The Fabulous Home

Create a Container Garden

Spring is finally here! WooHoo! We can now pull out the sunnies and wide-brimmed hats. It’s time to roll up our sleeves and get out in the garden. I don’t know about you, but I’m excited. However, most of my gardening time gets eaten up pretty quickly. Between running LiWBF and writing and mom duties, I hardly get time to breathe let along work on a labor intensive flower garden. That’s where the art of container gardening comes in. For me, this has been a both a time saver and a way to add some pizzazz to a front entrance that consists of a concrete driveway and extended wooden porch.

Container gardening or pot cultivating is the act of developing plants, including palatable plants, solely in holders as opposed to planting them in the ground. You don’t need professional gardening skills to create a container garden.

Where to start your container garden?

Back in the day, terracotta pots made up the main choice of flower pots. Not only are these babies super expensive, but they’re also high maintenance. Many broken pots sit in my front yard. But where there’s a will (or broken fragments in this case) then there’s a way to prevent this catastrophe. We’ll cover that in another post, so don’t fret a bit. Plastic pots and window boxes (once frowned upon by the gardening community) have now become the talk of container land. Some plastic pots even mimic the look and feel of terracotta. I have several of these New Age plastic containers in my garden. Place them among the terracotta pots and no one will care to notice the difference.

The technique of container gardening is super helpful in zones where the dirt or the atmosphere is inadmissible for the plant being you’ve chosen. For example, my yard contains hard clay throughout the entire thing. I’ve killed many pretty plants as a result. Using a container is a great way to mix houseplants among outdoor varieties. These intriguing pots add a hint of mystery and intrigue to otherwise drab corners around our homes.

What to grow in your container garden?

Numerous sorts of plants are suitable for this type of gardening, including: embellishing blossoms, herbs, desert plants, vegetables, and little trees. There are many advantages to developing plants in compartmentalized spaces:

• Less danger of soil-borne illness
• Eliminating aggressive weed issues (think milkweed)
• Versatile nature of the chosen plants give more control over dampness, daylight and temperature.
• A large area is not required
• You can even use container gardens in place of grass

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What problems could develop in your container garden?

True… A wide range of plants can easily grow in pots. However, there are a few things to remember. It’s more unpleasant for plants to be in pots instead of the ground, and they tend to dry out much faster; so you’ll need to water them often. Pruned plants are also helpless during temperature changes, especially when the weather is either hot or excessively cold. Cover your plants to protect the foliage from extreme changes in the weather when necessary.

The end goal of a successful container garden is to hold dampness. It’s also a good idea to give supplements (plant food/fertilizer) and a consistent domain…(don’t keep moving the potted plant around). Pick one spot and stick with it, unless of course, the plant receives too much/too little sun in the first area.

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Pay close attention to your flower blend: the design should contain both light and soft varieties, similar to Pro-Mix from a nursery. Make sure the pot has holes in the bottom so the water runs directly through. Don’t make your poor, gorgeous plant suffer through the night/day by making it sit in standing water. Soil used in container gardens doesn’t stay conditioned forever and needs to be changed. Or if nothing else, you should mix old soil with natural matter (leaf compost) and manures after a season. This is on my to-do list too!

Keep in mind that all plants are unique and certain varieties hold dampness while others prefer a bit of compost to help hold water. Numerous tropical houseplants can be set outside amid the warm months, where they add magnificence and appeal to open air spaces. Above all, remember to have fun while choosing plants and use the experts at your local nursery. These guys/gals know what they’re doing!

Join us next month for Part Two of this series. We’ll be adding succulents to the mix. Don’t worry. These little beauties are easier to care for than you might be thinking. Until then, go on out there and have some fun with those pretty new pots you’ve been eyeing at your local home store.

Do you enjoy gardening of any type? If so, tell us about it in the comments below!

**The post The Fabulous Home How To Create a Container Garden first appeared on Live Well…  Be Fabulous**