlike garden plants, container gardens do not have large volumes of soil to prevent over-fertilizing.

Just as a garden can be a work of art, a well planned container garden can be as attractive as well.  Carefully selecting plants for  container garden will result in a beautiful display of container gardening.

The possibilities for container gardening are endless.  Container gardening is limited only by the imagination. It can be a simple potted plant on a windowsill or an elaborate balcony container garden.

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