No Space? Try Container Gardening!

Gardening is one of the healthiest activities around. When you take up gardening as a hobby (and you do it regularly), you effectively shed off unwanted calories, you build your arms, back, and abdominal muscles, and increase hand strength. Gardening also helps lower your cortisol (the stress hormone) levels, enabling you to feel more relaxed and worry-free, and have better sleeping patterns.

If you’ve always wanted to take up gardening but you live in an apartment or in a house where there’s not enough space to start a garden, you can still do so with container gardening. Container gardening is great for gardeners of all ages, skill levels, and location. Plants in containers are easy to water and weed, they can be placed inside or outside your home, you can move them anywhere, and they add a certain charm to any home, small or large.

Container Gardening Tips

You can successfully start your foray into container gardening by following these useful tips:

Choose different types and sizes of containers. When you think of container gardening, you will probably immediately think of getting some clay pots at the nearest gardening store. However, you don’t have to stick to this traditional type of plant container; there are more options available today. You can use a window plant box, a rectangular planter, big glass jars, or even some shipping pallets. You can buy or make your own container; they come in different sizes and shapes so you’ll find one that you’ll like and just right for your choice of plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make sure your container has a drain hole. If your container doesn’t have a drain hole, you can make one by using a drill. To make sure you don’t crack or break the container, place duct tape on both sides of the container where you plan to drill through the tape. When done, remove the tape.

Choose the best plants to grow.  Since you’re new to container gardening, it is best to grow native plants first. This is because most native plants are evergreen, hence they grow all year round. If you live in Victoria, some of the best native plants you can consider are kangaroo paws, dwarf banksias, grevilleas, lechenaultias, and wattles. These plants can grow anywhere in Australia, too.

Use the right soil. If you can buy a quality soil-less potting mix, use this in your container garden since heavy potting soils tend to hold excess water. If you can’t find this, you can use potting soil (but not topsoil) and add some sand to improve drainage. When planting, do not bury the crowns of the plant in the soil since this will cause them to rot. Add some mulch and fertilizer as well to give the soil (and plant) additional nutrients and protection.

Lastly, never under- or over-water your container garden. To see if your garden needs watering, use the two-knuckle test. Simply stick a finger in the soil to the depth of your second knuckle and if the soil feels dry, water your garden immediately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For all of your gardening and landscaping needs call Jim’s Mowing on 131 546 or book online today!