Reasons You Should Have a Container Garden
There are many ways to grow a garden, one of the easiest ways being in a container garden. While the traditional way of gardening is to plant flowers or crops straight in the ground in rows, container gardening is quickly growing in popularity across the world. Here’s why:
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Container gardens cut down on pests.
Pests like tunneling rodents and neighborhood strays can truly decimate your in-ground garden. If an animal catches wind that they can gain an easy food source from your garden, or even worse, use your garden like a potty like stray cats are known to do, they will come back time and again. Container gardening cuts down on these inconveniences and ensures that damage can be minimized.
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Container gardens make it easier to reach.
Container gardens are raised off the ground, making the physical toll that gardening can take on your body much lighter. While bending over a garden bed for long periods of time can seem minute, discomfort can compound into pain. Container gardens ensure that you don’t have to bend over so far – a gift that any avid gardener welcomes with blessed appreciation.
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Container gardens save space.
Gardening in containers is not only easy, but it doesn’t require a lot of space! You don’t need raised beds to garden in containers, almost any kind of container will do. These can be five-gallon buckets, old tubs, burlap sacks, troughs, large trash bins, or even barrels. All you need is a corner of a yard or a patio, and you have the potential for the perfect container garden!
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Container gardens can be more diverse than in-ground gardens.
Because of their ease of use, container gardens are very diverse and can be set up almost anywhere you have a sunny location. Additionally, depending on the type of container you’re gardening in, you can move it. Its lack of permanence makes the container garden much more accommodating than some in-ground gardens. Lastly, you don’t have to dig up grass or till the dirt to garden in containers!
How to Plan Your Container Garden
Container gardening, while very easy and functionally diverse, does require some planning as you’re working in limited square footage to plant your flowers or crops. Since each container’s space is limited, you’ll want to make sure, with proper planning, that you’re planting the best crops or flowers possible.
Square foot gardening (the method that uses one crop per square foot, as opposed to the traditional garden rows, to plant a maximum number of plants for the highest yields) is the best way to plant in your containers.
Additionally, deep containers like trash cans and buckets are great for root crops like carrots and even better for potatoes, simply because the depth of soil is so abundant!
Soil takes time to establish the right balance, and that’s why you’ll want to begin planning your container garden as soon as possible. Begin planning your container garden in the winter, prepare your soil in late winter or early spring, and plant your garden in the spring!
Consider what you want to grow. Will you want to grow flowers for curb appeal, to cover an empty space in the yard, or to attract butterflies and bees? Or do you want to grow your own food? Or do you want both a flower and a food garden?
The best feature of container gardening is that no matter why you want a garden, you can grow almost anything you want almost anywhere you want to grow it!
Premier Nursery carries a selection of premium plants. If you’re looking to fill your container garden, head on over and pick out some potatoes and onion, or beautiful annuals to wow the
neighborhood with a butterfly garden. Your options are endless, but we’re here to help!
