Container Gardening

“Perfect for beginner gardeners, small spaces, patio gardens and is only limited by your imagination. Once you’ve found the perfect spot, you’ll need to decide what type of container you want to use. Your container could be a wooden box, a metal or galvanized steel container, a basket lined with coconut husk, an old wheelbarrow, a 5-gallon plastic bucket or even an array of beautiful large pots. For my easy-to-access patio herb garden, I used a galvanized steel bucket, drilled drainage holes and lined it with a porous landscape fabric. A weed barrier cloth works too and can be found at a garden store. Whatever you choose, make sure you drill a few drainage holes before filling your bed or container with a rich soil blend. There are multiple sources online for soil blends. I’m a big fan of Nicole Burke’s Kitchen Garden methods and have found that her soil blend recommendation, which has no synthetic fertilizers and is all organic, works extremely well in my garden. I use one-third of each of the following in my beds: topsoil, coarse sand for better drainage and organic compost rich in nutrients. Organic compost is a must for gardens especially as a top layer.

Mix and match if you’re choosing pots for your deck. Think about textures and colors and mix edibles with flowers. In this case, bigger is better when planting vegetables. Bigger plants will need bigger containers, and a bigger container means more soil, which means more moisture retained.”