Creating a well-contained garden
Container gardening with ornamental plants is a gratifying, simple way to make a statement, enhance or conceal areas of your yard. Growing vegetables in pots allows those without a garden to nurture a green thumb and those with a garden to strategically place and stretch their harvests.
The beauty of container gardening is that pots can be moved to wherever the sun shines. Tomatoes and other plants with fruits — such as peppers — want eight or more hours of sun each day. Root veggies can thrive on six hours per day, and herbs and greens do well with a mere four hours of sun.
Ornamental flowers come with tags telling you how many hours of sun they’ll need per day. Be sure to plant each pot with mixture of plants that have similar requirements.
If plants suffer from either too much or not enough sun, cart them to a microclimate zone that better meets their needs.
Selecting from clay, plastic, wood or metal containers of varying sizes can seem confusing, but no matter which you pick, be sure the container has a drainage hole to avoid drowning your plants. Every container should be free of toxins, especially when growing edible plants. Disinfecting containers each year prevents diseases and detrimental organisms from doing a number on your plants.
When choosing pot size, first consider root space. Note how tall ornamental plants will get and picture the roots needing a similar space in the soil. Closely planted flowers need a deeper and wider pot to accommodate both the leaves and flowers on the up side and the many roots below.
With veggies, consider these general guidelines: Large plants like tomatoes, peppers and vines do best in containers at least five gallons or larger; smaller greens and radishes will do well in three-gallon containers, and herbs will be content in a one-gallon container.
Ornamental and edible plants both appreciate the space of a trough-like container. Your neighbors may think you’re bringing in livestock, but your gorgeous, happy plants will convince them you’re a fantastic gardener.
Potted plants’ roots need loose soil allowing more oxygen and water movement than clay-based soils, so be sure to use potting mixes versus garden or native soil. Those can be too compact and may contain insects or diseases. Stir up a combo of clean garden soil, peat and perlite or vermiculite for a DIY option. Fill each container within 2 inches from the top before planting.
Check the soil moisture of your pots by poking a finger in a few inches or using a moisture meter. Most will need watering once a day, and during hot spells twice a day. A rule of thumb is to water each pot until you see a stream coming out of the drainage hole. Small pots and unsealed clay or terra cotta containers need watering most frequently, plants in large pots need a bigger glug than others. Plastic containers are not porous and will hold moisture longer — avoid too much of a good thing, and be careful not to overwater.
Container plants’ speedy growth pulls lots of nutrition out of the soil, so feed them regularly and prepare for a season of uncontained success in containers.