Container Gardening Is A Great Way For New Gardeners to Learn!
Planning Your Container Garden
Careful planning of your container garden at the beginning will increase the likelihood of a successful garden.
The first thing that you want to decide is whether you are having an outdoor or an indoor container garden. Some people believe that container gardening is for indoor plants or patios but they actually do very well outdoors too.
Containers are very versatile and are great for growing a large variety of plants. The biggest advantage of container gardening is that it is easy to move your plants to a different location if they are in pots.
Also if the weather is expected to be bad you can always move the plants indoors or into the garage where they will be protected. You don’t have this option for your plants that are planted in the ground.
If you find your plant is getting too much sun or not enough so then you can just pick up the pot and change location. Potted plants are much easier to move if you find they aren’t thriving in the position they are in.
When you are planning an outdoor container garden you need to choose your location wisely, particularly if you are planting large plants in large pots as these will be harder to move should you need to. You will need to place plants in a spot where they get the right amount of sun light for their plant type.
You will also want a location that is easily acceptable and reasonably close to the home as this makes it easier to stay motivated with maintaining your garden.
You will also want to consider pollution from traffic so you don’t want to locate your plants to close to the street. Not only can pollution damage your plants, but also the dust and other particles thrown around can also damage them.
If your container garden is going to be indoors you still need to choose your location well.
Some indoor plants will still enjoy a bit of sun light and might like a warm spot so you wouldn’t want to place it directly in front of the air conditioner.
A sunny room with lots of natural sunlight is a good spot for indoor plants, particularly those plants that don’t like the cold. Some people make the mistake of thinking an indoor plant will just thrive as long as it is indoors, but that isn’t so, the location of the plant indoors is still very important.
If your house is dark and doesn’t have a lot of natural sunlight coming in then plants might not grow that well. If you would still like to have indoor plants then you can use some lighting to help your plants grow, but you need to use special plant lights.
There are lights that are designed specifically for growing plants. These lights are designed to have a broad spectrum of light which mimics natural sunlight.
Humidity levels also play a big role in how well your plants grow. Some plants prefer higher humidity while others prefer lower humidity so you may need to buy plants to suit your environment. This is more important if you are trying to grow exotic plants.
When First Starting Out with a Container Garden
When first starting out with a container garden you should choose just a couple of different plant varieties. Don’t choose too many different plants or you will have too many different types with different requirements. It is easier to start with just a couple of types until you are confident with those and then add more varieties later.
If you are growing edible plants then choose those that you will enjoy eating. Tomatoes are a very popular plant for container gardens and are much nicer than grocery purchased tomatoes.
Organically or Not?
Your last choice when planning your garden is whether to grow your plants organically. This isn’t such a big decision for indoor plants, but for outdoor plants you might have trouble with insects. Then you will need to decide whether to use a chemical based insect repellent or use an organic option. There are some plants that grow well together that can help to reduce the number of insects.
Take the time to plan exactly what you want in your container garden and how to set it up and you will soon reap the rewards of a beautiful indoor or outdoor garden.
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Garden Planters 8-7/8×4½x4More DetailsGifts & Decor Ceramic Jade Garden Planters Flower Plant Pot Set, 3-PieceMore DetailsRustic Bench Design Garden Terracotta Succulent Plant Pots with Decorative Flower Pot Stand – MyGift HomeMore DetailsContemporary White Ceramic Succulent Planter Flower Pot w/ Decorative Wavy Coil Design & Drainage PlateMore DetailsMyGift® Decorative Cement Grey Rock Wall Design Plant Holder / Garden Stone Flower Planter – Large 9 InchMore DetailsLiberty Garden Products 1901 Rustic Garden Hose Pot – RusticMore DetailsGifts & Decor Cobalt Planter Ceramic Garden Plant Flower Pot Set, 3-PieceMore DetailsFiskars 18 Inch Veranda Square Planter Box, Color Cement (57718)More DetailsGarden At Home – Italian Herb TrioMore DetailsSyndicate Sales Terrace Planter, 6-Inch, Assorted colorsMore DetailsListo Avino Square Planter, 16-Inch, Oxidized BlackMore DetailsListo Avino Planter, 10-Inch, Celtic BronzeMore Details
Why Container Gardening Is The Best Way to Grow Plants
Stacking Planters
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Aerogarden is the perfect indoor container garden!
These Aerogarden hydroponic container gardens are absolutely brilliant.
I have a couple going right now, one with cherry tomatoes and the other with herbs. I put a spare lettuce pod in between the other pods now and then for a bit of variety.
I was very surprised that the tomato plants kept producing fruit for 18 months before I decided to ‘retire’ them to the vegetable garden this summer — where they are STILL producing tomatoes, in early Autumn!
The Aerogarden is a guaranteed way to get a green thumb!
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There are many useful resources to teach you about container gardening:
The Vegetable Gardener’s Container Bible: How to Grow a Bounty of Food in Pots, Tubs, and Other ContainersMore DetailsContainer Gardening: 250 Design Ideas & Step-by-Step TechniquesMore DetailsMcGee & Stuckey’s Bountiful Container: Create Container Gardens of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible FlowersMore DetailsGardening: 4 in 1 Masterclass: Book 1: Container Gardening + Book 2: Vertical Gardening + Book 3: Urban Homesteading + Book 4: Square foot GardeningMore DetailsSimple Steps to Success: Fruit and Vegetables in PotsMore DetailsAll New Square Foot Gardening, Second Edition: The Revolutionary Way to Grow More In Less SpaceMore DetailsSmall-Space Container Gardens: Transform Your Balcony, Porch, or Patio with Fruits, Flowers, Foliage, and HerbsMore DetailsContainer Gardening For DummiesMore DetailsContainer Gardening : A Beginner’s Guide to Successful Container GardeningMore DetailsContainer Gardening for All Seasons: Enjoy Year-Round Color with 101 DesignsMore DetailsContainer Gardening: A Guide to Growing Succulent Container Gardens ( container gardening, succulent container gardening, vegetable container gardening )More DetailsEasy Container Combos: Vegetables & Flowers (Container Gardening Series)More Details
McGee & Stuckey’s Bountiful Container: Create Container Gardens of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers
With few exceptions-such as corn and pumpkins-everything edible that’s grown in a traditional garden can be raised in a container. And with only one exception-watering-container gardening is a whole lot easier. Beginning with the down-to-earth basics of soil, sun and water, fertilizer, seeds and propagation, The Bountiful Container is an extraordinarily complete, plant-by-plant guide.
Written by two seasoned container gardeners and writers, The Bountiful Container covers Vegetables-not just tomatoes (17 varieties) and peppers (19 varieties), butharicots verts, fava beans, Thumbelina carrots, Chioggia beets, and sugarsnap peas. Herbs, from basil to thyme, and including bay leaves, fennel, and saffron crocus. Edible Flowers, such as begonias, calendula, pansies, violets, and roses.
Gardening Tools and Gloves
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I’m looking forward to a nice harvest of lemons from my dwarf lemon container gardening! I’ve got a few other fruit trees and also some herbs and vegetables potted up at the moment.
Love the convenience of container gardening!
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Cheers, Helene Malmsio
Related Reading: http://www.discoveryhub.net
This is a very informative guide to container gardening, one that I will return to so I can learn more. Thanks for the heads up about avoiding plastic pots. Pinned and tweeted.
Thank you Gypzeerose for your kind comment. Look forward to seeing some of your pages.
Helene