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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.
Here are some ideas I've used successfully in my container garden.
Bulbs and spring flowers
One of the nicest ways to utilize a container is to plant bulbs and
spring flowers in the fall. Now, as I've said before, spring bulbs are
really something that are the most effective in gardens that have
winter 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.
If you love tulips and live in an area populated with moles, voles and
squirrels, container planting is the answer. Interplant them with
daffodils and hyacinth for a gorgeous display.
Herbs and Annual Flowers
Another terrific application for container gardening is to grow herbs
and annuals in them.
I love to plant window and deck boxes with colorful varieties of
annuals, herbs that I use frequently in cooking and bunches of
trailing plants like licorice and ivy. Just remember that window and
deck boxes will dry out much faster because they are more shallow than
other containers. Use a good water retention potting mix and keep an
eye on dryness in the heat of the summer. Water in the early morning
for best retention.
Look for colors that not only go well together but complement your
landscape..
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 you choose a container large enough to hold a
couple of plants. Use tomato stakes and garden Velcro to keep
everything upright and growing well. You can find tomato containers
that are self-watering in home centers, catalogs and on the Net.
They're 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.
-- Unknown
Container Gardening 101
Gardens are a form of autobiography.
~Sydney Eddison
In warm areas, pansies, primroses, sweet peas and other winter flowering annuals benefit from deadheading flowers. Removing the spent flowers encourages more flowering and bushier growth. Clip the dead flowers just below the bud and compost them.
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