I love container gardening. As spring approaches, now is the time I get all my containers ready and even do some spring growing. Container gardening can be a solution to many problems, and is quite enjoyable.
I am sure you have seen or read people talking about container gardening. This can be as complex as a raised bed garden or as simple as a window herb garden. No matter your needs container gardening can likely fill the gap in your garden design and grow season. So in this article we are going to cover some of the basic uses and advantages of container gardening.
Space
– One of the largest reasons to start a container garden is space, be it an odd space or lack there of. You can build raised beds or design a container garden to fit in almost any area.
Soil
– If you live in the city, or even the suburbs your soil may be contaminated. Even if it is not it may not have a good PH or proper soil composition for growing in. You can test your soil for components like Ph, Nitrogen, Potassium, and Phosphorus fairly cheaply and easily with a home test kit. However other contaminants such as motor oil or herbicides like Round Up are commonly found in city yards and are harder to detect right away, and cost a lot more to test for. Container gardening solves this problem by letting you control the soil composition to a fine point. It can make gardening easier and also more productive. Books such as “Square Foot Gardening” can help you get the perfect soil composition.
Water
– If you live in a region where water is scarce, container gardens and hydroponic gardens can be water saving solutions for the home vegetable grower. They take and hold water at a better rate than watering a whole garden patch.
Children
– If you have children, you can do SO many projects with them. They will find container gardening easier for small hands and short legs, and they will find a great sense of responsibility and reward in caring for their own plants.
Run Off
– One of the bigger problem with many urban gardens is runoff. When nitrates and other fertilizers are leached by rain, they tend to run into sewer and river systems. This has caused dead zones in rivers and lakes, even the ocean. A lot of runoff is from lawns, so growing food in containers is one way to eliminate the lawn and to add home grown food to your diet.
Landscaping
– Container gardens come in all shapes and sizes, making them sometimes decorative. what a great way to add some decoration to your lawn while also growing some great fruits, vegetables or flowers.
Convenience
– You can grow an small vegetable or herb garden inside or out and have fresh cooking herbs at your disposal at any time. And if you live in a cold climate like I do, an indoor winter garden can be cheaper, easier to fit in a small space and easier than a greenhouse
Portability
– If you live in a rental home or just like to change things up sometimes, only container gardening offers the flexibility to move. You can rearrange, replace or move anytime you need to, with little or no losses.
Control
– If you have ever grown certain types of plants such as mint or strawberries, you will know they can take over a garden. Growing these in a controlled garden you can keep them to their own area and not have a whole garden of mint after a year or two.
Maintenance
– When it comes to weeding, I find that raised beds and other containers are MUCH easier to weed. This is also true if you need to change out or amend soils or anything else.
All of this does not have to replace in the ground gardening, but it can do pretty well. Container gardening is especially valuable for people who have limited space or no yard at all. So check it out, maybe get some grow bags and try it, but most of all have some fun and grow some food!