If You Don't Have Enough Yard Space, Create A Container Garden

Posted by Nick Niesen on November 1st, 2010

Having little to no yard space is a reality that comes with urban living. People who live in apartment buildings cannot even have the pleasure of having a plot of land to plant a few greens in.

The lack of ample yard space, however, should not prevent you from creating a garden of your own if you want one. You do not need a tract of land just to have a garden. If yard space is the problem that keeps you from having a garden of your own, you have an option. You can create yourself a container garden.

What in the World is a Container Garden?

A container garden is simply nothing more than a garden of potted plants. Such a garden can be very convenient for people who live in properties with little to no open space of their own, especially apartment buildings. If there is a sunny spot anywhere in your home, that could be a good spot to start a container garden.

Any plant that can be potted can be an addition to any container garden. You can easily mix and match potted plants of all kinds in your container garden and set it up any way you want. But just like with owning an actual garden planted on a tract of land, taking care of a container garden takes a lot of work and attention. Otherwise, your container garden would not thrive.

Setting Up Your Container Garden

If you have decided to create your very own container garden, you have to plan a little on how to set it up. First of all, you have to figure out where to put your container garden. If you have a small yard space, you can put your potted plants outside. If you live in an apartment building and you have a balcony, you can use your balcony as the site of your container garden. But if you do not have a balcony, maybe a spot inside the house that gets some sunlight would do.

Plants need sunlight, so you have to make sure that wherever you set up your container garden, it would be a place where they could get enough sunlight. Take care that they do not get the full sun treatment come noontime, though. Potted plants dry up easily because their roots would not be able to access underground water, and exposure to direct sunlight at the hottest part of the day will kill them for sure.

You can arrange your potted plants anyway you like them. If space is really your problem and you have room for only just one potted plant, you can buy a wrought iron shelf where you can put more potted plants and build your container garden.

Planting Your Container Garden

Most plants can survive being potted. Nonetheless, since plants in pots tend to dry up more easily than those planted on the ground, it would be best to pick plants that are more resistant to lack of moisture. These kinds of plants will survive longer, far longer if you take care of them really well.

You can ensure the long survival of your container garden if you choose your pots and your soil carefully. If the plants you pick are those that grow big, you should put these plants into pots that will give enough room for them to expand. Even small plants should have a little room in their pots.

Deep-bottomed pots are also essential in the creation of a container garden. These kinds of pots will allow the roots of the plants to burrow as deep as they can. You should always plant in pots with drainage holes. If the pot is decorative and does not have drainage holes, put the plant in a plastic container that has a drainage hole on it and then put this container inside your decorative pot.

The soil that you will use for your container garden should be the type that can keep moisture for as long as it can and yet drain easily to keep the air in good circulation. Soil mix, rather than garden soil, is the best one to use for potting plants.

Maintaining Your Container Garden

As said earlier, container gardens need constant maintenance because they are more vulnerable to drying and wilting than gardens actually planted on the ground. First of all, to extend their lives as much as possible, the potted plants in your container garden should be protected from direct sunlight when it is the hottest time of the day.

Another way to keep the dryness away from your plants is regular and generous watering. Ideally, potted plants should be watered around twice a day. The soil should be loosened every now and then to promote air circulation and to prevent disease-causing bacteria from thriving in the soil mix. Adding fertilizer into the soil occasionally also does great wonders in keeping a container garden beautiful and healthy.

Urban living does not have to deprive a person to enjoy some greenery in oneâ??s home. If you live in a place that does not allow you to have a full-scale garden, cultivating a container garden is one good option you can take.