Practical tips about DIY, home improvement, home maintenance and repairs, gardening and other how-to tips here for the taking.
19.3.11
Gardening Idea: Indoor Container Gardening
If you live in a small space, you can not actually operate a full garden, simply because you don’t actually have a yard! I think that among the best answers for this problem is container gardening.
Occasionally, the urge to garden could be stomped out by other conditions, such as living arrangements or space restrictions. If you live in an apartment, you can not actually operate a full garden, simply because you don’t actually have a yard! I think that among the best answers for this problem is to grow plants in containers. You can hang these, or just set them up on your patio, window sill or balcony. Just a couple of baskets or pots, and your whole living area will appear much classier and nicer.
A benefit of growing in pocket-size containers is the fact that you are able to move them around to fit your needs. If you rearrange your furniture and you think that it would look nicer if it were in the other area, it is no trouble at all to scoot it over. As long as the illumination is about the same, your plant wouldn’t mind the transition at all. One more benefit of the containers’ versatility is the fact that you are able to adjust it to simulate any surroundings depending on the kind of soil you fill it up with and where you put it.
If you’re trying to make an aesthetically pleasing placement of containers and plants, you can set the containers to be at various heights by hanging them from the ceiling or placing them on stands. Hanging them will afford you to make the most of the space you have. This is popularly called “vertical gardening”. If you pull it off correctly, you can make a very pleasing arrangement of plants while conserving your valuable space. If you live in an apartment, you know how crucial it is to conserve space! One way of vertical gardening is the use of a wooden step ladder. When painted correctly, you can stage all the plants on it in a beautiful, stylish shower of color.
The maintenance of container plants takes somewhat more time, since you have to water more frequently and go around to every individual container. However, the square footage for container plants is a good deal less than that of a literal garden, so the time spent on watering and maintenance is more balanced. It is significant that you do not over-water your container plants, as this can be as fatal to their health as under-watering.
When picking out containers for your plants, you will want to buy them all together along with some extras just in case they break or you add more plants later. You do not want them to be all the same shape and size, but definitely the equivalent style so that the compliment each other. Plastic containers are perfect and require the least number of watering, but if you want to stick to clay or earthen pots then you should put a plastic line on the inside. This aids it retain water more, as the clay should soak up water.
Another thing to keep in mind when purchasing pots is the fact that the size of the pot will in the end constrict the size of the plant. Make a measured choice of pots according to what you wish to grow in every one. If you research for the plant you chose on the internet, you should be able to find specs as to how much root space it must be granted. This can even be an advantage for you if you select a plant that can grow really large. If you only have a specified amount of space for it, you can constrict its growth by choosing a pot that is not large enough to support huge volumes of growth.
If the benefits of container gardening sound likeable to you, then you must start preparing your container garden today. If you write a list of all the plants you want to have, you can do the needed research to determine what size and shape of pots you must get. After that, it’s just a matter of arranging them in a way that makes your home look the nicest.