The Versatility of The Container Garden
Growing food that you love to eat isn’t just for gardeners with lots of space. You can grow food on a balcony, in your back yard, and in your home! Containers make growing food and enjoying beautiful blooms in any space easy and affordable.
What can I grow in a container?
Anything! You can grow veggies, flowers, and herbs in any container.
The trick is to ensure your container is the right size for what you are growing. For plants who like to grow mainly underground, such as carrots and potatoes, you will need a large and deep container. For plants whose roots spread and live mainly on the surface, such as lettuces, and herbs, you can use smaller containers.
Container Tips
5-gallon growing
- Tomato
- Eggplant
- Pepper
- Cucumber
- Cabbage
- Beans
- Squash
- Potato (with a deep pot)
3-gallon growing
- Beets
- Carrots (with a deep pot)
- Lettuce
- Green onions
1-gallon growing
- Radishes
- Herbs
Using your containers
When using containers it is important to ensure your plants are receiving everything they need to grow as they would in the ground. Here are some good guidelines and tips for growing in containers to end up with your perfect tasty crops and amazing blooms!
Container Size
Choosing your container is the first step. Decide what you want to grow and how much you want of each plant. You can decide to mix certain plants together or keep each plant to its own container. Its up to you! Once you have decided what to grow and each plants container size requirements you can move on the next step.
Drainage
Many containers come with drainage holes already to go, and if this is the case then you can simply cover the hole with landscaping fabric to prevent blockage and get planting.
If your container has no drainage you can either drill holes or it, or if that is not possible fill the bottom several inches with drain rock. Providing drainage will prevent root rot on your plants.
Excess water will need a place to drain away from the soil. If your container is resting on a hard surface you will need to elevate it with pot feet or use a saucer to elevate it and allow for drainage.
Soil
The best soil to add is a high-quality potting mix. Potting soil is best for containers as it will not compact and prevent roots from properly growing.
Never use soil from your garden as this will be too heavy and will compact in your container.
Sun & Light
The best part of containers is that they are mobile. Place them onto rolling castors so you can move them about as needed to the best places in the sun, or alternatively more into shade if needed.
Watering
Containers will dry out quickly in the summer heat. Vegetables in particular need plenty of moisture to grow and produce fruit. To check your container stick your finger about an inch into the soil. If dry, then water, if you are unsure wait a few hours and check again. You may need to water twice a day during the peak of summer.
Feeding
Some potting mix will have some fertilizer added already, but your vegetables, annuals, and perennials will use up these nutrients quickly so you will need to fertilize regularly through the growing season. Use a water soluble fertilizer for vegetables and blooms once per week to keep your plants happy. Visit us at Mother Nature to learn which fertilizers are best for vegetables and which are best for blooms.
Soil amenders
As plants grow you may need to add more soil amenders to your containers to boost up the nutrients. Top-dress with aged compost, manure, worm castings, and insect frass. These all provide good nutrition to growing plants and help revitalize soil.
Mulch
Try topping your soil with mulch. Mulch retains moisture in the soils and helps suppress weeds, both are a big help with container gardening!
For vegetables use straw for your mulch, you can pile it up to 6” deep and best of all your can reuse it next year if it still looks good at the end of summer!
For ornamental containers consider adding a fine chopped wood mulch to the surface. You can remove the mulch in fall when your annuals are finished, or perennials go dormant for winter and store the mulch for winter to reuse the following year.
Containers Add That Certain Something
No matter if your space is small or you already have a huge garden, containers add a certain something to any space which brings different looks to your outdoor living. Perfect for veggies and flowers containers come in all shapes and sizes to suit any personality and budget!
You can browse through the Mother Nature nursery where we have a huge selection of containers. From wood, plastic, terra cotta, and ceramic. We have a container for everyone!
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