Gardening In Containers Works In Many Situations
Gardening in containers can also expand a garden!
This tried and tested method not only expands a garden, it also solves problems and creates opportunities to widen the gardens scope, for instance starting container herb gardening. There are many situations where gardening in containers is the most practical thing to do. Small courtyard gardens, patio's and apartment balconies are the kind of area's where the use of garden containers can create a very attractive garden space which is also wildlife friendly.
Often there is a spot in larger gardens that comes to life when complemented with a selection of different shaped containers in various sizes and heights. A container garden does not have to be on one level, we can stage them so that we give the planting area height and depth just as we would in a normal garden bed.
Often there is a spot in larger gardens that comes to life when complemented with a selection of different shaped containers in various sizes and heights. A container garden does not have to be on one level, we can stage them so that we give the planting area height and depth just as we would in a normal garden bed.
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An added advantage is how adaptable gardening in containers is, both the garden containers themselves and what we plant in them can be rearranged or even replaced periodically so as to keep the area fresh and healthy. A simple technique is to keep the plants in plastic pots that provide the right depth of soil for the plant and then put these in the container and cover these with a thin layer of gravel which will hide the top of the pot and as well help with moisture retention. A small free standing greenhouse are invaluable with this method. And if we do have an area where we can store gardening containers that are coming on then we can swop these over and keep the cycle going throughout the seasons. Gardening in containers does have its challenges, even so with a bit of imagination and realistic planning we can overcome these and have a wildlife garden where we thought we couldn't. |
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As all of our back garden had been concrete slabbed and when we lifted some of them to see what was underneath we found more concrete along with more rubble we decided to continue gardening with containers and we are more than happy with the results. |
Vegetable Gardening In Containers and Self Watering Container Gardening
When using gardening containers one of the biggest challenges especially with vegetable container gardening is how to keep them adequately watered. There are various methods that we can employ to make sure our plants thirst is quenched. One method is to include with the compost mix water retaining gel crystals that recharge or re-absorb when the container or hanging basket is watered, these hold up to 400 times the crystals weight. Then slowly release the water to the roots.
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There is also the option of what is called self watering container gardening, which is a plastic maintenance free garden system and having wheels is very portable even though it holds 56 litre of compost. A reservoir of water maintains moist compost. This box can double your yield using half the fertilizer and 40% less water. Along with additional accessories such as a staking kit, replacement mulch covers and organic replant kits this system makes vegetable container gardening a lot easier to succeed with. This may be stating the obvious, even though these systems are described as self watering container gardening, we do have to keep the reservoir topped up, even so this is an effective way of ensuring the plants stay well watered. |
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Container herb gardening
One of the most effective and easy ways of gardening is container herb gardening. An older friend many years ago advised us to plant mint in gardening containers to keep it in check, and here is highlighted another advantage of container gardening, it helps keep invasive plants contained. Container herb gardening is our main way of growing herbs. To compliment this method we still intersperse some in different borders.
We have chosen one of the most sunny spots in our back garden which is near our kitchen door, using containers of varying shapes, sizes and heights to create a more informal herb garden. Most of these are homemade, some were rescued from a skip outside a company that supplies indoor plants to offices, also included is an old Belfast sink, overall we think these not only create a nice effect, the herbs do smell nice as well.
So container herb gardening doesn't have to be expensive or take up a lot of room, we could manage with half the amount we just chose to have this many for our pleasure.
We have chosen one of the most sunny spots in our back garden which is near our kitchen door, using containers of varying shapes, sizes and heights to create a more informal herb garden. Most of these are homemade, some were rescued from a skip outside a company that supplies indoor plants to offices, also included is an old Belfast sink, overall we think these not only create a nice effect, the herbs do smell nice as well.
So container herb gardening doesn't have to be expensive or take up a lot of room, we could manage with half the amount we just chose to have this many for our pleasure.