Gardening Bytes

Posts Tagged ‘Container Gardening’

Thanksgiving Cactus (Schlumbergera) is an unusual looking houseplant originally from Brazil that blooms in late fall. The stems of the plant are segmented and flat and has brightly colored pink, yellow, white, red, orange, pink, yellow, or purple flowers on the end of the stems. The Thanksgiving Cactus prefers moderate room humidity and bright indirect light. When ready to bloom do not move the plant from it’s location. Care for blooming is similar to the Poinsettia plant, the Thanksgiving Cactus requires at least eight days with 16 hours of darkness at 61 degrees should cause flower buds to form. The Thanksgiving Cactus can be keep indoors at the temperatures mentioned below, or left outdoors in a shady location starting in fall to help set flowers, then brought back in before the first frost. To set buds in time for the holidays the Thanksgiving Cactus needs cool temps of 60-65 degrees during the day and 45-55 degrees during the night. This plant does not like wet feet, water the soil so it is evenly moist during the growing season then water sparingly the rest of the year until new growth appears in spring. The plant can be damaged by over or underwatering, or too much light. Propagate Thanksgiving Cactus by twisting off a stem segment in spring and place it upright in moistened perlite.

Here’s a neat little project that you can do to bring a taste of your gardening inside. While silk and artificial flowers can certainly brighten up a room, there is really nothing that can compare to a real flower garden. Would you be interested in growing a small one of these inside your home? Read on to see if you have the specific requirements necessary to put one of these in place. If not, there is an alternative mentioned at the bottom of this article.

House Requirements

You’ll have to have some sort of half wall or wall that has an opening in it. A half wall is a wall that only goes up partway from the wall to the ceiling. This wall will have to be as thick as the rest of the walls in your home.

Many homes have this type of wall in the front hall, while an opening in a wall is usually placed between a kitchen and dining room. These walls are often used as a ledge and can often end up as a dumping ground for papers and such. You can transform this wall from a ledge to a garden very easily.

Hire A Renovator

This won’t cost much. All that needs to get done is a hole installed into this ledge. A big rectangular hole that can accomodate a large plant tray. To envision this, imagine looking down at your wall from above. There will be a hole in the shape of a rectangle inside it.

Then you will need to get your renovator to build a ledge inside the wall about 6″ down from the top of the hole. This ledge will hold up a planter box and will also prevent any possible damage to the wall underneath it.

This is a view of what it would look like inside the wall.

This is an example of a planter tray you could fit into this wall.

Whenever you plan on cutting open a wall, for any reason, make sure that you are working with a professional that knows what he is doing! You certainly don’t want to end up with a wire being cut behind the wall or any other type of damage!

You can pick out any plants or flowers you want for this indoor gardening project based on how much sunlight the area receives.

If you don’t have a half wall in your home or a wall with a hole in it, you can get a wooden planter made that looks like a half wall and place it between two open concept rooms or right up against a wall. Any carpenter can make one up for you at little cost. You can even get a designer plant holder made that runs along the length of a wall and then continues around a corner.

Imagine opening your front door every day to a garden in your home! It’s time to grow some real plants inside! Move your silk and artificial flowers over to your bathroom that receives no sunlight at all and grow some real flowers in your kitchen, hallway or any other room that has a half wall and available sunlight.

About the author: Robert works for silkflowerswarehouse.com, a company that specializes in artificial flowers. Robert is a gardener and writer who enjoys writing about gardening.

Plants often need extra protection during colder months. As we head into fall and winter, rains, cold temperatures and frost can damage many tender garden plants. A good rule of thumb is to mulch heavily at the base of plants that have difficulty with cold weather and frost. Keep mulch away from stems of plants when applying. Water plants before frost arrives. If you are concerned about tender plants and have a greenhouse dig them up and pot them up then place in the greenhouse for the colder months. For delicate roses surround them with chicken wire cage and fill the cage with leaves as a natural mulch. You can use sheets covered with plastic tarp to surround your plant stems when frosts hit, clothespins work well to gather edges together. Do not use plastic only, plastic conducts the cold and can make it colder under the plastic for the plant. Cut a hole in gallon plastic containers and cover smaller plants, the plastic will help keep the plant stem warmed. Container plants can be brought into the greenhouse or garage until frosts have passed. Add gallon jugs of warm-to-hot water under sheets to help keep temps under the sheets warmer for your plants during frosts.

Planting up containers can be a fun and rewarding venture. Containers can display your plants from every angle if they are in the middle of a deck, or part of the container if they are moved against a wall. Decide where your container will be stationed so you can choose the best draping plants particularly for those containers that will be seen from every angle.

Pot up your plants with a high quality soil. Potting soil with the word ‘professional’ on the bag may cost more but the quality will be high. You may consider using water-absorbing polymer to help improve the moisture retention of the potting soil. Add time released fertilizer in your soil away from the roots of the plants, or a liquid fertilizer. Spread a layer of mulch over the top of the container to help water retention. Water your containers often since container plants generally dry out faster than plants in flower beds.

Choose your plants so they get along in the container. You do not want an invasive plant combined with other plants or they will overtake your container. If you are positioning the container in full sun, use full sun plants that are compatible. If you are creating a shade container use shade plants. Decide on what height levels you want in your container. A good rule of thumb is to use a lower plant for edging or draping over the edge of the container, mid-height plants for the middle of the container, and one or two tall plants for the back or the middle of the container.

Containers lose quite a bit of moisture which is why it is important to water them at minimum weekly and optimally more often during hot summer months. Hanging baskets dry out as well and need a regular watering routine to keep the plants healthy and alive during summer. Mulch in a container works the same as mulch on the ground. When planting up containers it is a good idea to use some form of mulch on the top layer of your container to help retain water in the pot and keep your plants cool. A small redwood bark or redwood chips work well for an all purpose mulch. If you want the tops of your pots to be more decorative use stones, pebbles, broken sea shells, or decorative craft glass with rounded edges. I received a large number of beach agates and decided to use the small colorful rocks to top off my patio pots, they look pretty and function as mulch. Coco shells smell good and looks pretty, but can be toxic to dogs. It is important to read warning labels for any product you use beyond standard garden mulch sold in nurseries.

Containers are a great way to garden, particularly in small gardens. With small gardens a number of different sized containers will give your space a more expansive look. If you plant in containers remember to plant either from the center if the pot can be seen all the way around the top, or from the front to back if placed against a fence or wall. Use one or two tall plants in the center for a 360 degree container view, then place 3 to 5 medium height plants around the tall plants to fill the center. Use 3 to 5 medium to small draping plants around the edge of the container, creating a cascading effect with the edging plant. Plants in containers against walls and fences can be planted the same way or with the tall plants in the back of the container, the medium plants in the center, and draping plants surrounding the edges of the container. Use varying heights, textures, colors, and blooms to get the most out of your container designs. Remember container plants dry out easily so prepare to keep your containers well watered every week.

For more ideas and examples of container gardening visit BBC Gardener’s World

Herbs look great in the garden as companion plants and are wonderful used in cooking and desserts. Basil is used primarily in Italian cooking, perfect for pesto and tomato sauces. Oniony chives and dill are often used in cold potato and pasta salads. Fennel is used raw or cooked in Italian dishes. Marjoram and oregano work best in Italian and Mexican dishes. Rosemary is wonderful paired with beef or used to flavor roasted potatoes. Tarragon and sage are often used with chicken, while bay and thyme can be used for meats, stews, and soups. Mint and lavender can be used in various ways for desserts, with lavender used lightly and mostly for flavoring. Parsley is a universal herb used for hot and cold dishes, or even in salads. One of the most important herbs for flavor is garlic, which is used in almost all cuisines of the world.

Basil
Bay leaves
Chives
Dill
Fennel
Garlic
Lavender
Lemon Balm
Marjoram
Mint
Oregano
Parsley
Rosemary
Sage
Tarragon

Growing Paperwhite daffodils indoors is as easy as buying the bulbs and finding a glass container. Add an inch or two of glass decorative beads or pebbles to the base of the glass vase, add water to the top of the beads/pebbles, place your Paperwhite bulbs on top then watch them grow. The roots of the Paperwhites will grow down into the beads/pebbles as the stems grow up. A glass container allows you to see the full growth of the bulbs. Place your Paperwhites on a sunny window ledge and turn periodically to keep the growth from bending too far to the light. Forcing bulbs during winter will give you a touch of spring during cold winter months and brighten your living space.

Ever thought about growing your own coffee at home? The most common coffee plants used for consumption are arabica and robusta beans. Coffee plants will do best with a combination of heavy rain and abundant sunshine. To start a plant from seed, plant a freshly picked coffee cherry. A coffee plant is able to grow under artificial lighting indoors, such as a greenhouse. Coffee plants prefer filtered sun and need an average temperature between 65 to 75 degrees to grow best. Keep the plant’s soil moist but not soggy. Once a coffee plant hits 3 to 4 years of age it is ready to produce coffee beans for up to 15 years. When the coffee cherries reach maturity you can harvest the beans, pulp, ferment, dry then roast, grind, and drink the coffee. Pulp the coffee cherry by washing with water, then fermenting in a container until the pulp falls off, made easy by rubbing the coffee bean in your hands. Coffee beans that float during washing should be discarded. Coffee plants can grow from 8 foot up to 32 feet high, so pruning to 6 to 8 feet tall for a home coffee plant is in order.

Containers with plants often need extra watering because they dry out more quickly than plants in the ground. The use of a mulch is a great way to help keep water retained in containers for thirsty plants. There are a number of mulches that look good as well as help keep containers and plants from drying out. Use smaller redwood bark in the tops of containers, it looks good and lasts a long time. Gravel is another choice to top your containers and providing you with an opportunity to use colored gravel. Rounded glass, the type you get for filling vases in crafts stores, is another choice for decoration and shading the soil in your container. I received a gift of small agate stones that I placed in the tops of a number of my containers, it works well as a mulch and the array of agate colors looks wonderful as well.

Got a small garden or patio area? A great way to bring life to your small space is to plant in containers. Plants in pots require plenty of water, so water at minimum once or twice a week and preferably more in hot weather. Container plants can be moved easily in the garden and stacked in areas to provide different levels of plantings, making your small garden look lush. A good choice for container plants are herbs, which look good and can be used for cooking, and a single lavender plant in a pot, providing evergreen color and bright purple flowers in summer. Easy care succulents are another good choice for low growing plants potted up in terra cotta pots.

Love climbing vines? Me too. An easy method to create a way for your vines to climb is to create a wigwam made of branches in a terra cotta pot. Use a large terra cotta pot, gather thick straight branches or bamboo canes of mostly the same size and length, and form a wigwam shape. The top of the wigwam branches should be tied together and tight, while the bottom stems of the branches stretch out around the edge of the terra cotta pot. Once you have the branches in place, plant your vines around the edge of the pot, water them in, and secure the vines as needed to help them climb up to the top of the wigwam branches.

Terra cotta pots are a popular pot to plant in, but they often dry out easily, requiring multiple waterings every week. Compost loses moisture quickly through the sides when in a terra cotta pot. A good way to help maintain the moisture in your terra cotta pots and keep your plants happy is to use a lining of plastic in the pot. Line around the inside wall of the terra cotta pot with black plastic or an old compost bag before adding your compost and plant, then water in the new plant. The plastic will help maintain moisture in the pot after watering.