Growing plants in containers can be easier than growing them in the ground for many reasons. In this case, it is easier to control the soil, location and weather. This allows us to experiment with crops that our soil and/or climate cannot support.
Three requirements for managing through the use of containers immediately come to mind. Alkaline soil first. While the pH of garden soil can be changed with appropriate additives, this is expensive and short-lived. Therefore, our native soil will always be alkaline to neutral, even with expensive soil additives. Potted soil can be handled easily and inexpensively.
The second condition is the wind. Many plants grow well in this area but can be knocked over, crushed, or damaged by the wind. They can be planted in containers protected from the prevailing winds.
The third is the bright sun. As for the air, here many plants do well with a small amount of sunlight. Suitable growing conditions can be found using containers.
Additional benefits include the ability to grow edible plants in multiple locations instead of one large vegetable garden. Also, container plants tend to be easier to care for, which is a good thing, especially as they age.
With all styles, colors, shapes, sizes and materials, containers alone can add beauty to a garden. Fill it in with plants and you now have a new look for the area. Use a lighter color to enhance dark areas, or use a darker color to darken areas. Use complementary colors to highlight nearby plants, or support nearby plants in a particularly showy container. If the plants in the garden are dying, fill in the gaps in existing containers.
We use pots everywhere. They are on our porches, gazebos, driveways and in many of our gardens. They are very important in our gardens. We use it for crops that we cannot grow on our land. Most importantly, they allow you to fill voids in formations and drill where needed.
At first we only used annuals in pots. Of course, annuals are ideal plants to work with because they bloom almost continuously, but we've learned that mixing perennials and small shrubs with annuals gives you a wide palette of plants to choose from and a different look for each composition. Depending on the plant and container, a perennial or shrub may overwinter in a container and be used for several years.
Due to my size and the way I grow my garden, I use mostly small plants, including potted shrubs. This gives me a year or two of flexibility to easily transplant to different parts of the garden if I want to or feel I need to.
Versatility is the main reason we use so many containers every year.
This article originally appeared in the Amarillo Globe-News column: Garden Guy: Container gardening in the Texas Panhandle.
