Getting Started in Container Gardening Archives - Container Plants and Gardening

Plants for Tropical Container Gardens- Going for The Exotic Look

In this article, plants for tropical container gardens will be discussed. As we all become more experimental in our gardens, we take influences from around the world. From the tropics, we look to the brightly-coloured flowers and lush, colourful leaves. You may be worried that many of these plants cannot survive our cold, frosty winters but this is clearly not true if we look after our heat-loving plants well.

We can create tropical container gardens if the right plant is selected. Some of these plants hail from hot …

The 7 Types of Composts for the Container Gardener (Getting the Choice Right)

In this article, the 7 types of composts for the container gardener will be discussed. As you can imagine it is quite confusing to know what compost to use in your container garden. You need to match the compost to the needs of the plant in question, and this means knowing about the growing conditions and habit of the plant is normally found in and try to replicate this in the garden.

Commercial composts that you find is different from the compost you make at home, as the …

Gardening Heavy Lifting Tool, A Review (Lift More than You Bargained For)

Name of Product: PotLifter 91kg Gardening Heavy Lifting Tool

The Best Place to Buy: www.amazon.co.uk

Product Dimensions: 35.6 x 76 x 76 cm

Shipping Weight: 0.658

My Rating: 8.5/10

In this article, I will be reviewing the PotLifter gardening heavy lifting tool to see if it is all it is cracked up to be. In a previous article, I reviewed and discussed the wheeled garden plant pot trolley which is very useful in moving plant pots in gardens.

The biggest problem is that …

Latin for the Container Gardener (Why a Little Knowledge Goes a Long Way)

In this article, the use of Latin for the container gardener will be discussed. You may have noticed that in all my articles on flowers that I use the Latin names. You may wonder why I do this and the answer is simple. I do not wish for my readers to buy the wrong plant, as Latin makes identification easier.

This is because some plants have the same variety names, which could lead to confusion. The other confusing aspect is that a plant may have many common names …

Plants for Rooftop Gardens (Growing on a Windy Site)

In this article, plants there are suitable to be grown in rooftop gardens will be discussed. Rooftop gardens tend to get a lot of sunshine but are also exposed to extremely windy conditions. In order to do well under these conditions, you need plants that are happy basking in the sun, but also windproof, and can be grown in containers. This is not an easy task to meet but with the correct selection, it is possible to have plants throughout the year.

Most rooftop gardens are container gardens …

Getting Children Involved in Container Gardening

Everybody with children knows when the six weeks of summer holiday arrives, children will get easily bored with nothing to so. How do you entertain them on these long days, on weekends and on those long evenings? There is a way which could pique their interest, and that is container gardening, a hobby that can become a life passion.

Gardening is a fun activity for children as they can get their hands dirty, doing something which is not only educational but providing skills that are useful for the …

Garden Pots and Planters- Why use containers? The flexible choice

The main advantage of container gardening is that it is flexible. You can choose anywhere you want to grow without being tied down to a fix garden bed, or poor soil growing conditions.

If your garden bed is not ideally situated, or maybe not getting enough sunlight or your garden, rooftop or balcony is not suitable to support a soil based fixed garden, then containers provide a means to plant almost anything you want in the desired position.

The attractiveness with containers is that they can be moved …

PRUNING, TOPIARY AND GENERAL PLANT CARE- Why looking after long term plants in containers is very important?

MAINTAINING PERMANENT PLANTS IN CONTAINERS

If you have plants that have been many years in pots and planters, they need various general maintenance procedures to be carried out. This is done in order for the plant to not only survive but flourish from one year to another. It is beneficial if these routine checks are carried out throughout the year, and especially spring which is an important time for which plants get the nutrients they require for the forthcoming growing season.

TOPDRESSING AND GENERAL FEEDING

As the compost …

Mulching and General Plant Care in Containers

MULCHING- KEEPING THE MOISTURE IN

Mulching is defined as covering the surface of the compost after planting as a means of preventing excessive moisture loss and as a means of improving the look at the top of the container.

Mulches can be divided into two categories. Category one is when the mulch will decompose over time and therefore need replacing frequently. These mulches will eventually rot into the compost and provide an additional source of feed. Category 2 mulches are more permanent and are more attractive to look …

Choosing Plants and Seasonal Planting

In this article, the methodology of choosing plants will be discussed in terms of what to look for and how this can affect seasonal planting. Some plants fair better in containers than others. For example, yews hate being restricted in pots for any length of time, and it will never flourish. Some plants hate root disturbance and therefore must be planted with great care (with kid gloves).

Otherwise, they will not take root and you will have plenty of losses through the year. In this post, we discuss …