Container Gardening
The maintenance-free condominium lifestyle has a lot going for it: no lawns to mow, no flowerbeds to weed, no leaves to rake, no shrubs to prune. But for those who love gardening, condominium living needn’t require complete withdrawal from the joys of coaxing goodness from the ground.
To harness the Rocky Mountains’ bountiful sunshine and bring it to your kitchen table in the form of vegetables, herbs and colourful flowers, try your hand (and its green thumb) with patio-grown plants.
Container gardens are ideal for condominium homes with sunny decks and balconies. Almost anything that grows in the ground can be planted in a container, and almost any container with adequate drainage can be used for container gardening - hanging baskets, window boxes, metal urns, wooden barrels…the possibilities are endless.
CONTAINERS
Drainage is important. Without good drainage, plant roots will sit in water and rot. Most storebought plant pots come with drainage holes. If you use other types of containers, drill drainage holes if the material allows.
Large pots and containers without proper drainage will benefit greatly from a layer of crushed rock or coarse gravel beneath the growing medium. Raising your containers off the ground using wooden blocks, a drip tray or some other means of increasing air and water circulation will also improve drainage.
The size of each container should be compatible with the plants they contain. For plants that will grow quite large, allow enough room for root growth. Otherwise, the plants may become rootbound, which will compromise their ability to hold water and take up nutrients.
Don’t crowd too many plants into a container. Each plant needs sufficient room to grow, and over-crowding will create too much competition for water and nutrients.
SOIL
Soils for container gardening should be rich and porous. Charcoal can be added to the soil mixture to keep it sweet.
Soil straight from a garden is generally not well suited to container gardening: its high clay content and heavy consistency tend to impede drainage. Your better bet is potting mix, which comes in two varieties:
Soil-based potting mix offers good drainage and holds water and nutrients very well. Its heavier consistency makes it ideal for larger plants that need extra support and containers that would benefit from added stability. You can add slowrelease fertilizer to soil-based mediums.
Soil-less potting mix is usually a peat base containing vermiculite and/or perlite. Because it’s very light, soil-less mix is great for hanging baskets. It tends to dry out quickly, though, so it demands more vigilance on the watering front. Regular application of fertilizer is also necessary.
Don’t overfill your containers with soil. Leave enough space at the top for watering.
WATERING
With limited soil available to meet their nutrition and moisture-retention needs, plants grown in containers typically need more watering and fertilizing than regular gardens.
Daily watering may be necessary in hot weather. When the weather is cool or damp, overwatering may cause plant roots to rot.
