<\/a><\/p>\nIV. Know your gardening style and plant accordingly. If you love a cottage garden container look, plant lots of annual, perennials and flowering shrubs. Look for loose airy plants like gaura, bidens, callibrachoa, gaillardia, scabiosa, or butterfly bush. If you enjoy a more formal look, use boxwoods, topiaries, compact shrubs like Gumpo Azaleas, annuals like Geraniums, or perennials with a uniform look like Veronica Sunny Border Blue or Dianthus Pixie. Choose a pot that reflects that style also. It is quite incongruous to see a log cabin style home with formal cast iron urns by the front door. Make sure the size of your planters corresponds with the space in which it is placed. Big spaces need big flower pots.<\/p>\n
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V. Remember when planting your pots to keep them holey. A planter without a hole is a water garden. Make sure you have good drainage in your pots. Most plants do not like to be waterlogged and tend to die more quickly from root rot than drying out. Folks have utilized just about anything as a planter to grow their flowers, fruits, herbs, and vegetables. But they all have needed to use a tool to drill a few holes in the bottom of their creative upcycled new garden pot to make it a good growing environment for the plants.<\/p>\n
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VI. Always protect the root ball of your plants when planting them in your pots. Removing a plant from its nursery pot is an important first step in starting your container garden with a healthy plant. Squeeze the nursery pot to loosen up the soil and roots within the nursery pot. Place one hand around the base of the plant, on top of the potted soil. With your other hand, tip over the pot so that the plant and soil slide out together. You might need to tap the pot again to loosen the soil from the edges. You generally don\u2019t want to pull the plant out, especially from a larger pot, as it may rip out part of the root system. Use either your fingers or the blade of your trowel to relax the root ball before you put it into the planter to ensure that the roots start to reach out into the soil rather than keep wrapping around the root system. Plant the root ball so that the top of the plant\u2019s root ball is level with the top of the potting soil. (It\u2019s helpful to water your new plants before removing them from the nursery pot, but it\u2019s very important to water the planter well immediately after you finish planting it. The dry potting soil will pull the moisture from your new plants\u2019 root ball so make sure the new potting soil gets a good soaking.)<\/p>\n
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VII. Make sure you know what size your plant will grow to during the growing season. Instant gratification is a common theme in our society so folks often will plant way too many plants to fill up a container in the early spring, only to find that the only plant that they see in August is the one little sweet potato vine that overtook the other plants. Read carefully the height and width potential of your young plants so you don\u2019t end up with a six-foot-tall ornamental grass in your 12\u201d tall planter.<\/p>\n
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VIII. Don\u2019t forget to fertilize! Annual plants are generally heavy feeders so use both a slow-release fertilizer when planting, then feed regularly throughout the season with a water-soluble fertilizer for flowering plants. Plants in containers usually require more watering than plants in the ground, which means that nutrients are being washed out. Learn what the fertilizing requirements are for the plants in your container and faithfully apply. In plants that are self-watering, a water-soluble fertilizer can be added to the water for a continuous feed.<\/p>\n
IX. Check regularly for pest and disease. There are several good products for treating Aphids, pests, and fungal disease but the best treatment starts with getting healthy plants. Inspect your plants before purchasing and ask your local garden center what to look for with your particular plants.<\/p>\n
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X. Remember the words of Hortius Culturii, \u201cA plant without fertilizer is weak. A plant without water is dead.\u201d Don\u2019t forget to water your plants. If you are new to gardening, invest in a self-watering planter with indicators that let you know when it\u2019s time to water again. Or install irrigation tubing to your containers if you know you\u2019ll be traveling or working long past watering hours. There are quite a few products that you can add into your potting soil or into the pots that help with watering. But most importantly, check the soil to see if it looks dry and the plant to see if it looks droopy.<\/p>\n
While not quite \u201ccommandments\u201d, here are a few other gardening tips. Consider adding a fine layer of sphagnum moss, pine fines, pine straw, pebbles or sand on the top of your planters\u2019 potting soil to hold in moisture and give your planter a finished look, especially if you are planting smaller plants that will eventually fill up the planter. Next tip to consider, some pots are made with \u201cfeet\u201d that allow them to be slightly elevated off the ground so that water can flow out. If your planters don\u2019t have these feet you can find products that can do that for you that are often appropriately called \u201cpot feet\u201d. If you worried about water run-off or have indoor plants, use a clear or matching saucer under your planter or use a self-watering planter. Finally, place your planter where you want it before planting. Consider how you will water it and how close the access to water will be. For example, if you have pots at the end of your driveway, consider planting them with succulents or very drought tolerant plants since they may be the most difficult to get water to.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of books have been written about all things gardening so we are hoping this quick summary of container gardening basics can be your quick reference tool as you go on your way to successful gardening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Ten Commandments of Container Gardening Ok, boys and girls, it\u2019s time to gather \u2018round for a lesson on container gardening for beginners. Put on your best overalls and finest gardening gloves, pull up your wheelbarrow to the potting shed and sit back on your weeding stool as I present today\u2019s sermon on the Ten […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[252,254],"tags":[],"acf":{"youtube_id":"","hero_background_image":false,"hero_title":"","hero_subtitle":"","hero_link":"","blog_related_products":[14576,13734,12629],"author_name":"Barbara Wise","author_description":"As a seasoned veteran in the horticulture industry, Barbara Wise joined Crescent Garden in 2015 to be a Sales Rep for the Ohio Valley area and to serve as their in-house plant nerd. During her career as a commercial landscaper and nurseryman, Barbara\u2019s passion for creative yet functional garden design led her to becoming a nationally known speaker for container gardening and to write her first book \u201cContainer Gardening For All Seasons\u201d (Quartos Publishing). She enjoys using her one-acre home in Brentwood, TN as a trial garden for new plants on the market. But if you ask Barbara why she loves to garden, she\u2019ll easily admit that in the process of raising four very active sons with husband who frequently travels, working in her own gardening was a lot cheaper than therapy.","author_image":{"ID":18129,"id":18129,"title":"Barbara Wise bio 2020","filename":"Barbara-Wise-bio-2020.jpeg","filesize":914751,"url":"https:\/\/www.crescentgarden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Barbara-Wise-bio-2020.jpeg","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentgarden.com\/blog\/growing-microgreens-in-planters-2\/attachment\/barbara-wise-bio-2020\/","alt":"","author":"40","description":"","caption":"","name":"barbara-wise-bio-2020","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":17448,"date":"2021-03-25 14:40:40","modified":"2021-03-25 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