A beautiful plant can be enhanced by the right container, and you can save yourself time and effort by selecting a container suited to your needs. Here are a few tips to help you plan for a pleasant season of low-maintenance container gardening:

Picking the Perfect Planter

Planters come in a wide variety of materials and each has its own benefits. Regardless of material, make sure the planters you select have drain holes to promote healthier plants and prevent root rot.

Terra cotta (clay) pots, a long-time gardening favorite, are porous and dry out faster than plastic or glazed ceramic pots. Their weight makes them sturdy, but can also make them a challenge to move. They develop a weathered look over time.

There are a wide variety of plastic pots available. These retain moisture better than clay. Thinner, hard plastic pots, however, can become brittle over time. Exposure to sunlight, as well as extreme heat and cold, gradually weaken them. Planters made with thicker plastic, especially those with UV protection, are a better choice.

Heavy-duty stone and concrete are long lasting, provide winter insulation and should be planted in their permanent location. It goes without saying that they are too heavy to move — at least not without a lot of effort and a crew.

Fiberglass and resin planters are generally lightweight, retain moisture well and can rival the look and feel of much heavier stone or concrete planters. They are often a good choice for home gardeners.

Getting to the “false” bottom of your container

It takes a lot of potting mix to fill planters, especially large ones. Often they become too heavy to move. One solution is to create a false bottom. This gives the plant enough soil to develop healthy roots, but reduces the weight of the finished container.

Gardeners have added everything from packing peanuts to crushed soda pop cans to the bottom of their planters to take up space. Now there’s something easier — the Ups-A-Daisy planter insert — developed by Illinois home-gardener Kristy Maniscalco.

“The bigger planters got so heavy I couldn’t move them,” says Maniscalco. “I’d go through the same routine every planting season. I didn’t want to use so much potting soil, so I’d scrounge around the garage for anything I could find to put in the bottom of my planters. I was also getting tired of picking packing peanuts out of the garden when I emptied the planters at the end of the season.”

The Ups-A-Daisy planter insert (www.ups-a-daisy.com) is a heavy-duty plastic disc that fits snuggly into most tapered containers and comes in a variety of sizes from 10 inch (fits 12-14-inch containers) to 18 inch (fits 22-24-inch containers). It fits about half way down the container, provides excellent drainage, gives roots easy access to oxygen, and results in planters that are lighter and easier to move.

Time-saving planting mix

Different growing mediums will yield different levels of care for your container garden.

Before adding soil to your container, you can cover the drain holes in the Ups-A-Daisy planter with newspaper, a small stone or a coffee filter. This prevents potting mix from falling through the planter.

Soilless mixes are generally a combination of two or more of the following materials: sphagnum peat moss, vermiculite, sand, perlite, compost and tree bark. Sterilization ensures that there are no pests or diseases.

Many soilless mixes come complete with slow-release fertilizer. If not, you can add a slow-release fertilizer, such as Milorganite GardenCare organic nitrogen fertilizer, as directed. Every time you water, a little of the fertilizer is made available to the plants.
Look for a planting mix that includes water-retaining crystals to reduce how often you have to water. If the planting mix does not include water-retaining crystals, you can add them according to the manufacturer’s directions; a little really does go a long way.

Also for less frequent watering, mix equal amounts of soilless mix and commercial (sterile) potting soil. The potting soil helps to retain moisture and the soilless mix makes the resulting mixture lighter.

You’ll be able to spend more time enjoying your container garden this season and less time maintaining it with these time-saving tips.

Courtesy of ARA Content

Related posts:

1. How to Create Easy Container Gardens with Better Drainage and Lighter Pots
2. Planning Container Gardens
3. Easy, green and inexpensive container gardens brighten your day
4. Guide To Basic Container Gardening
5. Indoor Container Vegetable Gardening offers Year-round Gardening Fun

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