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Container gardening isn't just for flowers on the porch. We'll show you some innovative ways to use containers to grow your garden without tearing up your yard and without investing so much back-breaking time and labor into it. No room for a garden? No problem. Soil too poor, too sandy or too rocky for a garden? No problem. No yard at all? Still no problem. Most gardeners grow their vegetables in the soil in their back yards. But what if you don't have a back yard? What if you only have a patio or deck or even just a balcony? Can you still provide your family with the fresh taste of homegrown vegetables? Absolutely. Container gardening solves all these problems and more. You can grow just about anything in a container and we'll show you how.
Let's look at container gardening for a moment. Think about this: gardeners have been growing flowers and herbs in pots, window boxes and containers for years. Even shrubs and topiaries are grown in containers with great success. If you can grow petunias in a fancy pot on your front porch, why not tomatoes and peppers? If sweet peas will climb happily on an obelisk in a pot, why not edible peas or beans? Container gardening works just as well for vegetables as for these other plants and it's just as easy.
What type of container is best for your garden? Well, just about anything that will hold soil will work. Make sure it has at least one drainage hole to prevent excess water build-up. Also, make sure it's deep enough for the crop you're growing. In other words, match your container to its gardening chore.
Remember too that plants in containers need more attention to watering. You can reduce the work involved by using some version of a self-watering container for your garden. This doesn't mean you must rush out and purchase the latest and greatest. A very simple self-watering container can be as easy as placing your pot with drainage hole inside another container that will hold water. Then your container garden can suck up the water it needs from the reservoir you just created. You have only to keep the reservoir full to ensure your containerized garden has sufficient moisture.
One way to eliminate weeds in your new container garden is to use a plastic mulch cover. Some commercial plant containers come with a cover. However, it's simple enough to make your own, using the plastic bag the soil came in. Just cut it to a proper size so there is a drape over the outside edge, cut a hole or slit in it for the plants to poke through. Gently fit it over the plants and then use duct tape to secure it to the outer edge of your container. Weeds won't grow in the darkness you just created and moisture won't evaporate as quickly. A white cover will reflect light up into the center of the plant, thus discouraging pests such as aphids and white fly but a black cover will absorb heat and warm up the soil faster if you live in a cooler climate. And there is some evidence that a red cover may help tomotoes produce heavier crops, although that isn't exactly a proven fact yet. The point is, container gardening solves a multitude of problems that could easily overwhelm a beginning gardener.
And last but not least, your new container garden is portable. You can move it around to make the best use of limited sunlight or even to decorate your patio or deck. Try your hand and I think you'll agree that container gardening is simply the easiest gardening ever.
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