Container Gardening: Simple Steps to Add Color and Interest to Your Home

Now that it's springtime in Michigan, I have an uncontrollable urge to fill my yard with flowers. That's what happens when you've endured too much winter. Many people living in apartments and condos have discovered container gardening as a way to bring nature into small spaces with no yard. Even though I have quite a large yard with flower and vegetable beds, I still enjoy making my own container gardens. Container gardens add a portable splash of color and interest to porches, decks, and even within your landscape of typical flowerbeds.

It's painlessly easy to make attractive container gardens. Even people with brown thumbs can do it!

First of all, choose a good pot, large with plenty of drainage. You will the water to drain, providing aeration to the roots and soil. Just remember, most plants don't like to have their feet kept wet. Some people like the look of clay, but clay pots tend to absorb impurities in the water. When using an older clay pot, scrub with a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water, and rinse thoroughly. This should be done each season.

Secondly, it's important to use a good potting mix. You may be tempted to use last year's mix, but avoid the temptation. That soil has been depleted of all its nutrients. These days, many potting soils are manufactured with container gardening in mind. Miracle Gro makes a great potting mix specifically designed for containers that is pre-fertilized. If you must, you can recondition last year's potting soil by emptying the soil onto level ground. Break up the old soil with a hoe or rake, and discard old roots and other organic material. Mix one part old potting soil with two parts of compost or manure, and add a granulated fertilizer like Osmocote.

After you get your pots and soil ready, go to your local nursery and go nuts shopping! I like to get one or two showcase plants for each pot, and then place others around them.

Think "triangle" when arranging your flowers. In a traditionally shaped pot, I usually take a tall plant, such as a spike, thistle or caladium, a medium sized rounder plant, like geranium or begonia, and smaller plants to fill in. In a lower, bowl shaped container, I tend to keep the plants in a much smaller triangle. In addition, I like to have at least one plant that will trail over the side of the pot, such as ivy or sweet potato.

Think "odd number" for your showcase plants. If you're going to use more than one plant, use three or five, instead of an even number. Think about the color combinations too. It's more visually pleasing to have contrasting colors, than it is to use one shade. Your plant choices should contrast in size and type as well. Place something small and delicate next to your showcase plant.

Fill your container just to about four inches from the top. Put your tall plant in first, being sure to loosen the roots as you take it out of the plastic nursery container. Don't be afraid to position the plant off-center in the pot; this makes for an interesting display. Place the next tallest plant in front. Fill in with secondary plants. If you must add more soil, do so.

Water thoroughly a couple of times a day every day for a week. Once your plants are established, you can cut back watering to once a day, unless the days are very hot. In that case, keep an eye on your containers. Since the soil is in a compacted space, and above ground, container plants will heat up quicker than those in the ground. Also, even though I use the Miracle Gro potting mix, I will add fertilizer once or twice during the summer.

Make sure you pinch off spent flowers and remove broken or dead stems. This will ensure that your container will continue to bloom well into the summer.

Last summer, I started putting leafy vegetables and herbs into my flower containers. Lettuce, spinach and Swiss chard are good contrast plants. Various lettuces are short and have many different colors and textures. Spinach is dark green and tends to add a tougher texture. Swiss chard tends to be tall, and you can get it in different stalk colors. Mound shaped herbs like basil make great container plants. Many oregano plants can be used as trailing plants, and chives are hardy and add a linear look to the pot. The upside is that small animals won't know these tender vegetables and herbs are in the containers, and you can go outside to your patio to pick for your kitchen as needed.

These photographs I've included are just a couple of the containers I made this weekend.

Making visually appealing flowering containers is easy to do. If you are hesitant, ask your local nursery for assistance. They will be happy to help you with your container project.