The Benefits of Container Gardening

Gardening can be very versatile. You can grow beautiful flowers and vines, or fresh produce. Not everyone has an adequate yard area that is needed to grow plants or the time to care for an extensive garden.

There are other ways you can garden that contribute just as well as a regular garden does. It’s simple and can be done no matter where you live. There are plentiful benefits when you prefer to do container gardening. 

You’re Not Bound By Weather

When you want to plant outside, you may have to adhere to planting guidelines for the state that you live in. If you don’t, your attempt could be ultimately wasted because the plants won’t grow. By using the option of container gardening, you can choose what you want to plant and when you want to plant it. You can manage the temperature, the growing season, and the time you wish to spend gardening. 

Weather no longer determines when you wish to garden. If you choose to create a container garden, you can do it in the middle of winter if you wish. You can construct your garden using seeds or plants. One big positive is that you won’t be pushing yourself outside in intense heat, attempting to take care of the things that you’ve planted. This can all be done from the comfort of your home.

You don’t have to stick to strictly having a garden indoors. Many people create container gardens outside on their decks and patios. Even if the conditions are good, you can do it inside or out! Container gardens are perfect for kids too!

You Don’t Have to Be a Guru!

Outdoor gardening isn’t as easy as you think. This is why many inexperienced gardeners attempt traditional gardening with no or little success. You have to watch out for many variables that can hinder your success. If the soil isn’t right, your plants or flowers will die. Achieving the appropriate soil isn’t always just adding nutrients. Adding too much can harm plants as well. 

Nuisances like pests and weeds can be a huge issue with outdoor gardening. Some examples are animals such as rabbits and deer. You will have to ensure that your outdoor garden is inaccessible to pests and animals, which can be an ongoing challenge. These won’t be an issue with container gardening. You can get a soil mix that’s already balanced to use. With container gardening, you won’t have the challenge of having your garden overwhelmed with weeds, either. Container gardening is relatively effortless in ensuring that your plants get the exact amount of sun and precipitation. You won’t have to determine any of that in association with daily weather systems. 

Your garden can be as big or as small as you like. You can utilize whatever size containers you’d like to use. This is an option that works easily for people who don’t have much yard space if any. There are no constraints when you garden this way. You can have single containers or multiple. They can be set up in one area of your home or spread them all through your house. Location is a minimal concern. You can grow them on your front or back porch or a balcony. You can place the containers on window sills, depending on their size. They can sit in areas where the sun is adequate from a door or a window.

The plants will still be able to prosper. Your growing options aren’t limited. Vegetables, herbs, flowers, and even fruits can grow in small or large containers. Grow just enough for your family, or more to share! If a mini indoor greenhouse is something you have in mind, this can be done. Understanding that not all plants can grow under the same conditions, you will have to have soil that is tailor-made. Watering and light when needed. With container gardening, this is alleviated easily. You will be able to place plants that are similar in needs together. You won’t have to be concerned about accidentally damaging the plants beside them as you would with traditional gardening. When you start your garden, you can sort the plants according to their needs.

Container Gardening is a Money Saver

A standard outdoor garden can be costly. Gardening tools that you will have to buy plus the cost of plants for filling a bigger plot will cost more than you would with a container garden. You will use a smaller amount of water when container gardening. When you water a container, the water gets to the roots, precisely where it needs to go. You won’t have to worry about the water casting off or evaporation. This can be frequent with traditional gardening.

You can set up your container garden to self-water. Being careful not to overwater a plant won’t be an issue if you set up self-watering. Keep in mind if the roots of the plant are waterlogged, they will eventually die. One great thing that a lot of people love about container gardening, aside from how easy it is, is that you can use any container that is healthy for the plant.

You won’t have to spend a penny to use a container. You can find free ones to use, or you can reuse containers that you already have. Some examples of container gardens are old dresser drawers or wine barrels. You can grow contrasting plants in the space available that are large enough to be split up so these can operate as multi-purpose planters. Toolboxes, wheelbarrows, or tin tubs make great planters. Ceramic or plastic pots can be used. The ideas are unlimited! Making sure that whatever container you use has a way for water to run off as well as enough air for the roots is important.

A Container Garden Is Better for Your Physical Needs

A conventional garden can be beautiful. However, it requires a great deal of physical endurance. It’s not just working under the sun that can be problematic for some people. The problem isn’t even that you’ll have to make sure you keep updated on the weather and that it’s too cold for your plants to survive. Most people tend to think of traditional gardening as a moderate way to grow food or flowers. But what’s never discussed is that whatever it is that you decide to plant outside in a garden plot, there will be a lot of bending and stooping because you can’t take care of that kind of garden standing up. Kneeling to get rid of weeds as well as getting low enough to check for pests will have to be done regularly. Holding that position for periods of time while you pull out the weeds or remove any pests that you find will have an effect on your back, hips, and knees. If you have issues with any of these, you might want to consider container gardening.

When your garden reaches full growth, you’ll discover that it’s easier on you when you’ve organized your containers so that they’re at the best height for your physical limitations or needs. All that’s left to do is harvest your vegetables!

You’re Not Stuck with One Design

Pulling and rearranging plants once they’ve been planted can be a huge task if you change your mind with how they’re arranged. It can be physically demanding to accomplish this. It’ll take some time to even determine if the arrangement is working, and by then, uprooting and rearranging may kill the weaker plants. Having a container garden eliminates that. If the arrangements aren’t working, you don’t have to do any major reorganizing. You can just move the containers around or get a different container in place of the one that you decide isn’t working for you. 

Your container garden can have a theme like fairies or gnomes. If you need some inspiration, you can always check out Pinterest gardening pins. Because your garden will be in containers, you can keep them year-round, or you can change them up to match special events or holidays such as lilies for Easter. Lilies are an excellent display plant.  With a little bit of research, you can locate and plant Halloween, Fall, and Christmas plants. If you’re new to container gardening, you will want to get plants that are known for their stamina, because your first time gardening could be a bit of a learning curve in order to consistently grow plants

Container Gardening Success Tips

Before deciding where you’ll place your garden, you can design your container garden layout. You will need to choose which plants you’re going to buy. Arrange the group of plants that need more hours of sunlight together. You can put these in separate containers or collectively in one. Some people use stacked containers so that even though the plants are congregated together, they’re not actually in the same pot. A good thing to remember is that if a plant cultivates something edible that’s not leafy, it’s going to need more sun than some plants. If this is something that can’t be achieved then you’ll need to think of a secondary source of light so that the plants can grow healthy. 

Think ahead of time how much access to water your plants will need. Based on the variety you choose, some plants may need very little to sustain maximum growth. If you water a plant too much that hardly uses any, you could ruin the plant or develop an environment for fungi to grow. The worst-case scenario is the plants will wilt and die. Keep the watering instructions somewhere near your garden so that you can check if you can’t remember. A preferred method to examine whether or not the plants need to be watering is to insert your finger below the top layer of soil. If the soil is dry, add water. If it’s damp, leave it be. Many beginners make the blunder of checking the top layer. They determine if it feels dry, the plant needs water. Just because the top layer of soil is dry doesn’t mean the lower levels are.

Water on the surface dries faster than water that’s deeper into the soil. One clue that a plant isn’t getting an adequate amount of water is a change in the color of the leaves. If the leaves start to turn yellow, check for both over or under-watering. You’ll also need to check the soil occasionally. If the soil isn’t ventilated enough, it becomes compressed and the roots will be attempting to hit what would be equivalent to a concrete wall. When this happens, your plants don’t get the appropriate amount of air. You can effortlessly aerate the soil by poking something into it. A fork or the prongs on a gardening fork will suffice. 

Avoid These Common Mistakes

Once your container garden has been established, it can be easy to get used to them as is. But gardening is an ongoing hobby and your plants still need TLC in order to continue to thrive. 

To make sure that your garden stays workable, you’ll want to steer clear of some familiar container gardening mistakes. Temperatures that are too hot or cold is one of the biggest mistakes that people make. Just because you’re comfortable doesn’t mean your plants will be too. Regardless of whether your containers are located inside or outside, you will still need to keep an eye on the temperature. Before conditions become negative for your plants, you’ll want to have a plan of action. If you have containers that are plastic and the temperatures outside are high, the roots of your plant are being subjected to even higher temperatures because of the plastic and could therefore die. Pots made of plastic pass more heat into the plants. Containers outside don’t just take in heat from the top down. They also consume it from the bottom up. The roots will feel that heat fairly quickly. You will have to relocate the containers or sit them on a wet surface if they’re outside. Another blunder is neglecting to remove dead flowers or buds from flowering plants. You have to remove them in order for the plant to grow well. 

Failure to do so could have negative consequences on future blooms. Selecting the right soil for the plants is crucial. Soil isn’t necessarily a one size fits all when it comes to the kinds of plants that you have. To save a few dollars, some people will attempt to use regular soil just like they would apply to an outdoor garden, but that doesn’t work with container plants. Garden soil solely isn’t enough. It needs to be mixed to create a surrounding that’s hearty for your plants. A general mistake that some container gardeners make is not repotting the plants.

Some plants will grow faster than others, so you may find that you need to replant within a year or two. There are clues you shouldn’t ignore that indicate when the plant is in need of replanting. One indicator is the roots of the plant become evident at the bottom of the container. If the roots are visible, it’s time to replant. Another sign is when you water the plant, the water gushes through the container. Although this can be a sign of overwatering, it can also be a hint that there’s been so much root sprouting, the proportion of root to the soil is out of balance. You can also verify this if a plant needs to be replanted by gently grabbing the plant close to the root support and lift up. 

A plant that requires repotting is indicated by having roots that will have twined around the soil, restricting the plant. When you lift it up from the container, the roots will have confined the plant so tightly that the soil remains congested together in the shape of the pot. Container gardening is a perfect way to grow healthy food or beautiful plants for the family to enjoy. They’re practical and are tremendous space savers for those who want to entertain a green thumb, but don’t have the area for a full garden.

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