An alternative to growing vegetables, flowers, and herbs in a traditional garden is to grow them in containers. While the amount that can be grown in a container is certainly limited, container gardens work well for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, herbs, salad greens, and many flowering annuals. Choose vegetable varieties that have been specifically bred for container growing. You can obtain this information online or at your garden center. Container gardening also brings birds and butterflies right to your doorstep. Hanging baskets of fuchsia or pots of snapdragons are frequently visited by hummingbirds, allowing for up-close observation.
Container gardening is an excellent method of growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers, especially if you do not have adequate outdoor space for a full garden bed. A container garden can be placed anywhere—on the patio, balcony, rooftop, or windowsill. Vegetables such as leaf lettuce, radishes, small tomatoes, and baby carrots can all be grown successfully in pots.
Here are some simple steps to follow for growing vegetables in containers:
1. Choose a sunny area for your container plants. Your plants will need at least five to six hours of sunlight a day. Some plants, such as cucumbers, may need more. Select plants that are suitable for container growing. Usually their names will contain words such as “patio,” “bush,” “dwarf,” “toy,” or “miniature.” Peppers, onions, and carrots are also good choices.
2. Choose a planter that is at least five gallons, unless the plant is very small. Poke holes in the bottom if they don’t already exist; the soil must be able to drain in order to prevent the roots from rotting. Avoid terra-cotta or dark colored pots as they tend to dry out quickly.
3. Fill your container with potting soil. Good potting soil will have a mixture of peat moss and vermiculite. You can make your own potting soil using composted soil. Read the directions on the seed packet or label to determine how deep to plant your seeds.
4. Check the moisture of the soil frequently. You don’t want the soil to become muddy, but the soil should always feel damp to the touch. Do not wait until the plant is wilting to water it—at that point, it may be too late.
• Follow normal planting schedules for your climate when determining when to plant your container garden.
• You may wish to line your container with porous materials such as shredded newspaper or rags to keep the soil from washing out. Be sure the water can still drain easily.
Herbs will thrive in containers if cared for properly. And if you keep them near your kitchen, you can easily snip off pieces to use in cooking. Here’s how to start your own herb container garden:
1. If your container doesn’t already have holes in the bottom, poke several to allow the soil to drain. Pour gravel into the container until it is about a quarter of the way full. This will help the water drain and help to keep the soil from washing out.
2. Fill your container three-quarters of the way with potting soil or a soil-based compost.
3. It’s best to use seedlings when planting herbs in containers. Tease the roots slightly, gently spreading them apart with your fingertips. This will encourage them to spread once planted. Place each herb into the pot and cover the root base with soil. Place herbs that will grow taller in the center of your container, and the smaller ones around the edges. Leave about 4 square inches of space between each seedling.
4. As you gently press in soil between the plants, leave an inch or so between the container’s top and the soil. You don’t want the container to overflow when you water the herbs.
5. Cut the tops off the taller herb plants to encourage them to grow faster and to produce more leaves.
6. Pour water into the container until it begins to leak out the bottom. Most herbs like to dry out between watering, and overwatering can cause some herbs to rot and die, so only water every few days unless the plants are in a very hot place.
• Growing several kinds of herbs together helps the plants to thrive. A few exceptions to this rule are Oregano, lemon balm, and tea balm. These herbs should be planted on their own because they will overtake the other herbs in your container.
• You may wish to choose your herbs according to color to create attractive arrangements for your home. Any of the following herbs will grow well in containers:
♦ Silver herbs: artemisias, curry plants, santolinas
♦ Golden herbs: lemon thyme, calendula, nasturtium, sage, lemon balm
♦ Blue herbs: borage, hyssop, rosemary, catnip
♦ Green herbs: basil, mint, marjoram, thyme, parsley, chives, tarragon
♦ Pink and purple herbs: Oregano (the flowers are pink), lavender
• If you decide to transplant your herbs in the summer months, they will grow quite well outdoors and will give you a larger harvest.
1. Cover the drainage hole in the bottom of the pot with a flat stone. This will keep the soil from trickling out when the plant is watered.
2. Fill the container with soil. The container should be filled almost to the top. For the best results, use potting soil from your local nursery or garden center.
3. Make holes for the seeds. Refer to the seed packet to see how deep to make the holes. Always save the seed packet for future reference—it most likely has helpful directions about thinning young plants.
4. Place a seed in each hole. Pat the soil gently on top of each seed.
5. Use a light mist to water your seeds, making sure that the soil is only moist and not soaked.
6. Make sure your seeds get the correct amount of sunlight. Refer to the seed packet for the adequate amount of sunlight each seedling needs.
7. Watch your seeds grow. Most seeds take three to seventeen days to sprout. Once the plants start sprouting, be sure to pull out plants that are too close together so the remaining plants will have enough space to establish good root systems.
8. Remember to water and feed your container plants. Keep the soil moist so your plants can grow. And in no time at all, you should have wonderful flowers growing in your container garden.
As fall approaches, frost will soon descend on your container plants and can ultimately destroy your garden. Container plants are particularly susceptible to frost damage, especially if you are growing tropical plants, perennials, and hardy woody plants in a single container garden. There are many ways that you can preserve and maintain your container garden plants throughout the winter season.
Preservation techniques will vary depending on the plants in your container garden. Tropical plants can be overwintered using methods replicating a dry season, forcing the plant into dormancy; hardy perennials and woody shrubs need a cold dormancy to grow in the spring, so they must stay outside; cacti and succulents prefer their winters warm and dry and must be brought inside; while many annuals can be propagated by stem cuttings or can just be repotted and maintained inside.
Many tropical plants, such as cannas, elephant ears, and angel’s trumpets can be saved from an untimely death by overwintering them in a dark corner or sunny window of your home, depending on the type of plant. A lot of bulbous and tuberous tropical plants have a natural dry season (analogous to our winter) when their leafy parts die off, leaving the bulb behind. Don’t throw the bulbs away. After heavy frosts turn the aboveground plant parts to mush, cut the damaged foliage off about 4 inches above the thickened bulb. Then, dig them up and remove all excess soil from the roots. If a bulb has been planted for several years and its performance is beginning to decline, it may need dividing. Daffodils, for example, should generally be divided every three years. If you do divide the bulb, be sure to dust all cut surfaces with a sulfur-based fungicide made for bulbs to prevent the wounds from rotting. Cut the roots back to 1 inch from the bulb and leave to dry out evenly. Rotten bulbs or roots need to be thrown away so infection doesn’t spread to the healthy bulbs.
A bulb’s or tuber’s drying time can last up to two weeks if it is sitting on something absorbent like newspaper and located somewhere shaded and dry, such as a garage or basement. Once clean and dry, bulbs should be stored—preferably at around 50°F—all winter in damp (not soggy) milled peat moss. This prevents the bulbs from drying out any further, which could cause them to die. Many gardeners don’t have a perfectly cool basement or garage to keep bulbs dormant. Alternative methods for dry storage include a dark closet with the door cracked for circulation, a cabinet, or underneath a bed in a cardboard box with a few holes punched for airflow. The important thing to keep in mind is that the bulb needs to be kept on the dry side, in the dark, and moderately warm.
If a bulb was grown as a single specimen in its own pot, the entire pot can be placed in a garage that stays above 50°F or a cool basement and allowed to dry out completely. Cut all aboveground plant parts flush with the soil and don’t water until the outside temperatures stabilize above 60°F. Often, bulbs break dormancy unexpectedly in this dry pot method. If this happens, pots can be moved to a sunny location near a window and watered sparingly until they can be placed outside. The emerging leaves will be stunted, but once outside, the plant will replace any spindly leaves with lush, new ones.
Many herbaceous annuals can also be saved for the following year. By rooting stem cuttings in water on a sunny windowsill, plants like impatiens, coleus, sweet potato vine cultivars, and purple heart can be held over winter until needed in the spring. Otherwise, the plants can be cut back by half, potted in a peat-based, soilless mix, and placed on a sunny windowsill. With a wide assortment of “annuals” available on the market, some research is required to determine which annuals can be overwintered successfully. True annuals (such as basils, cockscomb, and zinnias)—regardless of any treatment given—will go to seed and die when brought inside.
If you planted a mixed dry container this year and want to retain any of the plants for next year, they should be removed from the main container and repotted into a high sand-content soil mix for cacti and succulents. Keep them in a sunny window and water when dry. Many succulents and cacti do well indoors, either in a heated garage or a moderately sunny corner of a living room.
As with other tropical plants, succulents also need time to adjust to sunnier conditions in the spring. Move them to a shady spot outside when temperatures have stabilized above 60°F and then gradually introduce them to brighter conditions.
Hardy perennials, woody shrubs, and vines needn’t be thrown away when it’s time to get rid of accent containers. Crack-resistant, four-season containers can house perennials and woody shrubs year-round. Below is a list of specific perennials and woody plants that do well in both hot and cold weather, indoors and out:
• Shade perennials, like coral bells, lenten rose, assorted hardy ferns, and Japanese forest grass are great for all weather containers.
• Sun-loving perennials, such as sedges, some salvias, purple coneflower, daylily, spiderwort, and bee blossom are also very hardy and do well in year-round containers. Interplant them with cool growing plants, like kale, pansies, and Swiss chard, for fall and spring interest.
• Woody shrubs and vines—many of which have great foliage interest with four-season appeal—are ideal for container gardens. Red-twigged dogwood cultivars, clematis vine cultivars, and dwarf crape myrtle cultivars are great container additions that can stay outdoors year-round.
If the container has to be removed, hardy perennials and woody shrubs can be temporarily planted in the ground and mulched. Dig them from the garden in the spring, if you wish, and replant into a container. Or, leave them in their garden spot and start over with fresh ideas and new plant material for your container garden.
Overwintering is a great form of sustainable plant conservation achieved simply and effectively by adhering to each plant’s cultural and environmental needs. With careful planning and storage techniques, you’ll save money as well as plant material. The beauty and interest you’ve created in this season’s well-grown container garden can also provide enjoyment for years to come.
