If you want to make the most of a small space by container gardening this article has lots of useful information to help you get it right.
Looking to get a container garden started? This beginners guide will give you a great base to make the most of your small space:
What Is Container Gardening?
Container gardening is where you literally plant your garden in containers. It can be as small as growing cress in a yogurt pot, and as big as a full hydroponic setup. The beauty of it is, you don’t need an actual garden to have a container garden. It can just be a window ledge, if that is all you have.
Start On A Budget
One of the most incredible things about container gardening is that it can be done on a shoestring. Go rummage in your Cambridge Self Storage unit, your loft, your garage and your spare room for anything that could help towards your garden including:
- Any item that ‘contains’ such as buckets or pots or even old mugs and ornaments from your self storage unit
- Items to help add layers to the space like stepladders
- Any potting mix
- Sticks and canes
- Labels
It is also a good idea to checkout local sales sites for freebies or cheapies local people want to get rid of that you could use for your container garden.
Stay Open-Minded
Sometimes container gardening is described as herb gardening, or salad gardening, when in fact you can actually grow pretty much anything in a container garden. Salads, fruits, herbs, peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, lavender – even mini trees can all be grown in containers.
Houseplants Count
You can grow food to eat in your container garden, but many people like to apply container gardening rules to houseplants too. Cacti, aroids and succulents all do great in containers. Checkout Planterina on Youtube to find out everything you need to know about growing houseplants.
Don’t Be Afraid To Start Small
If you are totally new to container gardening, don’t be scared of starting with one container. Cress grown on moist tissue paper is a great starter plant, especially for kids. Pea shoots grown in a jar or old butter tub are also a fantastic starter container plant that yield loads of healthy shoots to enjoy. Once you start to do well with your starter attempts, you can grow your collection.
Take It Slowly
Setting up a container garden is so easy you can quickly find yourself overwhelmed when the plants start to do well and require more maintenance. Try to limit how many plants you start with until you have an idea of what their regular maintenance involves. This way, you can add when you know you have more time and energy to dedicate to another plant.
Beware Of Pests
When you set up a container garden it is just as open to pests and garden thieves as a normal garden. Just opening a window opens the floodgates for all kinds of little nasties to fly in and attack your potted piece of nature. Because you have all your plants in pots in close proximity, one infested plant can quickly lead to all your plants being infested.
You can help prevent and manage this by regularly rinsing your plants, and quickly separating a pot with a contaminated plant whilst you treat it.
“Green is the prime colour of the world and that from which loveliness arises.” – Pedro Calderon De La Barca
You can have a fantastic container garden that grows everything you want it to, giving you your own slice of nature to enjoy day after day.