By Kerry Michaels, About.com Guide
Container is easy: Think you're a plant killer, or haven’t ever tried to garden? Container gardening is a great place to start. Even a complete novice can create a spectacular container garden in very little time. All you really need to get started is a container, some potting soil and either seeds or plants.Container gardening can be economical: You can use almost anything for a container. Even an old bucket found at a yard sale, with a few holes punched in the bottom, can make a great container garden. Just look around your house and you’ll be surprised how many things will work: from outgrown toy bins to bright plastic tubs. Put drainage holes in the bottom, fill them with potting soil, add pansies or nasturtiums and for a few dollars you’ve made a lovely visual statement.
Garden in any space: Even the smallest space can be enhanced by a container garden. I have seen beautiful flowers and vegetable gardens grown on fire escapes and stoops. Whatever space limitations you have, you can design a container garden that will thrive. No sun? A terra cotta pot filled with different colored coleus can make you want to sing. Too much sun? Fill a basket with succulents to make a beautiful garden that will largely take care of itself.
Grow a cactus garden in Alaska: With container gardening you can be liberated from your geography – you can grow a cactus garden in Alaska or johnny jump-ups in Arizona. In many yards or even on a single deck or patio there are tremendous varieties of conditions--from sunny, warm and protected to shady and cool. Just make sure you have the right plants for your particular spot.
Kids love container gardening: My kids wouldn’t look at peas until they grew them in container gardens and could eat them right off the vine. Carrots took on new meaning when the kids saw them growing on the deck and could eat them when they were tiny and sweet. Kids love the success that container gardens give them, and they take pride, at a very young age, in growing something their family can eat.
Garden in a container to outfox critters: I got sick and tired of my tomatoes being devoured by the local tribe of woodchucks. As soon as I moved them to containers on my deck, I had all the tomatoes I could eat.
Container gardening can bring instant gratification: There are few things in life that can give you the instant gratification that a container garden can. In the space of a few hours, you can go to a local nursery, pick out a bunch of healthy, beautiful flowering plants, fill a container with them and be rewarded with a spectacular, professional looking garden! An added bonus is that you may never have to weed it.
Gardening in containers can suit any style: You can go for a modern look — think bright green grass in a stark white container – or a more formal arrangement – matching urns filled with cascading flowers flanking an entry-way. You can even have containers that will survive the winter, bringing cheerful green accents to areas that would otherwise be bland and boring.
You can grow almost anything in a container garden: There is almost no plant that can't be grown in a container garden. It's easy to grow vegetables and herbs, and even trees in a container garden.
Gardening in containers can suit any personality: With container gardening you can have great results being as relaxed or ambitious as you want to be. A couple of pansies in a pot may be enough to start with, or you might want to landscape an entire area with containers. All you need to be a successful container gardener is willingness to experiment, a tolerance for the unexpected and a love of playing in the dirt.
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