Container Gardening Tips For Newbies
By Nicky Pilkington, Tue Jan 10th
Container gardens can create a natural sanctuary in a busy citystreet, along rooftops or on balconies. You can easilyaccentuate the welcoming look of a deck or patio with colourfulpots of annuals, or fill your window boxes with beautiful shrubroses or any number of small perennials. Whether you arrangeyour pots in a group for a massed effect or highlight a smallerspace with a single specimen, you'll be delighted with thissimple way to create a garden.
Container gardening enables you to easily vary your colorscheme, and as each plant finishes flowering, it can be replacedwith another. Whether you choose to harmonize or contrast yourcolors, make sure there is variety in the height of each plant.Think also of the shape and texture of the leaves. Tallstrap-like leaves will give a good vertical background tolow-growing, wide-leaved plants. Choose plants with a longflowering season, or have others of a different type ready toreplace them as they finish blooming.
Experiment with creative containers. You might have an oldporcelain bowl or copper urn you can use, or perhaps you'drather make something really modern with timber or tiles. If youdecide to buy your containers ready-made, terracotta pots lookwonderful, but tend to absorb water. You don't want your plantsto dry out, so paint the interior of these pots with a specialsealer available from hardware stores. Cheaper plastic pots canalso be painted on the outside with water-based paints for goodeffect. When purchasing pots, don't forget to buy matchingsaucers to catch the drips. This will save cement floors gettingstained, or timber floors rotting.
Always use a good quality potting mix in your containers. Thiswill ensure the best performance possible from your plants.
If you have steps leading up to your front door, an attractivepot plant on each one will delight your visitors. Indoors, potsof plants or flowers help to create a cosy and welcomingatmosphere.
Decide ahead of time where you want your pots to be positioned,then buy plants that suit the situation. There is no pointbuying sun lovers for a shady position, for they will not dowell. Some plants also have really large roots, so they are bestkept for the open garden.
If you have plenty of space at your front door, a group ofpotted plants off to one side will be more visually appealingthan two similar plants placed each side. Unless they arespectacular, they will look rather boring. Group the pots in oddnumbers rather than even, and vary the height and type. To tiethe group together, add large rocks that are similar inappearance and just slightly different in size. Three or fivepots of the same type and color, but in different sizes alsolooks affective.
With a creative mind and some determination, you will soon havea container garden that will be the envy of friends andstrangers alike.
About the author:Find more about gardeningand some useful gardeningtips at AboutGardening
