Container Gardening is fast becoming a genre unto itself. Everything from flower boxes and vegetable boxes to containers for water gardens to hanging baskets and herb baskets to strawberry containers. There are many varieties of plants suitable for container gardening and many kinds of containers to plant them in. Like any kind of gardening, there are two steps: 1) The planning and dreaming stage; the call from deep within to get better acquainted with everything natural and green, the many ideas that might include colour and beauty or maybe a desire for healthy local food, and 2)The practical doing step of assembling some strategies for garden success. Strategies for successful container gardening include choosing appropriate soil materials, developing watering and feeding strategies and learning about pruning methods to keep your containers looking their best. Container Gardening is an effective part of a whole garden scheme or a complete and delightful garden by itself.



The planning and dreaming stage involves choosing the right plants for you, your life style and skill level, amount of time spent gardening and what you hope to accomplish. Are you interested in having your own mini vegetable garden on your deck or Patio? Or are you more interested in colour and texture and want to plan an attractive display? Or is it a combination of vegetables and flowers that appeals? Or are you looking for some inspiration to begin getting more in touch with your inner gardener? Are you an experienced gardener who is looking for new plants and containers to try this year? Answering these kinds of questions will help container gardening to be a satisfying experience for you.
Most plants can be grown in containers but it is important to pay attention to a specific plant’s needs and provide a big enough pot and the right soil medium. Attention to feeding needs and pinching regularly ensures a beautiful display.
Plants that have contrasting colours, different textures and different shapes and habits are good to use together, if you want a multi plant container.
If vegetables are what you want to try, look for baby vegetable varieties and dwarf cultivars. These varieties tend to be more successful in containers as they do not have huge root requirements.
Dwarf apple and other fruit trees can also be successfully grown in containers and the amount of fruit is amazing if the pruning is effectively done.
Beautiful well cared for containers are useful in a bigger garden scheme because they can be moved to any location that needs some extra colour and form over the course of the season.
After you have decided the kinds of plants you would like to grow and what containers you want to use it is important to find out about a bit about the chosen plants and what conditions they prefer. Now you are ready to begin the action stage.


The first step is to choose a soil or soil less medium to plant your containers with. Keep in mind that not all plants like the same conditions and some research may be required to be successful in container gardening the plants that you want to grow. That being said there are only a few types of components that generally make up soil mixes for container gardening. There is a component of fibrous material (usually Peat), a component that enables better drainage (often perlite or vermiculite but also sand), compost (of which there are many kinds) and fertilizers or organic amendments. Most commercial preparations are peat based with added vermiculite, perlite, wetting agents and fertilizers and although they function well there are many reasons why they are a poor choice for the environment. There are some organic versions of potting soil and seed starting soil available and these also often include peat but not the wetting agents and chemical fertilizers and allow you to choose how you want to feed your container garden. If you are growing organically be sure to include enough organic matter or compost to keep the soil moist and alive.

The next strategy to determine is how you are going to keep your containers well watered throughout the season. A container garden is very different than a garden in the earth because the roots of the plants are against the inside of the pot and cannot search deeper in the earth for more water. Therefore watering needs to be done more often and consistently. Depending on the scale of your container garden you may want to consider installing a drip irrigation system, as it is an efficient use of water and can be placed on a timer for convenience and for when you are away from home. There is also a new do-it-yourself watering system that is being talked about this year, and it involves placing perforated PVC pipe vertically inside the container and watering directly into these pipes. The idea is that the water has to leave slowly through holes in the pipe and the plants have more access to the water as it drains. However you decide to water your containers make sure you are consistent enough to maintain a moist environment, crucial to keeping your soil active and alive.

The next strategy to think about is feeding. How you feed your plants depends on what materials you used in your potting mix. If you used a mix that has chemical fertilizers, especially slow release there may be little more feeding required than once a month in the active growing season. If you have used an organic potting mix make sure you understand the right proportions of compost and organic amendments to add to your mix and feed every two weeks with an organic fertilizer (liquids are often easier to dilute and apply). It is important to know what you have started with and continue feeding regularly throughout the season. Again the types of plants used and the container size will influence the needs of the containers. Another popular organic enhancement is to add micronutrients in the form of liquid feed or foliar feeding, which means to literally spray the leaves with a fine mist. It is important to do this early in the morning before the hot sun of the day so you do not burn the leaves.

The last crucial strategy to keep your plants looking great all season is to learn how and when to prune. The first thing to know is that you can prune most plants to the shape you want them to be, within reason. Regular deadheading of spent flowers, reshaping and cutting back is necessary for continued growth and beauty, particularly if you have planted many plants in a small space.

Container Gardening is an easy and fun way to begin gardening and a great way to add more flair to an existing garden.