Square Foot Gardening Article
Getting Started in Container Gardening
Sometimes, the urge to garden might be stomped out by other circumstances, such as living arrangements or space constrictions. If you live in an apartment, you can’t really operate a full garden, just because you don’t really have a yard! I think that one of the best solutions for this problem is to grow plants in containers. You can hang these, or just arrange them on your patio, window sill or balcony. Just a few baskets or pots, and your whole living area will look much classier and nicer.
A benefit of growing in small containers is the fact that you can move them
around to suit your needs. If you rearrange your furniture and you think that it
would look nicer if it was in the other area, it’s no trouble at all to scoot it
over. As long as the lighting is about the same, your plant shouldn’t mind the
transition at all. Another benefit of the containers’ versatility is the fact
that you can adapt it to simulate any environment depending on the type of soil
you fill it with and where you place it.
If you are trying to make an aesthetically pleasing arrangement of containers
and plants, you can adjust the containers to be at different heights by hanging
them from the ceiling or placing them on supports. Hanging them will allow you
to make the most of the space you have. This is called “vertical gardening”. If
you pull it off right, you can make a very pleasing arrangement of plants while
conserving your valuable space. If you live in an apartment, you know how
important it is to conserve space! One method of vertical gardening is the use
of a wooden step ladder. If painted correctly, you can arrange all the plants on
it in a beautiful, stylish cascade of color.
The maintenance of container plants takes slightly more time, since you have to
water more often and go around to each individual container. However, the square
footage for container plants is much less than that of an actual garden, so the
time spent on maintenance and watering is more balanced. It is important that
you don’t over-water your container plants, as this can be just as fatal to
their health as under-watering.
When choosing containers for your plants, you’ll want to buy them all at once
along with some extras in case they break or you add more plants later. You
don’t want them to be all the same shape and size, but definitely the same style
so that the compliment each other. Plastic containers are the best and require
the least amount of watering, but if you want to stick with clay or earthen pots
then you should line the inside with plastic. This helps it retain water more,
as the clay will soak up water.
Another thing to remember when buying pots is the fact that the size of the pot
will ultimately constrict the size of the plant. Make a careful choice of pots
according to what you wish to grow in each one. If you search for the plant you
chose on the internet, you should be able to find specifications as to how much
root space it should be given. This can even be an advantage for you if you
choose a plant that can grow very large. If you only have a limited amount of
space for it, you can constrict it by choosing a pot that isn’t large enough to
support huge amounts of growth.
If the benefits of container gardening sound appealing to you, then you should
start planning out your container garden today. If you write a list of all the
plants you desire to have, you can do the necessary research to find out what
size and shape of pots you should get. After that, it’s just a matter of
arranging them in a way that makes your home look the nicest.
