Container Gardening

I’m a committed container grower and almost everything in my home garden is grown in some kind of container. I believe there are advantages that are beneficial to the home gardener. There are different containers to use in the garden. Conventional containers are watered from the top and have drain holes around the bottom. Sub-irrigation containers offer the advantage of a water reservoir that allows the plant to water itself. A product that I’ve recently become aware of is called a GroBucket, and it converts a 5-gallon bucket into a sub-irrigated container. You simply put the pieces together, drop it in the bucket, and you’re ready to start growing. But my go-to container which I’ve shared many times is the EarthBox. This is the workhorse of my home garden, and here, I’m growing wheat. To enjoy the best container results, I always recommend growing in a “soilless” container mix. The primary ingredients are peat moss, bark, perlite, and/or vermiculite. They are engineered with varying particle sizes to be light and airy, and to drain very well. bagged mixes are often called potting or container mixes and are soilless because there is no soil at all. They are light and airy, and drain very well. These container mixes are readily available at your local garden center and come in a variety of bag sizes. Many commercial container potting mixes have some fertilizer mixed in which is beneficial in getting plants off to a good start, but I always advise using supplemental controlled release fertilizer. Container gardening is highly scalable. You can start with one or two pots, and then grow an entire yard. I’m horticulturist Gary Bachman and I’ll see you next time on Southern gardening.