Container-grown plants can be a standalone garden or a supplement to an existing thriving environment. Your yard and home will benefit from planting in nursery pots, buckets, whiskey barrels, grow bags, or whatever else you can find lying about the house.
- For the winter, you want to bring your plants inside.
- The soil’s quality should be managed.
- There isn’t much space available.
- You want to cultivate veggies and herbs all year long (or pretty flowers).
- It’s crucial to give the yard more height, texture, and variety.
Growing savory veggies and fresh herbs in containers is simple with the appropriate tools. We have all the supplies you need at Planet Natural, including grow lights to bring the nourishing power of the sun indoors and pots, soil, and seeds to get you started. Let’s expand now!
Things to Look for in a Plant
Practically anything, even a lot of trees, can be grown in a container! So take a time to consider your goals for your container garden before heading out to the nursery to buy whatever takes your fancy.
When considering what you want, think about what you can offer the plants in light of your surroundings, available area, and time commitment. Of obviously, plants require light, food, air, and water, but each plant has different needs in terms of quality and quantity. (Learn more about plant requirements here.)
While growing plants together, read the instructions on the seed packages, the descriptions of the plants, or internet resources.
Space
Check the size of your plants when they are mature to make sure your container can hold them. Dwarf kinds typically thrive in containers since they are naturally petite.
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Container Mix
Instead of using garden soil, which can easily compact, container plants perform better when planted in potting soil. Frequently, weed seeds, bugs, and other creatures you don’t want in your containers are present in garden soil. To find a mix that will hold water and nutrients, look for one that is fluffy, light, and drains easily. You have the option of buying pre-made potting soil or making your own.
Read the packaging carefully before purchasing potting dirt (which isn’t actually soil at all). Invest in premium organic potting soil rather than items marketed as “topsoil” or “compost,” which could be comprised of virtually anything. Get a good recipe and try different things if you decide to make your own. An ordinary soil-based mixture is:
- 1 part mature compost or peat moss
- 1 part topsoil or garden loam
- Clean builder’s sand or perlite, one portion
Water
Watering plants directly in the soil is different from watering plants in containers. Since potting soil frequently has a lower density than garden soil, it retains less water. The pot also limits the amount of soil that may hold water. The pots also don’t have as much bulk surrounding them to keep cool because they are above ground. Watering your plants too much or too little will harm them. The goal is to maintain the soil consistently moist but not soggy. When it’s hot out, many plants planted in containers require one or two daily waterings.
Provide water directly to the soil (not just the foliage!) using a watering can or garden hose. Consider using a digital moisture meter to get an exact reading if you’re still unsure of how much water is required. A drip watering system can keep your plants happy if you intend to be away from home for several days. Buy one or create your own (Learn how to make your own pop bottle irrigation system here).
By adding “agro-polymers” (marketed under the name Soil Moist) to the soil or potting mix before you plant, you can also increase the duration of water retention.
Mulch
Your pots will retain moisture on warm days and get more nutrients if you cover them with organic mulch (remember that nutrients leach out each time you water and need to be replaced.)
Sunlight
A typical plant requires 7 to 12 hours of sunlight every day (especially herbs and vegetables with fruits). If you don’t have that, search for types that can tolerate some shade, such as chard and spinach.
You might need to use plant grow lights to give your containers an additional burst of sunlight when you bring them home for the winter. Through the winter’s darkness, plants can grow under these specially created lights that mimic the sun.
Temperature
Plants thrive best at temperatures between 55 and 75° F. The roots of container plants become hotter and colder more quickly than those of in-ground plants without the insulating earth surrounding them.
Before it starts to frost, bring containers indoors. When it gets too hot, provide shade (think about placing pots together to shade one another). For insulation, some people “place” their containers partially underground.
Fertilizers and nutrients
In addition to micronutrients and organic compounds, nutrient solutions such as compost teas, worm teas generated from worm castings, liquid organic fertilizers, fish emulsion, and kelp meal supply the necessary amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
When fertilizing, timing is essential because a plant’s nutritional requirements alter as it grows. Annual plants, for instance, thrive best when treated with a nitrogen-rich solution at planting time (to promote growth and the development of the leaves), followed by a low-nitrogen, high-phosphorus fertilizer to promote blooming.
It’s critical to add fertilizer once every two weeks or so since nutrients evaporate from the soil every time your container plants are watered.
Time
You’ll need to dedicate some time to your containers on a daily basis. Container gardens require your whole attention, including watering, pruning, deadheading, and harvesting your crops.
Planting
Follow these easy instructions to plant your plants in their pots.
- With warm, soapy water, wash your pot or container. Clearly rinse.
- Wet the potting mix, either in the bag (if you purchased it) or the mixing bowl.
- Put some of the prepared potting mix into the container. Fill any large or heavy containers in the site where they will be kept. (Don’t fill the bottom of the container with gravel or broken pots; doing so will actually make drainage worse.)
- Remove the plant’s original container with care. Before planting, loosen the roots if it is rootbound (see Salvaging Rootbound Plants).
- The plant should be placed in the new pot at the same depth as the old one and one to two inches below the rim.
- Fill the container with soil, then gently pack it around the plant.
- To assist it in acclimating to its new environment, thoroughly water with kelp extract or a compost tea.
- To assist plants retain water, cover the top with mulch or Spanish moss.
Pest issues
Because they reside in a cleaner and more frequently monitored environment than garden or yard plants, container plants generally experience less pest assaults. It does not, however, render them immune to pests, illnesses, or other issues. Any garden can get infested with insects, and fungus spores are always in the air.
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Try to stay away from pests first.
- Make sure the plants are healthy before buying them by inspecting them. Before planting, give them a gentle wash.
- Utilize sanitized potting soil and utensils.
- Cleanse your tools and hands as well.
- Make sure the finest circumstances are being used to grow your plants.
- Get rid of afflicted plants that have more than half of their leaves missing.
If a pest problem persists despite all of that, try Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
- While you water, check every day for bugs. Remember to keep an eye out for bugs or their eggs hiding on the underside of leaves.
- Determine the type of pest you are facing. Ask your local extension service if you’re unsure. Instead of dousing the plant in various pesticides and attempting to find out which ones work, you can choose pest control strategies that are particular to your issue in this way.
- Choose the level of adversity you can tolerate. Not eradicating the pest is the goal; controlling it is. It’s a good idea to have a backup plan in case something goes wrong. Would you like your tomatoes to get gnawed?
- Choose safe pest management techniques that are least damaging to you, your plants, and the environment if you must take action.
- Smaller pest issues, such as those caused by spider mites, aphids, or whiteflies, can be more difficult to manage and pose a risk of spreading plant illnesses. Try using organic pest control treatments to get rid of these pests.
