Innovative Container Garden Concepts Experimenting with Various Pots and Planters to Optimize both Spacious and Compact Outdoor Spaces
Transform your outdoor space into a lush oasis with these innovative container gardening ideas. From hanging baskets to vertical gardens, there's a solution for every space, regardless of its size.
Growing Herbs in Containers
Certain herbs, like mint, are known for their invasive growth patterns. To prevent them from taking over your garden, it's best to grow them in containers. This also makes them easily accessible for your outdoor kitchen ideas, ensuring fresh herbs are readily available for cooking.
Hanging Baskets and Vertical Gardens
Hanging baskets can uplift any outdoor space, but they require regular watering, especially during hot summer days. Pots that hook onto railings or vertically hang onto balconies are ideal for creating a sea of flourishing plants in even the smallest of spaces.
Repurposed Planters
One can transform nearly anything into a quirky planter, such as an old bathtub or sink, for a larger planter. This not only adds a touch of personality to your garden but also provides a unique growing space.
Proper Drainage
Adequate drainage is key when it comes to container gardens. There are several ways to fill the bottom of a large planter, from using broken pots to gravel. However, it's important to avoid using non-permeable pot liners, as this could lead to a waterlogged nightmare for plants.
Container Ponds
Container ponds provide a valuable habitat for wildlife and can be created using an old watertight pot and a few additional items. Adding water-dwelling plants such as miniature water lily, spearwort, or starwort can make these mini ponds attractive to both humans and wildlife.
Growing Vegetables in Containers
A large wooden planter, priced at £40.99 at B&Q, is an option for those looking to start growing vegetables immediately. For root vegetables like carrots, a deep pot is essential. There are also planters designed explicitly for root vegetables, such as the carrot patio planter from Agriframes.
Living Walls
Living walls are a brilliant addition to gardens of any size and help draw the eye upwards, creating a vignette of interest. Using climbing plants to create living structures is a great way to achieve this. Vigorous vines like pole beans or snake gourds can be trained on stakes or pergolas to form "walls" or "ceilings" of green in your container garden.
Balanced and Visually Appealing Compositions
The "thrillers, spillers, and fillers" design principle can be applied to container gardens for a balanced and visually appealing composition. Choose a tall, dramatic "thriller" plant as a focal point, trailing "spillers" that cascade over the container edge, and "fillers" to occupy the middle space.
Mixing Edible and Ornamental Plants
Combining colorful vegetables (e.g., red-tinted bok choy or chard) and herbs with attractive flowers or foliage creates vibrant containers that are both beautiful and functional.
Choosing Plants with Year-round Interest
Select shrubs like variegated redtwig dogwood for winter color and perennials such as heucheras for attractive foliage and seasonal blooms to ensure the container looks appealing across seasons.
Embracing Cottage Garden Charm
Use plants that evoke nostalgia or personal meaning, such as old-fashioned roses, daisies, or hydrangeas, for a relaxed, sentimental aesthetic that personalizes your container garden.
Budget Garden Ideas
Establishing a container garden can be cost-effective by transforming nearly anything into a quirky planter, such as old tin cans, colanders, or teacups. Budget garden ideas for container gardening can also include sourcing pre-loved planters from neighbours, Facebook Marketplace, and Ebay, or recycling larger containers like tin cans with a bit of DIY know-how.
Additional Tips
- Be mindful of bee-attracting plants near doorways.
- Ensure containers have proper drainage and sturdiness for plant health.
- Opting for drought-tolerant hanging basket flowers will increase their resilience and make your floral displays less likely to succumb to drought.
These strategies combine structure, color, texture, and personal style to create container gardens that are both visually striking and productive. A simple garden trellis can provide an ideal structure against which to grow climbers or hang hooked pots for vertical gardening. Raised beds are a popular choice for growing vegetables, as they allow for the creation of optimal growing conditions and are accessible for individuals with various mobility needs. There is a wide variety of planters, raised beds, table planters, troughs, and plant ladders available that lift the growing area off the ground, making tending and watering easier.
Kitchen herbs, like mint, can be effortlessly incorporated into your home-and-garden lifestyle by growing them in containers and placing them near your outdoor kitchen ideas for easy access during cooking. To complement your outdoor space, consider adding hanging baskets filled with houseplants or vertical gardens to create a sense of harmony with the living walls trend.
