One of the most therapeutic hobbies. Gardening is said to be not only a good exercise for the body, but also a good source of sense fulfillment, and obviously, an opportunity to contribute in your own way, to advocate the importance of nature.

With that being said, Gardening is not limited to those who have large gardening fields with some knowledge you can grow trees in pots and get fruits, you only need to recognize the needs of a plant.

In this blog, we are gonna provide you with tips and technics to master your container gardening that might help from the beginner to the expert. 

Decide on what you would like to grow?

In choosing what to grow, you must specifically consider your time, your lifestyle, and your needs, as these define the extent of commitment you can give your garden. For example, if you want your pots to be decorative In that case, you pick ornamental plants. However, if your idea of a hobby is simple being happy-go-lucky, with no commitments, just come and go, it’s either you think it all over again or choose low maintenance plants to grow in your pots. In this way, you only have to water them once in a while.

Many container gardening enthusiasts choose to grow what they need in the kitchen. Also, several of the kitchen experts are now growing their herbs in their very working area. This is probably a good way to combine your passion with your work towards pleasurable functionality. For these people, good and common options for container gardening include certain herbs, lettuce, and cherry tomatoes but like explained earlier, you can grow whatever you like.

Fertilizers are needed in keeping the soil able to nourish your plants, thus they are always part of your gardening essentials. It is critical to maintain the level of organic matter in the soil, from where your plants grow, which cannot go too low on the nutrients.

Fertilizers can vary from organic to synthetic fertilizers. Some gardeners even add sand or clay to their soil to balance it out. But most of the time gardeners add a different substance that brings balance and fertility to any soil types of soil which are organic matter.

Organic matter is anything that was once living, whether plant or animal. It is what feeds the worms and microbes that make soil come alive like leaves, kitchen scraps, and manure. In other words, compost. Here you can find step by step guide to composting.

The other good things about organic fertilizing are that it could be really cheap and that it has long-term and stable effects on the soil, as opposed to the synthetic type of fertilizers. Such steady longer effects make it even more suitable for container gardening, as you will not likely have to till the soil as you are to do that in ground gardening. 

On the other hand, you have inorganic fertilizers that are made of chemical substances supplied to the crops to increase their productivity. The fertilizers contain the essential nutrients required by the plants including nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. They enhance the water retention capacity of the soil and also increase its fertility.but the miss-use of that chemical substance can lead to some serious issues considering that they are most of the time toxic and can lead to killing your plants and soil if you miss-use them. we recommend using compost instead.

Load The Container Properly

When filling in container, composted soil is placed at a height of two to four inches. If you are planting sprouts, then you should give them a few inches of space around the roots. However, scattering the seeds even across the platter will do the job if you are planting seeds. One suggestion to be more practical with growing herbs is to keep two or three containers of each plant going at once, so that when you’ve clipped one plant, you will have another one ready to keep you covered on your next meal.

If you are considering grouping various plants in one container, remember that the plants should have the same needs on the amount of water. Therefore, they must be planted in such a way that their roots are not on the same levels, and that those that should be driest are closest to the surface.

Tomatoes, however, are easy to over-water. So before watering them you should check the soil. If the soil is moist, then wait till the moment when it becomes dry and only then water. It is best to water around the base of the plant, rather than through the leaves.

When it is time to harvest from your plants, you would want use the apt scissors to snip the leaves or vegetables. In order for you to do this, clip the leaves around the base of the plant first, so that it will continue to grow and fill out. You may now enjoy the freshest herbs you could ever get, and that is straight from your very own container garden. Rewarding as it sounds, it would feel better in reality. 

Tomatoes.

As always, the right container size is crucial in growing tomatoes. So is such consideration essential in growing different variants? To grow the smaller variants of tomatoes, containers with around 6-liter capacity at the least are advisable, while for the larger ones, a minimum capacity of 10 liters should be used for one. A high recommendation is given by experts on growing cherry tomatoes instead of the big ones, as they more easily grow and ripen, giving you the best of what you may need from the crop. Varieties of vince cherry tomato you might want to include are black cherry, gardener’s delight, sungold, and sun cherry premium, while some examples of dwarf bush ones are minibel, micro tom, tom thumb, balcony red, and balcony yellow.

When preparing the pot and the soil, remember that the roots of tomato plants need to breathe. To facilitate this, you may add around 15% of perlite in your growing mix. Also, you may create small holes on the sides of the pot so that the roots receive a sufficient supply of air. Aside from holes on the container, support may also be provided for bush tomatoes with the use of stake or strings. The watering technique is also important. What to keep in mind is to saturate the entire area of soil you can see; otherwise, you are merely wetting the topmost layer. Other than watering, an important way to keep the tomatoes growing is feeding it with compost or tomatoes feed. You may dilute the tomato feed with double the amount of the recommended water, so you can distribute the feeding into an increased frequency, and less quantity in each feeding. Link to tomatoes feed

Herbs.

Herbs are preferred by many to be grown in containers, not only because they look stunning in those pots, and they are easy to access and move when cooking, but also because they are much easier to manage and to make the most out of when they are grown there. Examples of herb that can be grown in pots or similar containers are Nasturtium, forest green parsley, Genovese basil, lemon balm, and lemon thyme.

Herbs always offer the closest thing to instant gratification in your garden. They are among the easiest edibles to grow, and you can start harvesting little snippets of seasoning almost right away

A small number of herbs are summer annuals (basil, dill, and cilantro being prime examples). These mature quickly and can be planted every 30 days to ensure a fresh supply: heat-loving basil and dill in the warm months, cilantro in spring and fall. But most herbs are low-maintenance perennials including rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, lavender, savory, chives, tarragon, mint, and fennel meaning you can plant them once and harvest for years (parsley, a biennial, lives for two growing seasons). Some herbs, such as rosemary, can grow to the size of an armchair, but if you’re short on space, you can pack several different perennial herb seedlings in a single-window planter and they will grow just fine, albeit dwarfed.

Window planters are Ron’s favorite places to grow herbs. For convenience, install a few in your kitchen window. “You can cut [herbs] right there when you need them,” he says. This is a garden that nearly anyone can manage.

Legumes 

Like greens and herbs, legumes grow vigorously with minimal effort. English peas and sugar snap peas like the cool weather of early spring while most beans should not be planted until mid or late spring when the weather warms up.

Most beans and peas grow on a short vine and require a trellis, The options are endless, and the vines are light and short-lived, so you don’t need to worry about building something sturdy or permanent. The most important thing is guiding little legume seedlings toward the bottom of the trellis (once they’ve latched on they will pull themselves up). Alternatively, plant “bush beans,” which have been bred to grow in a short, stocky shape, eliminating the need for a trellis.

extra herbs

Lemon balm, a lemon-scented herb is a fast-growing plant, is best grown in a container, as it could overtake whatever space is reserved for it. In growing this mildly sedative herb, seeds are sown indoors for six weeks before the last frost and are lightly

covered with average, full-drained soil. To keep them bushy, you may cut plants during the growing season to provide your kitchen with fresh foliage for different recipes.

Lemon thyme, known for its intense lemon aroma, is best grown in the full sun within average-well drain soil. Similarly, with lemon balm, this herb could appear rather messy on the ground, so its best to be grown inside a nice container, from plants, and not seeds. Lemon thyme must hibernate outdoors, and be trimmed back to its livelier form during spring. You may cut back its stems to trim during the growing season.

Generally, in harvesting herbs, as the rule goes, the more you pick, the more you’ll get. When you keep pinching most of those healthy plants, you help them become bushier, thus prettier.

Bonus: Helpful Tips

Now if you are deciding to grab some pots and selecting some seeds and plants and soil, it is also important that you know some dos and don’ts, which can help you enjoy your experience in container gardening. Others have made mistakes; you cannot afford to repeat them. Others have paved the way to your success; learn from them.

Plants drown too;

keep them safe. Water is good for plants; that’s a fact. Water is good for you too; in fact, it is a necessity. But hyperhidrosis is something you do not wish for yourself. While you are trying to keep yourself hydrated, you only do so in moderation. Your plants can drown too. If you over-water your plants, their green leaves may fade to yellow, and your plant turns weak. Before this could even happen, pay attention to your soil; it may be too wet. In this case, adjust by transferring the container to a spot where the soil can dry a bit, just enough not to completely dry them out. know how much you should water. Different plants have relatively different needs pay attention to not dehydrate them, In order for you to know that you are watering enough, make sure you see the water above the surface of the soil, and not merely allowing the former to just wet the latter at the topmost layer.

Keep your garden disease-free.

When buying plants, stay away from those that need resuscitation. Choose healthy ones. When some parts of your plant fall off, make sure to take them out if it does not qualify as compost. It may infect the entire plant/plants in case you mistakenly commit this. Also, keep your plants away from weeds, pests, and animals. Although you grow your plants in containers, there are still chances for your plants to experience this, so just in case you see some little crawling beings, simply yank it off to keep your garden clean and nice. 

Stay away from frustration.

Consider your lifestyle when planning to start maintaining container gardens. Is this something you can put your commitment on? Do you have time for it? Think of this endeavor as a commitment. Can you manage to keep up with it possible demands this may ask of you? In cases where you need to leave without prior notice do you have a plan of action while you are away? In case you travel a lot and leave the house most often than not, there are solutions to your dilemma.

First solution:

you may either go for an automatic drip irrigation system. Drip irrigation is said to be the most effective method of irrigating, much more than sprinklers. This drip system is said to be very convenient because it not only wastes much less water, it is also said to be easy to install, easy to design, and able to reduce the disease of plants brought about by a certain level of moisture of the soil. The mechanism of this type of irrigation lies in that the water soaks directly into the soil prior to it can run off or evaporate. Another mechanism showing its efficacy is that the water is applied only when needed, rather than spread everywhere. Perfect for your potential away-from-home concern.

Second option:

to solve your problem in case you cannot be home to water your plants is the use of self-watering containers or sub-irrigation is said to be a method of irrigating your plants in which the water is accessed from the bottom, allowing the water to soak upwards towards the plant through what referred to as called capillary action

These solutions, especially the second one, are actually feasible approaches, but in case they seem to be too expensive for you or not doable for you, you can always choose plants that do not need as much water to survive. It’s your choice. 

Get your guide on how to create compost now, u know why you should? cause your plants will love it.

Don’t forget to drop a comment down here to let us know what are you planning to grow on your containers