Container gardens are easy to care for, can be inexpensive and can be created to suit any gardener's tastes. The containers themselves can be as unique as the plants or plant combinations that you choose to put in them. Container gardens can make a personal statement and become beautiful pieces of art to highlight the garden.
Advantages of Gardening in Containers
If you don't have open ground to grow plants, container gardening is the perfect solution for you. You can grow almost anything in a container, including flowers, herbs, vegetables and some fruits.
Container gardens can be moved from spot to spot to add color or to make the most of seasonal garden conditions. They can spotlight expensive plants that would be lost in larger gardens, and they can be used to soften bare expanses of paving or wood.
Container Garden Supplies
If you want to start a container garden, there are a few supplies that you will need. First is a good non-soil, planting mixture. Garden soil is just too heavy and full of weeds for containers. A good container garden soil is lightweight and holds water.
Most garden shops now sell planting mixtures for containers. They are made of peat, vermiculite and other products, but they have no actual soil. If your mixture does not contain fertilizer (check the label), you will need some slow-release fertilizer to add to the planting mix. You will probably want some fertilizer anyway for later in the season.
Other container garden supplies you may want to consider are wheeled trays for large pots, pulleys that can raise and lower hanging pots and watering wands to reach into pots.
Inserts are sold to take up some of the space in large pots so that you don't need as much planting mix and to reduce the container weight. You can devise your own lightweight bottom filler with pieces of Styrofoam, empty soda bottles or crushed aluminum cans.
Creative Containers
There are a variety of beautiful containers for plants on the market, but if you're looking to be creative, there are plenty of items that can be turned into beautiful container gardens. Anything you choose, however, should have some way to provide drainage for the plants. If you are unsure of adding soil and plants to a fragile antique item or something that may rot from water, use a plain container as a liner inside your decorative item.
To find an original container, look through your storage spaces. How about an old pedestal sink with pansies and trailing ivy? Or an old granite farm sink full of sedums and alpine plants? Old hope chests, suitcases and other items in the attic can become original containers.
How about painting old tires vivid colors and stacking them? Or cut them in half, attach the halves to a wall and let plants cascade out of them. How about old rubber boots or cowboy boots for small gardens?
Old farm items can provide a variety of unique containers. An old chicken feeder, wooden pails, buckets, crates and baskets can all be used, as well as the traditional milk cans. Old kettles for boiling syrup are excellent containers.
The Plants
Part of a creative container garden is the plants used in it. Make sure that all of the plants you choose for one container have the same needs for water and light. Other than that, use your imagination. The old recipe for a spike, filler and trailer still holds true in most cases, but don't be afraid to experiment. Move the plants around in the container first, before planting them, to get the right look. Tropical plants and houseplants can be added to container gardens, as well as decorative vegetable plants and herbs.
Container plants need to be watered regularly, and the plants will need to have fertilizer as they cannot get nutrients they need in a pot. Use slow-release fertilizer or weak liquid solutions of fertilizer so roots aren't burnt and salt buildup is minimized. The roots of plants in dark pots sitting on hard surfaces in the sun can get too hot. Use light-colored pots to reflect heat and elevate pots a bit off the surface.
Some plants will need to be pruned or replaced before the season ends. Perennial plants should be removed and planted in the ground, or a pot can be sunk in the ground about six weeks before the ground freezes. Few plants will survive a hard winter in a pot above ground.
 | Window boxes also provide gardeners with limited space an opportunity to expand their gardens. They can take your garden quite literally to another level. |
 | With just a few minor changes to your gardening routine, seniors suffering from arthritis and other ailments can have the option to garden again. |
 | A window box is a great way to garden when you have limited yard space, like the convenience of reaching out the kitchen window to pick fresh herbs or are housebound. You can grow most small plants in a window box. |
Gardening: One of life's most simple pleasures. That is, until pain overrides the joy. For most Seniors living with arthritis, high blood pressure, or diabetes, gardening is often a fine past time left as a memory. |
When the mercury drops and plants die back for the winter months, it's time to clean out those outdoor containers and store them away for next season. Or maybe not. Just because it's cold out doesn't mean you can't have eye-catching containers to liven up an otherwise drab winter landscape. Here's how. |
