There’s good news for green thumbs lacking green space: You don’t need a big yard to have a beautiful garden. All you need are a few containers. An expert shares tips for container gardening.
This April 26, 2013 photo shows a succulent arrangement on a patio table in Langley, Wash. Many techniques have been developed over the years to help ensure that potted plants survive winter. One of the simplest is to bring them indoors as this gardener intends to do for a second straight year. (AP Photo/Dean Fosdick)(AP/Dean Fosdick)
This April 26, 2013 photo shows a succulent arrangement on a patio table in Langley, Wash. Many techniques have been developed over the years to help ensure that potted plants survive winter. One of the simplest is to bring them indoors as this gardener intends to do for a second straight year. (AP Photo/Dean Fosdick)(AP/Dean Fosdick)
WASHINGTON — There’s good news for green thumbs lacking green space: You don’t need a big yard to have a beautiful garden. All you need are a few containers.
Kathy Jentz, editor and publisher of Washington Gardener magazine, shares tips and best practices for starting a spring and summer garden on your patio, rooftop or balcony.
Picking pots The first thing you’ll need to build a container garden: containers. And Jentz said when choosing a pot, bigger is better. She gravitates toward the 24- or 36-inch double-wall plastic pots that are designed to look like terra-cotta or stone. Jentz said the air pocket between the layers gives your garden some insulation and helps keep the heat off the root zone. Once you select your pot, check the number of holes in the bottom. Jentz said a lot of stores will mark where the drainage holes should go, but you’ll need to do the drilling — and you might want to add a few more holes, while you’re at it. “For a 36-inch container, one or two tiny holes isn’t going to do it,” Jentz said.
(AP Photo/Dean Fosdick)
AP Photo/Dean Fosdick
Setting the soil Don’t let the vastness of the containers scare you when it comes to buying soil. Jentz has a trick that will help cut down on the number of bags you need to lug home. In the bottom half of the container, place a few upside down plastic pots or empty water bottles to take up space where the soil would otherwise go. Arrange these fillers so that water will be able to move through the pot without getting trapped. Place a landscape fabric or fine mesh fabric over the plastic fillers, and then add your soil. “So then you’re only putting soil in the top half and you’re not having to constantly replenish the soil every time,” Jentz said. Not only does this make it less expensive to build a large container garden (bags of soil are not cheap), but it also keeps the container from becoming too heavy. “So containers can do what they do best, which is move,” Jentz said.
(Thinkstock)
Thinkstock
Picking the plants There are no hard-and-fast rules when it comes to what can and can’t be grown in a container. Classic container combinations usually consist of annual plants, vegetables, bulbs and perennials. However, when building a container garden, Jentz likes to stick to the general rule of combining a “thriller, chiller and spiller.” The thriller is a plant that’s vertical and that catches the eye — “like an exclamation point in the middle of the container,” Jentz said. Around that, you have the filler — “the plants that just sit there and have a good time and kind of fill in for you,” Jentz said. Finally, the spiller is a plant that spills over the edge of the container. “It’s something that creates a little more interest than having a perfectly symmetrical container sitting there,” Jentz said. A frequent container combination is dracaena, surrounded by red zonal geraniums and ivy spilling over the edge. “Those are well-behaved and play well together,” said Jentz, who added that one “spiller” plant to avoid in your pots is the sweet potato vine, due to the growth of its root.
(AP Photo/Dean Fosdick)
AP Photo/Dean Fosdick
Starting your container garden If you’re eager to get your garden going, Jentz said start with the “cool season” annuals, such as pansies, violas and snapdragons. You can also get going on some edibles, such as lettuces, baby radishes, collard greens and Swiss chard. For summer annuals, it’s best to wait until Mother’s Day, which Jentz said is “the all-safe date.” If you start any earlier, you’re risking a final freeze or two. “If you do start earlier, if you do take a chance, remember containers are movable, so you can throw a blanket over them and bring them in for some protection should we have another late frost or late snowstorm come up,” Jentz said.
(AP Photo/Larry Crowe)
AP Photo/Larry Crowe
Maintaining your container gardenGardening in a container isn’t necessarily less maintenance than traditional gardening. You’ll still need to carve out time to water and fertilize. However, Jentz has a few tricks. She likes to use soil moisture pellets, which absorb water and slowly release it at the root level, so you can usually go a few days between waterings. “The other part of maintenance would be fertilizing, because a container is a closed system and it’s not able to feed off other plants around it or getting nutrition from somewhere else,” Jentz said. Again, she recommends using a slow-release fertilizer that can be sprinkled in the pot and dissolve over the course of three-or-so months.
(Thinkstock)
Thinkstock
Shade Gardening If your patio, balcony or outdoor space doesn’t get much sun, Jentz recommends varieties like the wishbone flower, begonias and caladiums. Typically herbs and vegetables need more sunlight.
(AP Photo/ Dean Fosdick )
AP Photo/ Dean Fosdick
Starting Seeds Starting with seeds is the best option if you’re on a budget. “I highly recommend seeds because a seed pack could be $1.99 for a bunch of miniature sunflowers, and you could be paying $5 a pot for one sunflower,” Jentz said. You can grow the seeds in a tray and transfer them later to the container, or start them directly in the container while using a row cover to give the seeds some extra protection. “It’s not too late to start your tomatoes and peppers and then by Mother’s Day, that will be the time to plant them outside,” Jantz said. And just as you might mulch a traditional garden, don’t forget to do the same to your containers. Jantz suggests adding a top dressing of compost or shredded leaves while you wait for your plants to come in. “What that does is it helps keep down the weeds, keeps the soil warmer, and insulates it,” she said. Plus, critters will be less likely to dig up your seedlings.
(AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
