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Great Reasons to Grow Your Plants in a Container Garden

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Written by Sarah Duke

Friday, 06 June 2008

Container gardening has so many benefits, it's hard to believe more people aren't doing it.

by SarahDuke

Container gardening has so many benefits, it's hard to believe more people aren't doing it.

Saving space is the greatest benefit of container gardening. Many people live in apartments or in homes with very little yard space. Container gardening allows you to have a garden on a porch or patio, or even indoors.

Many people have small container gardens in a sunny windowsill in their kitchen, or in a sunroom or spare bedroom. Some people even grow plants in a closet by using a grow light.

Being able to move your plants around is a real benefit of growing your garden in containers. When bad weather comes, you can move your plants indoors where they'll be safe. Your plants can be moved with just a little effort if they are getting too much or not enough sunlight, or if you think they'd look better elsewhere.

Plants grown in containers don't contract diseases as easily compared to plants grown directly in the soil. It's true that plants grown in containers can still become infected with diseases, but you will find the probability is much less than if you had grown them in your landscape. Potting soil is generally free of disease-causing organisms, so your plants will be safer.

Plants grown in containers are easier to keep well fed. When your plants are potted, the fertilizers applied will surely get into your plants. The problem with fertilizing plants grown in the ground is that a lot of the fertilizer is lost to drainage or used by nearby plants. You are less likely to have this problem with container grown plants.

Of course, when the soil area is relatively small, there is a chance the fertilizer can be washed out of the soil faster. Because of this, you do need to fertilize more often than you would a traditional garden. But you can rest assured that your plants are probably getting more of the fertilizer before it does wash away than they would if they were in the ground.

You'll also be able to extend the growing season of your plants when you have them all in containers. You can wrap the pots that your plants are in with blankets or other materials for insulation that will help keep them warm. This way you can easily start plants inside and then move them outside when it gets a bit warmer.

After the first frost, you container garden can continue to grow by applying careful insulation and bringing them indoors when it becomes too cold.

Another advantage to container gardening is that it increases the accessibility of the hobby. For persons with physical disabilities and impairments, using containers allows them to enjoy and tend to plants in convenient locations. If a person uses a wheelchair, they can put the pots on a short table to make them easier to tend to. Elderly gardeners who are finding it more difficult to enjoy typical landscape gardening will find that container gardening offers the same joys but with less work.

Young children will also enjoy container gardening because it takes a lot of the work out of traditional gardening, such as removing weeds, and less adult supervision is required.

If your space is limited for gardening in a traditional landscape, then using pots instead is a great alternative to allow you to enjoy your plants.

About the Author:

Sarah Duke is publisher of The Vegetable Patch at http://www.vegetablegardensite.com, where you'll find lots of information for starting a vegetable garden.

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