How many times have you wanted to engage in gardening activities, but the question of space dissuades you? Well, not to worry because you’re not alone in this predicament. Many who wish to cultivate plants at home often wonder how to go about it, especially if they’re renters and not actual homeowners.
But that’s the thing; who says gardening is only restricted to homeowners? Whether working with a small balcony, a window wall, or even a tiny outdoor space, there’s a way to go about it. This is where container gardening enters the picture.
Container gardens provide a versatile and convenient option for growing plants, almost as convenient as enjoying online blackjack games on your mobile phone. But is it that easy to cultivate plants inside containers? The answer lies in this write-up, as we discuss more about container gardening and maximizing your space.
Hacks For Starting and Maintaining a Small Garden
It’s difficult to start a small space garden, let alone maintain it, especially when using containers. However, there are some hacks you can use to make the most of your container garden.
Have a Custom Design in Mind
Have you noticed that everyone with a garden has a different design? Yes, they may be similar in some ways, but the design is different overall. The first step to maximizing your gardening space is having a custom design for it.
First, in container gardening, your vertical space is your best friend. Use wall-mounted planters, a small pergola, or a trellis to add height without sacrificing ground space. Also, make sure the arrangement of your containers maximizes every little space without seeming too cluttered.
Decide What You Wish to Grow and Begin with Seeds
Consider your growing space and choose what you wish to grow accordingly. Also, remember the plants’ potential yield and how much space you can spare to accommodate them. It’s wise to invest in plants with higher yields that don’t take up as much space rather than cultivating those whose yields consume your little space.
Furthermore, focusing on seeds is essential instead of buying transplants from the nursery. But that’s only if the vegetables you have in mind produce seeds; if not, buying transplants is the more viable alternative. If you’re planting seeds, however, make sure that you know the best dates to cultivate them.
Use Inexpensive Gardening Supplies
By gardening supplies, we mean the containers where you wish to cultivate your vegetables. Don’t make the mistake of going all out, in the name of getting the best containers for gardening.
You can begin container gardening using materials like egg cartons, water bottles, milk jugs, yogurt containers, etc., especially if you’re starting with seeds. Once they blossom, you can transfer them to used buckets, ceramic pots, plastics, and even fabric grow bags.
Make Sure the Soil is Mineral-Rich
Of course, you don’t want your plants to die midway through the season. For this reason, you need to get soil rich in minerals, organic matter, and beneficial living organisms. This is even more important when cultivating vegetables; they need living soil full of viable microbes to thrive.
Watering is Key
Just as humans need water to survive, plants also need water to thrive and yield fruits. As such, watering them as regularly as possible without drowning them is important. Remember to avoid chlorinated water as a water source so as not to destroy your gardening efforts.
Also, to determine how often you water your vegetables, consider the container you’re using. Specific containers like ceramic pots tend to drain soil moisture, so you need to water the plants more often than a bucket plant, which retains soil moisture better.
Common Container Vegetables to Begin With
It’s not every plant that is fit for container gardening, which is why you need to consider what to plant carefully. In this regard, below are some vegetables you can grow in containers for starters:
- Beans: Green beans are easy to grow and yield bountiful returns. All you need is a not-so-large ceramic pot big enough to construct a trellis using bamboo rods, and you’re set up for planting season.
- Tomatoes are the easiest vegetable to grow, perfect for small spaces. When appropriately watered, it’s very productive, yielding fruits all year round.
- Cucumbers: When growing cucumbers, you must focus on vertical spaces. This is the most effective way of cultivating cucumbers to have bountiful yields. And you don’t even need to plant so much to get great returns; two to three plants in a large pot is enough.
- Greens: By greens, we mean spinach, kale, and Swiss chard. When grown in containers, these vegetables can produce fruits for months despite the limited space.
- Squash: It’s safe to say that squash plants like Zucchini and summer squash were made for container gardening. They yield tremendous amounts of fruits during harvest and are easy to grow.
At the End of the Day
Don’t let limited space in your home dissuade you from your dream of having a garden. Put our container gardening hacks to work and watch as you reap the fruits (don’t mind the pun) in months to come. Creativity and nature await you.
