Container Gardening

2008 is under way and in the Okanagan we’re enjoying everything about January — the snow, the crisp air, as well as the new beginnings that this time of year signals.

At this time of year, our gardening is focused on indoor plants. Caring for houseplants makes for a great hobby during the long winter months. Many gardeners refuse to twiddle their green thumbs when winter keeps them indoors. Along with keeping gardeners busy, indoor plants brighten the home by providing a cheerful sight for those grey and dreary winter days.

Indoor plants are also an important part of decor in our homes and offices. There is nothing more lovely and cheery than a room filled with beautiful green plants.

A more important reason plants are being brought indoors today, are to do with health. We spend a lot of our time indoors and we don’t get enough “fresh air”. We all breath in air taking in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide and with living in airtight houses, especially in the winter, we create pollution.

Plants operate differently, although they also breathe , they absorb carbon dioxide, mostly during the day, and release oxygen. One potted plant per 100 square feet will clean the air in an average home or office.

With house plants you have beauty and clean air. Give indoor gardening a try and breath easier.

Only a few more weeks till Christmas and most of you will be busy shopping and buying a poinsettia. If you have the room cluster some pots together to make it look like a small garden.

Some Poinsettia Facts:
Poinsettias are native to Mexico.  The showy coloured parts of poinsettias that most people think are the flowers are actually coloured bracts (modified leaves).  Poinsettias are part of the Euphorbiaceae family.  Poinsettias are not poisonous.  Many plants in this family ooze a milky sap. Some people may have skin irritation from the milky sap.  Poinsettias were introduced into the United States in 1825 by Joel Poinsettia.

Selecting A Poinsettia
1.  Choose a plant with dark green foliage down to the soil line. Choose bracts (modified leaves) that are completely coloured.
2.  Do not purchase poinsettias with a lot of green around the bract edges. Do not choose plants with fallen or yellowed leaves.
3.  Do not purchase plants that are displayed in paper or plastic sleeves. Plants held in sleeves will deteriorate quickly.

Poinsettia Care
1.  Make sure the poinsettia is wrapped properly when leaving the store. Exposure to low temperatures even for a few minutes can damage the  bracts and leaves.
2.  Unwrap your poinsettia carefully and place in indirect light. Six hours of light daily is ideal.
3.  Keep the plant from touching cold windows.
4.  Keep poinsettias away from warm or cold drafts coming from radiators, air registers or open doors and windows.
5.  Ideally poinsettias require daytime temperatures of 17 to 21 Celsius and night time temperatures around 15 Celsius.
6.  High temperatures will shorten the plant’s life so move the plant to a cooler room at night.
7.  Check the soil daily. Be sure to punch holes in foil so water can drain into a saucer.
8.  Water when soil is dry and allow water to drain into the saucer and discard the excess water. Wilted plants will tend to drop bracts sooner.

Enjoy your poinsettia!

If you are a beginning gardener, container gardening may be the perfect option for you. It is easy to learn, and easy to maintain. You can grow a container garden anywhere you have extra space, and each pot can be cared for individually.

When starting your container garden, choose containers that have drainage holes in the bottom. This allows water to drain, and keeps your plants happy and healthy. Choose a good potting mix, and fill your container. Find a sunny location for your plants to enjoy, and begin planting your garden. Keep in mind that the plants in your container garden will need fertilizing weekly to monthly, to ensure that they have nutrients necessary for growth.

There are many excellent plants to choose from when growing a container garden. Bush varieties of vegetables work especially well, as they are designed for small spaces. Vines can grow well, if you add a trellis for them to climb. I’ve even seen tomato plants growing in containers upside down, hanging from an apartment railing. When designing a container garden, your options are limited only by your imagination.

Use your imagination when choosing containers, as well. You are not limited only to purchased flowerpots – if you have an item that has drainage holes and holds soil, you’ve just found your container. Using interesting and imaginative containers allows you to customize your garden, and lets your personality shine through.

I thought it would be good if I was to post a few of the main reasons why people garden and grow their own in containers. So over the next few weeks I am going to post 10 reasons people garden in containers.

The main reason that people decide to grow their own in containers is that they don’t have a large garden or plot to grow their own in. Most people who live in big cities only have very small gardens that are not suitable for having a garden but would be suitable for a few containers.

Containers, hanging baskets and raised beds are ideal for people with small gardens or yards and allow them to grow the vegetables they have always dreamed of.

Do you long to be able to grow your own fresh vegetables but don’t believe that you can because you do not have a big garden? Freshly harvested vegetables taste fabulous and they are so easy to grow.

Anyone can grow them - even if you only have a window box you can grow cut and come again salad leaves, radishes, salad onions and if you have room for a hanging basket then you can grow tumbling tomatoes to go with your salad!

If you are growing vegetables on your patio then any container or pot will do as long as it is 10 inches in diameter and approximately 12 inches deep. Plastic pots are better than terracotta as the compost doesn’t dry out as fast but all containers must have drainage holes. There is no need to buy new pots - recycle wherever you can.

The list of vegetables you can successfully grow in containers is endless. Potatoes in buckets, will give you a harvest of lovely new potatoes! Courgettes and squashes can be left to scramble across the patio. French and runner beans will climb an obelisk, tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, pak choi and cucumbers all grow in containers. Grow, eat and enjoy!

I have always been interested in growing things that are different to what everyone else is growing. Avocados seem to be something really different, well I bet you have never grown them have you?

I have done a bit of research and that Avocados can be grown successfully in containers which is great. The downside being that they are supposed to be really difficult to grow. I read on the “Fruit Expert” website that growing them indoors in a large container is another option as they don’t tolerate really cold temperatures.

Here is a short extract from the Fruit Experts website;

Pierce the seed with toothpicks and suspend it, pointed end up, over a glass of water. Roots should start to develop within two to six weeks. Then pot up the plant, leaving the tip just poking out of the soil. However, not all avocado seeds will germinate, so if your seed hasn’t sprouted after six weeks, try again with a fresh seed

The growing process seems to be a complex one but I am up for the challenge. I will keep you posted!

Vegetables are the main thing that I grow in containers; they look great and can be eaten which is an added bonus over growing vegetables.

I find vegetables in containers to be highly successful and I always get a good crop from each plant. Almost any vegetable that grows well in the ground will do well in containers however by choosing varieties that are suitable for your growing conditions you will soon find that you have some amazing fresh vegetables.

I have had great success with some vegetable varieties that are specially bred to be suitable for growing in containers. Tomato Tiny Tim, Radish Cherry Belle and Lettuce Little Gem are some of my favorites to grow however seed companies such as Sutton Seeds who I buy all my seeds off have a great selection of vegetables that can be grown in containers.

The biggest issue I find is that many of the vegetables grown in containers need quite a lot of water and when watering your vegetables by hand on a daily basis it can be quite a big job.

There are some major benefits however, vegetables grown in containers will be much less vulnerable to attacks by pests and disease.

Growing your own fresh vegetables in containers is easy if you know the real basics!

When first starting a container garden you really need to consider what plants you are going to plant and where you are going to get them from.

You may wish to grow your plants from seeds, cuttings or buy plants from the garden centre. I highly recommend the latter if you are still a newbie and still learning the basics. I grow almost all of my plants from seeds and have massive success with this. I follow simple sowing guidelines which are really simple and easy to follow.

If you do decide to buy plants from a garden centre or other plant supplier then you need to ensure that they are of a good high quality. Too many garden centers sell low quality plants which could ruin the effect that you want for your container garden.

I buy all of my seeds online from a supplier with years of experience and a great reputation for supplying only the best. The small number of plants that I do buy I get from local suppliers who I no only supply plants of the highest quality.

Plants are the foundation of your garden so you should always have the best!

Gardening in containers in my opinion is the easiest and most simple form of growing flowers, fruit or even vegetables at home. To many people think that you have to have a large garden or an allotment to be able to garden, this is so not true.

Before I really got into gardening I had been gardening in hanging baskets and containers for years. Tomatoes, strawberries and lettuce were what I first started growing but I soon became much more adventurous and began growing other vegetables. I soon began to grow everything that I could find from the local garden centre, peppers, eggplants, squash, beans, cucumbers, melons, beet, radish, turnips and carrots

Since then I have continued gardening in my container garden but also extended into a large allotment where I grow a lot of different vegetables

But gardening in containers is much better than allotment gardening, trust me. The hard work that has to go into getting a plot ready is back-breaking, the time spent weeding is massive and I find plants on the allotment to be less productive and rich as the plants I grow in containers.

There are so many benefits to gardening in containers I cannot list them all here. Believe me, container gardening is so much easier than having a large vegetable or flower garden to look after.