Container Gardening Complete

Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete

700309 - ContainerGardens_001-272_FINAL.indd 16 5/24/17 10:52 AM
Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete
Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete

700309 - ContainerGardens_001-272_FINAL.indd 17 6/5/17 2:33 PM

16 chapter 1

and pouring through the seed catalogs on a

quest to find the perfect pepper variety, but we

don’t always take the time to pick out the right

potting soil, for example. It’s a lot of fun to select

plants, tuck roots into the soil, and sink seeds

down into a pot, but it’s not as much fun to tend

to the nitty-gritty details. But if you neglect the

less-glamorous tasks that are the focus of this

chapter, all those pretty plants and perfect seeds

will be unhappy, and you’ll be a disappointed and

discouraged gardener.

There are three pillars that comprise the

foundation of successful container gardening,

and if they’re not in place, your chances of

having a productive container garden are greatly

reduced. Without the right kind of container, the

right potting mix, and the right location, things

may not turn out the way you planned. The

rest of this chapter carefully examines each of

these three pillars and gives you the information

needed to establish a strong foundation for your

container garden.

The three foundational pillars to successful container gardening include selecting the right kind of container, filling

it with the right potting mix, and placing it in the best growing conditions.

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Getting Started 17

Choosing a Container

A quick internet search on container gardening

results in well over five million hits on the

subject. Many of them begin by telling you that

you can use just about any object capable of

holding soil as a garden container. While this

may be true, it isn’t necessarily the best advice.

It may lull a new gardener into thinking she can

plant just about any type of plant into any type

of container and have great success, which just

isn’t the case. Yes, you can use a tea kettle or a

boot or a coffee mug as a container, but is using

such a tiny vessel really setting your plants up

for success?

The answer, of course, is maybe. If you’re

growing a tiny, drought-proof succulent plant, a

small container such as a boot or a coffee mug

is just fine. But if you’re growing a watermelon

vine, a tea kettle is clearly a bad idea. Rather than

encouraging the use of the cutest or cleverest object

as a container, the focus should be on selecting the

best container for its particular purpose.

The following project proves you can still use

clever objects for containers, you just have to

select the right plants to grow in them. This gutter

garden makes a great vertical container planting,

but for it to be a successful project, you have to

make smart decisions about what to grow in it.

Using cute and clever containers in your garden is fine, as long as you remember to partner them with the right plants.

This toaster is a good fit for these tiny succulent plants, but it wouldn’t work for a tomato or other larger plant.

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