Container Gardens | Great For Black Thumb Gardeners

Collecting carrots from the container garden

There was an article recently from Sandra Barrera in the Los Angeles Daily News that reminded me of the greatest aspects of container gardening is the simplicity and higher yields. Gardening has to be something you enjoy or you will fail at it. Traditional gardening can be intimidating and for good reasons there’s a lot to keep track of and many hurdles that can trip you up. I always suggest a container garden for beginner gardeners  If you fail your time and money losses will be minimized. A small garden give you a great opportunity to experiment and try new things. If lets you explore the world of gardening and see what your interested in and what you should explore beyond your container garden.

Container Garden Soil

For new gardeners looking to grow crops they can hit a major problem before they even plant their first plant. Poor soil conditions in your yard can be a real inconvenience depending on how bad your conditions are. You could be looking at bringing new topsoil and tilling it in to change your soil composition, installing drainage, or constantly fertilizing because of nutrient deficiencies.

Growing your crops in a container garden offers any gardener the chance to use their own potting soil. You can make your own potting soil (good idea for a new article) or buy bagged potting soil. I’ll make my own each spring for my container gardens, but when I start a new pot in the summer I don’t always feel like doing the work. When I’m not in the mood for making my ow potting soil I like using Black Gold Potting Soil.

Stress-Be-Gone Container Garden

Container Gardening Zen

For those gardeners out there with black thumbs a container garden can be like unplugging from the stresses of the day. A full blow garden where someone might plant crops in rows can be a really  taxing mentally in they don’t know what they’re doing. A container garden is the the stress reducer rather than the stress inducer. After you plant a container garden and place it properly you generally have to sit back and enjoy it with an occasional water thrown in their and how stress full could that be. If can’t remember to water you plants there is this new (when I write this) product coming out called Flower Power that can even tell your smart phone exactly when your plants need to be watered or fed fertilizer, wow this world is awesome!

Crop Rotation In A Container Garden

Fresh produce is great, but fresh produce going to waste is soul breaking to a gardener that put in the time to cultivate that crop. Rather then have a large vegetable garden in the yard a container garden allows families to grow just the right amount of produce for their needs. If you grow a vegetable that is harvested in the spring like lettuce it allows you to harvest that crop and plant a new one that will feed you later in the year.

Keeping The Sweat Equity Out Of Your Container Garden

Container Garden For All!

A container garden can easily managed on an apartment balcony or the back porch of a home. I love my container herb garden because I can easily maintain it when I go out with my morning coffee during the summer. Those plants that I put near my Adirondack chair are easy on the knees and back. For me there’s a time to be on your hands and knees in the dirt putting in time for my garden but that’s not for everyone. With older gardeners that have trouble moving around or people with disabilities a container garden is a great way to experience the joys of gardening. Those people who want to garden but may be regulated to wheel chairs can build container gardens that are setup on pedestals at the right height for them to reach them. Container gardens are the great equalizer of the gardening world.

I’m reaching out to Mel Bartholomew to right a guest post here for all of us. Mel is the father of Square Foot Gardening which principles really helped the container garden movement explode in popularity. If you want to help trying to convince him to come here and impart some wisdom on us you can message him at @SFGF. I know every one will be nice and respectful if they contact him but I just want to remind everyone.

Thanks, tell use why you love your container garden in the comments below!