Even if you don’t have a large backyard, you can still enjoy a beautiful garden.

The smallest patio, back porch, balcony or doorstep has enough room for a productive container garden. There are many advantages to container gardening. Growing your plants in pots allows you to have a portable garden that can be arranged to suit your needs. You can also bring your plants inside during cold weather so that you can enjoy year round flowers, vegetables, herbs or whatever you choose to grow.

Container gardening can be challenging. In this article you will learn how to get the beautiful, healthy container garden you’ve always wanted as well as how to avoid common pitfalls when creating your container garden.

Start with good soil

The most important ingredient to a successful container garden is good potting soil. When choosing a potting soil, ‘Professional’ grade is worth the extra cost for the higher quality.

Selecting your plants

Make sure that you pick plants that will be compatible with the light, water, growth and other conditions of your chosen site for your container garden. Also consider how the plants you’ve chosen grow and decide if whether or not they can be planted with others or need their own separate container. Selecting your plants wisely will prevent you from having to deal with issues like trying to keep a shade-loving plant from wilting on your south facing sun-drenched patio.

Choosing your containers

Stay away from the cheap plastic pots. UV sunlight will dry out the plastic pot as well as the plant inside. The best choice is a glazed ceramic pot but remember to check that there are proper drainage holes or make some yourself. If you want to go with wooden containers, choose one made from unstained rot resistant wood such as red wood or cedar. Don’t buy painted wooden containers because they contain lots of toxins.

Size matters

When choosing your containers, remember to get ones with a capacity of at least 15 quarts up to 120 quarts. If the pot is too small, the roots of your plants will not have adequate space to grow and will dry out very fast. Research the plants that you wish to grow and choose the conainter’s size according to the size of the plant and its root depth needed.

Watering your container garden

Watering is a key component to any successful container garden. If your container garden is located in a sunny, hot or windy area, it may be necessary for you to water your plants twice a day. While a garden located in a shady area may only need to be watered once a day or maybe only 3-4 times a week. Also a plant that has outgrown its pot will need more frequent watering. Adding mulch and slow-release fertilizers to your container garden will reduce the evaporation rate and ensure that you plants are getting adequate nutrients.