Container gardening is a great way to grow flowers, herbs and even some vegetables in a small space. Containers come in all different shapes and sizes; they can be plastic, cement or ceramic; and they come in a variety of colors.
I think lots of people think only about flowers when they are gardening in containers. But, you can do lots of things in containers: have a beautiful flower garden display, herbs and even a container garden of vegetables, too.
Bulbs and spring flowers
One of the nicest ways to utilize a container is to plant
bulbs and spring flowers and in the fall. Now, as I've said before, spring bulbs are really something that are the most effective in gardens that have winters temperatures that dip below freezing.
This is what I do with bulbs in my containers. In the fall, I'll take a variety of bulbs like daffodils and tulips and grape hyacinth and I'll plant them deep in the container. Check your bulb packet to see how deeply you should be planting them.
Then, to top off the container, I plant pansies. Pansies are a kind of flower that can easily go from fall to spring without having to re-plant.
Even if you live in the harshest winters, you can still plant pansies in the fall and throw a load of mulch over them for heavy winters. Your spring garden will overflow with pansies starting to bounce back and you'll have pretty color around your tall bulb stems.
Herbs and Annual Flowers
Another terrific application for container gardening is to grow herbs and annuals in them.
A container garden application I really like is to plant window and deck boxes with colorful varieties of annuals, herbs that I use frequently in cooking and a bunches of trailing plants like licorice and ivy.
Look for colors that not only go well together in a container but also stand out apart from each other so you'll have a nice thick, colorful container.
Container Vegetable Gardening
I have grown vegetables like tomatoes, lettuce, peas and bush beans in containers and raised beds. Sometimes, I've even grown them in between flowers and bulbs and this gives your container some texture and makes things interesting as well as being useful.
If you'd like to grow tomatoes in a container and your space is limited, make sure that it is large enough to hold a couple of plants. Use tomato stakes and garden velcro to keep everything upright and growing well. Gardener's Supply even has its own tomato container that is self-watering. It's great for a deck or patio.
And, when growing tomatoes in a container, spring for an extra one -- they're not pricey and should last many seasons -- so you can rotate your tomatoes year to year.
Hanging Containers
Don't forget hanging containers. These are great for any porch, entryway, arbor or you can hang them off a shepherd's crook in your front yard.
Most garden centers sell already potted hanging planters so you don't have to do much work if you're pressed for time.
If you're looking to plant containers on a budget, make sure that you buy plants in six-pack cells. This way you can get six plants for as little as two bucks.
Occassionally you can get them for under a dollar. Just make sure that you look closely at the six-packs because sometimes plants are either stunted or they haven't grown at all. You'll end up losing a plant, and wasting money.
Appearances
When planting a container that's sitting on the ground, think about how many sides will be seen.
For instance, if it's a square container and the back of it will be pushed up against a wall or the side of your house, you'll want to plant all of your tallest plants in back, your medium-high plants in front of that and your smallest plants in the front.
Always place trailing plants so they cascade over the container's sides -- plant them as close to the sides of the container as possible.
If your container is going to be seen from all sides, you'll want to plant the tallest plants in the center with corresponding heights around it.
One of the nicest plants for a container garden that's going to be seen from all sides is a dracena spike. This kind of plant has leaves that grow up, droop down and, in the middle, a tall spike grows.
Keep an eye on the dryness of your garden containers. Particularly containers and window boxes that are on a sunny wall, patio or deck. Because these plants are growing in a container that heats up during the day, the soil dries out much faster.
For my containers, I like using soil that has water retenion crystals in it. Now, this isn't foolproof: you do need to water your container gardens but not quite as often.
