An Introduction To Container Gardening

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 at 7:22 am

Image by starjewel via Flickr

Whether you live in a urbanized area with a small terrace or porch or you live out in the country, container gardening has often been well-liked. There is nothing like walking out on to your porch that is alive with colour. Particularly lately with more and more folk anxious about food additives and pesticides in foods we all would like to grow our own food so we all know what we are eating. Container gardening is far easier than having a “traditional garden” and can offer you a good quantity of food for you and your family.

Tips For Choosing The Best Containers

Beginning a container garden can be great fun for everyone. When starting, selecting the correct sort of container is of similar importance as what you put in the container. Terracotta pots dry out quickly, plastic pots won’t face up to the harsh sun very well and will deteriorate over time. The best kind of containers to use are ceramic glazed pots. Wooden boxes have a propensity to rot and if they’ve been treated with chemicals this isn’t good for your or your plants. You will need a pot that may hold up to 15 to 20 quarts, otherwise the roots will become cramped and can not entirely grow out.

Recommended Plants To Begin With

Onions and Radishes

Onions and radishes grow under the soil so only the stems and leaves will be seen in the pot. They grow fast and don’t need a very large container either.

Herbs

Herbs are tiny and also make stunning decorative plants to have in the kitchen, or outside near to the kitchen door. They are handy to chop off just what you need for cooking!

Peppers and tomatoes

Plants like tomatoes and peppers will have a high yield of food and are straightforward to grow. Some of these plants grow over 2 feet tall and will need a big enough container so they will not be top heavy. You can put chicken wire round the container if you do not want the vegetables growing outside the pot, but it’s not obligatory.

Tomatoes and peppers continue to bloom even after you start picking and this will give you a continual supply for a bit.

Lettuce

There’s little like making a salad from fresh lettuce and growing it is straightforward to do. Lettuce can be grown in a tiny pot but the drawback is that once it’s gone, no more reappears like on the tomato plant. However you can plant a new container of lettuce about every fortnight and they are going to become prepared nicely timed for you to have a continuing supply.

There are more straightforward plants to grow as well , such as squash eggplant, garlic, chives, spinach and beets. However , the vegetables noted above will make you a great salad and growing them yourself will make all your food taste far better. Don’t wait any longer, start your own container garden today.

Other Resources

You’ll find many container gardening resources and concepts on the Internet, as well as videos of how to line up your work area. If you or somebody you love has been needing to have a garden, but failed to think they had enough room, think again. Container gardening is the only possible way to go and you will find it very fulfilling.

Mark van Berkel is a enthusiastic gardener, specializing in small organic and container gardens, who is always keen to share his passion & knowledge with anyone who also loves gardening. Give us a visit if you would like to discover a lot more about the great benefits of container gardening.