Adding Large Potted Plants to Your Garden

Big pots can make an impressive statement in any garden, particularly if they have big healthy plants in them. Many small trees and shrubs will grow well in big pots provided they have sufficient room for their roots.

The bigger the pot you buy the better - within reason for the size of the plant you intend having in the pot and also provided your budget can stretch that far. This will ensure your plant won't outgrow the pot too soon or sometimes even at all.

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you will need to remove and re-pot the plant/tree as it grows bigger, you should take special care in selecting a pot that is shaped in such a manner that the contents will be able to be removed without having to break the pot. Tapered pots will make this easier whereas pots that are wider in the middle than the top can present problems if the roots have spread out.

Don't fill the pot to the top with potting mix, as this won't leave any room for effective watering.

To ensure their good health you should always buy the best quality outdoor potting mix. You should also feed your potted plant or tree with some slow release organic fertilizer two or three times a year to ensure it is getting good nutrition.

Plants in pots can easily dry out and not get enough moisture so it is also a wise move to give them some water storage crystals or incorporate some other water-holding organic elements into the soil. This will help to maintain the moisture content in the soil. Regardless, if the pot is in the sun it will need more water, depending on the type of plant you have in the pot.

Darker colored pots will also attract more heat and this can affect the growth of your plant so you need to consider where the pot will be to ensure there is sufficient sunlight and also enough easy access to water for it to survive.

Video - Beautiful Organic Container Garden

This gorgeous video shows lots of amazing pictures of a beautiful container garden, along with some great tips for planting and maintaining your organic container garden, composting, controlling pests naturally, ideas for things to plant, and more. Enjoy the lovely pictures, and ideas for your own container garden! (Remember we're on our winter schedule now, so this is the last post for this week.)

Garden By Nature.wmv: Organic Container Garden Fall 2011- Spring 2012
A photographic walk through our first real Organic container garden. We had a lot of fun growing some of our own food, learning from nature and applying what we have learned to container gardening. So far vegetable gardening is paying off for us. I h...

Organic Gardening In Containers

If you like the idea of organic gardening, but feel stuck because you're in an apartment or condo and have no actual garden, you may not be as stuck as you think you are. If you've got a balcony, in fact, and get at least a few hours of direct sunlight each day, you can start your own organic garden right there on the balcony. Just use containers!

Balcony (Photo credit: sez9)

There are a great many things you can grow in such containers, with certain practices that will be the same as for a regular garden, and others that are particular only to pot plantings.

Almost anything can be used as a container – old plastic jugs, watering cans, bowls, canisters – just as long as you can create a drainage hole near the bottom so the pot won't get waterlogged and rot the roots of the plant. But you can also buy a wide range of terracotta and other gardening containers at nurseries and in department stores.

Many garden centers will provide good organic potting soil as well. Or if you wish to use your own, you might acquire dirt from somewhere else, and mix it with sand and compost. (The ratio would be equal parts of each.) Mixing in a little peat moss and organic perlite will both help the soil absorb water, yet allow the excess to drain. If you make sure the soil is well watered before your plants go in, you'll give your plants a good head start.

As to your choice of plants, most annuals will do quite well in containers. Some can even be grown indoors during the cooler months. Be sure you have enough room for the plants' roots to grow; don't place something huge in a tiny container, unless you've done your research and know that this particular plant likes having its roots all cramped up.

For vegetables, you will likely need about six hours a day of sunlight, so you want to place their pots in the right location on the balcony. Again you'll need to do some research about which vegetables work best in which pots, but some things will simply make sense. For example, carrots would need planting in quite a deep pot. Tomatoes and peppers do especially well in containers. And you could have an entire large pot – or several – stuffed with different kinds of herbs or salad greens.

Container Garden! (Photo credit: LollyKnit)

Container plants need slightly more watering than those in a full garden, because they have such a small space from which to draw the moisture, and the soil gets warmer so they tend to dry out more quickly. You'll need to keep an eye on how dry they're getting. They shouldn't be waterlogged, nor should they be constantly damp, which would promote mold or the thriving of insects. Letting the soil get slightly dry on the surface before you water is usually best. But again, doing some research would be a good idea. If you buy plants from a nursery rather than trying to start them from seeds, many of them will come with instructions about the amount of sunlight and water they need.

Container plants can often be kept clear of insects more easily than garden plants: you can bring the whole container inside, put it in your sink, and spray it with either an organic pest spray or one you've made yourself. This would involve mixing 40 parts water with one part of non-detergent soap (such as Ivory), and spraying it on the undersides of the leaves as well as other places where the insects are. Then after a few moments, you would spray it clean again.

Deadheading flowers when the blooms are finished, and keeping both the pots and the balcony itself clean of dead vegetative matter will also help keep the plants free of insects.

As you can see, many of the same methods used in an organic garden in the yard will apply to an organic container garden as well. If you've got a sunny balcony or patio, there's no reason why you shouldn't enjoy an organic garden just as much as someone with a big garden space.

Helpful Container Gardening Resources:
   

Organic Vegetable Gardening Using Containers

Organic gardening isn’t only for farmers or people who have backyards - it can also be done using containers.

Organic vegetable gardening containers have advantages. You can use your garden as décor on your balcony or patio. If the weather gets too cold outside, you can bring it indoors. But best of all, you don’t have to deal with certain threats that can happen outdoors like weeds, insects or soil borne diseases.

Image via WikipediaOrganic vegetable gardening containers typically do not use soil. You need to use potting mix that is much lighter and provides excellent drainage. You'll also need to use organic fertilizer though to help it grow, such as mulch that can be made from chipped bark, garden compost, leaf moulds and manure. Not only does this fertilize your garden, but it also helps keep it from drying out.

Another thing your container plants will need is a lot of water. Ideally, you should add this in small amounts at least 30 minutes after an initial watering because putting in too much could drown your plant. If the container that you purchased does not have any holes in the bottom, make a few before adding your growing matter and planting.

The containers can either be hung from a railing or overhang, or set on the ground, depending on their size and what you will be planting in them.

You may be asking, “What are the ideal vegetables to be planted in these containers?”  Lots of veggies do well in containers, but to give you an idea, some good choices are bush beans, peppers, carrots, eggplant, lettuce, onions, peas, radishes, spinach, strawberries, and tomatoes. (Potatoes can also do well, though there are some special considerations to growing them this way.)

You know that organically grown vegetables need sunlight, so they do best with some outside exposure. If you have a lot of these containers and it is very windy outside, you can protect them from falling by grouping these together with the taller ones as your "walls".

Image via WikipediaThe best organic vegetable gardening containers are those made from clay, plastic or wood. The length of the roots and its width is the deciding factor when choosing what size container you will buy. For instance, if your vegetable happens to have 6 inches of roots and grows to about 10 inches wide, it is best to get a container that measures 8 inches deep and 10 to 12 inches wide. (You should always give room for allowance as some may grow bigger than it says on the container or seed package.) 

We mentioned earlier that one of the advantages of the organic container garden is that you don’t have to deal with insects. But sometimes, bugs like the hookworm manage to get to your plant. If this happens, just bring the container to the sink (or hose) and wash the leaves. Should there be slugs, get rid of them by sprinkling diatomaceous earth on the soil.

If there are aphids on your vegetables, fight fire with fire by getting other insects to do the dirty work. A pack of ladybugs will do the trick without causing any collateral damage.

Organic vegetable container container gardening makes it possible for those without a backyard to have the chance to plant their own crops at home. This is ideal for residents living in condos and apartments so they can save money to pay for rent or buy other things when the sustenance they need is just sitting by the balcony or window.

If you want to try it, go ahead and ask someone at the gardening store for some help to get you started. Or check out http://www.newholisticliving.com/sustainablegardening.html, or some of the helpful resources below.

Organic Container Gardening Resources: