Container gardening – firstly, for those of you who may not know, what is it?

Well, Google very handily gives us a definition here …

“Container gardening or pot gardening is the practice of growing plants, including edible plants, exclusively in containers instead of planting them in the ground. A container is the general term used in gardening for a small, enclosed and usually portable object used for displaying live flowers or plants.”

a massive choice of containers for gardeners

It is hugely popular and comes in many shapes and sizes both good, bad or just quite simply, ugly.

The reason there are so many varies examples out there is because it takes time and at least a bit of knowledge to get it right.

Many people think it’s just a quick fix for making an outdoor space look prettier by simply putting a few plants in a container, of whatever description, and then hanging them from a wall or placing them strategically on a patio or windowsill.

But the risk with this is that you simply end up with a mess and quite a few dead plants, so we thought we’d do our bit and offer up a bit of information around the basics of getting it right along with some good and bad examples for visual reference.

Here goes …

Good container gardening …

good container gardening ...

Bad container gardening …

bad container gardening ...

Hopefully the examples above give you an idea of just how good and bad container gardening can be.

But, if a job’s worth doing it’s worth doing well …

And there is no doubt that when done well container gardening can have some stunning results and, if you follow some basic principles the rest of the project can be as simple or as complicated as you like.

For the beginners out there one of the best articles we’ve found online is, A Beginners Guide to Container Gardening on SparkPeople.

We also found a very handy YouTube video for beginners from Landscape Gardeners Leeds

 

In fact, they have a number of great gardening related videos on their site in general.

Taking it one step further …

However, we realise that not everyone reading this will be a novice - like us - where container gardening is concerned.

Obviously, we're far more concerned with the quality outdoor furniture side of the deal ....

But anyway, back on the subject of container gardening, if you really want some inspiration from a more challenging perspective then you should read this post on the Thinly Spread Blog that really does take container gardening to the next level.

Source - My Container Garden Makeover - Thinly Spread Blog ...

To give you a taster it involves a part exterior house makeover as well!