Container gardening allows you the benefit of growing the plants of your wish irrespective of your yard conditions.
You can even start container gardens on concrete patios and decks. Cemented verandas and front space are great locations for container gardens. There is no limit to the varieties of flowering plants, evergreen shrubs and vines that you can grow in containers.
You have many options with respect to the make of the containers. You can try colorful plastic containers, metallic containers, clay & ceramic containers as well as glass containers in some cases.
You can buy container plants online or from your local nursery. Buying online gives you a larger stock to choose from, you can also avail several discount while buying container plants online.
Gardens come in different styles. You should decide upon the theme for your garden before starting out on the planting part. The following are three two of gardens you can choose from
Casual look: Lots of plants, loose boundaries, a feeling of lightness and indiscipline
Formal look: Strict symmetry, well defined boundaries and feeling of order
Depending on your liking you can choose either one of them. Make sure you stay consistent with your choice, mixing a formal look with casual look works badly.
The choice of garden can also depend upon the below factors
- The layout of your house or architecture
- The design of your land
- An inspiring idea which you will important to you
Design your container garden around a specific theme
You would have noticed certain themes which are specific to garden in your neighborhood.
For example, a garden built around the theme of a desert full of succulents and cactus of different varieties amidst the backdrop of sandy soil.
The old fashioned English garden plush with roses or the Asian theme of marigolds and jasmines might also work well.
Certain themes which can consider working on are as below
Formal Garden theme
Find below a few tips on building a formal garden:
- Keep the boundaries strict and the garden beds symmetrical
- Allow for circular boundaries and rectangular boundaries
- Grow single colored flowers along the boundaries or match your house color with your flowers.
- Use groomed hedges and construct walkways
- You can even place metallic designer pots along the walkway with flowering plants.
Asian garden theme
The Japanese Zen garden comes to mind.
Bamboo is a essential part of any Asian garden. Lining your fencing with bamboo shoots would look good. Japanese maples, iris and conifers would match the theme. Include several fruiting trees and a bring a serene statue into picture or maybe a fish pond in the center of the lawn.
Tropical garden theme
Tropical is all about lush foliage, so make sure you include broad leafed evergreen shrubs and trees.
Go for plants which yield large sized flower in bright colors. Any tropical garden would be incomplete without the addition of tit bits like statues, fountains and bird houses.
Dry or desert gardens
Build a layout using stone pathways and sandy backdrops.
You can border you plants using sandy soil. Go in for plants which thrive in dry climates like the cacti and succulents. Create an illusion out of raised platforms and desert soil.
Your garden does not have to be expensive. There are several money saving tips which can help you reduce the cost of your garden, here are few
- Seeds are way cheaper than buying grown plants. So whenever possible opt to grow plants from seeds. You can buy the soil and containers from the nursery.
- You can get cuttings from your friend’s garden. Most plants grow out of cutting ex strawberry, blueberries and vines.
- Making a compost is not tedious and is a good way of using up your household waste. Mixing compost to the container soil will help improve fertility in the long run
- Accessories like garden pots, trellis and containers can be expensive. There are lot of closeout sales, junkyards and yard sales going around, make your purchase from there. It works out really cheap.
- Buying online can fetch you discounts which you cannot avail from your local retailer. If it is feasible you go for online shopping.
- Develop your gardening knowledge, use compost, mulch your plants, water them regularly and provide them with the right conditions to grow.
While you are at it, you should try out hanging baskets. If you have a penchant for flowering and fruiting vines, you should consider growing them in hanging baskets. Strawberries, cucumbers and several flowering vines can be used for this purpose.