Container Planting: Gardening On Your Condo Patio

This is the time of year to enjoy fresh vegetables and beautiful flowers from the garden. But if you’re a condo owner on the Westside, you may feel that you don’t have space. Luckily, you don’t have to have a garden the size of your grandma’s to reap some tasty rewards. Instead, consider container planting.

Container Planting Tips

The wonderful thing about container gardening is that containers can be put anywhere and can be made out of anything. Do you like the look of terracotta plants? Spread them around on your patio or deck. Want to express yourself? Use old milk jugs with the tops cut off. Anything that can hold soil can hold plants. Just make sure the container is big enough for the plant’s root development. In other words, don’t plant carrots in a shallow container!

Keep in mind that container planting means that you have a very limited amount of soil. Vegetables can be very demanding on the nutrients of the soil, so be sure to fertilize. Liquid fertilizer every 2 to 4 weeks will help with this.

Another issue with container planting is drainage. You do not want to use a pot that allows the vegetables to become water logged. Be sure that you have a hole in the bottom with small rocks to drain your containers adequately.

Vegetables Do Well In Containers

Based on my research, the following vegetables do well when grown in containers:

• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Green onions
• Radish
• Herbs
• Strawberries

Arranging Your Containers

For small patio or deck areas, space is a premium. This means you won’t want your containers spread all over limiting your ability to use the outdoor space. Here are a few ways to get your pots off the ground while still looking fashionable:

• Makeover a ladder and place your containers on the different rungs
• Hang your containers from vertical rods. This is a great way to have tomato plants. Simply thread your tomato plants through the openings of plastic milk cartons, fill them with dirt, and hang.
• Create a free standing wall and then hang plant containers with S hooks
• Consider stacking your pots into tiers for the corners of your patio. You can place upside-down pots under the soil of the pots beneath to provide structure. You can do the same thing with steel tubs.

Interesting Container Ideas

You can grow a plant in just about anything that has an empty space. Here is an alphabetical starter list to open up the wonders of unusual pots:

• Basket
• Colander
• Drawers from old desks or dressers
• Hat box
• Jewelry box
• Lunch box
• Milk crates
• Shoes and boots
• Tea Kettle
• Tool box
• Watering can

As you can see, growing a garden doesn’t have to take a lot of space. Nor does it have to be boring. If you’d like more ideas on how to save space with condo living, feel free to give me a call!