It's great to see you all again for another post from the homestead! Among our many other growing experiments here at ArborVilla, every year we grow some things in pots or buckets. Container gardens (like everything else) have their pros and cons, and I'll go over some of them in this post.
I know you homesteaders value your time, so without further fancy wordwork...
Pros of container gardening
- Portability - Plants in small pots are easy to move around, which makes container gardening ideal for many sensitive plants that may have to be moved indoors during unpredictable weather. This is also a handy tool when you're looking for 'just the right spot' for new plants.
- Accessibility - Containers can be placed on stands, making it easier on your back when it's time to prune, harvest, or otherwise tend your potted plants.
- Economy - Containers only use a small amount soil for most plants, and almost anything can be used as a container, so they are a very efficient solution if you live in a place where the native soil is not suitable for plant growth.
- Visibility - If, like me, you sometimes forget to check on things that are new to your routine, containers make it easy to place plants in a spot where they're impossible to ignore. This is very handy for plants that have a low tolerance for neglect.
There are other benefits to container gardening, but these primary points paint a perfect picture of its overall usefulness. One large benefit that I left out of the bullet points is that containers can be used to grow things other than just plants. Containers for growing earthworms and mealworms are common, and I've even seen setups where people were growing crawdads and fish in buckets and barrels.
Cons of container gardening
- Scarcity - Because there is a finite amount of soil in the container, there will also be a finite amount of nutrients and water, so you have to keep a very close eye on your potted plants. Some of our container plants need watering several times a day during the summer, and feeding about once a week.
- Stability - Plants that are doing well in containers will very quickly become top heavy, making them easy to knock over. Wind will sometimes wreak havoc on our outdoor potted plants during thunderstorms.
- Maintenace - Potted plants will generally need a bit more care than plants grown in the ground outdoors. Short term plants will need more pruning and growth control, and long term plants will need to have their roots trimmed and/or be repotted.
There's a plethora of pernicious points to potted plants, but the bullet points are the big three for me. Some years we've also had problems with new pests or diseases among our potted plants, but this is just a danger, not a guaranteed downside.
We also grew dill, fennel, and carrots in containers this year, but I haven't yet found my good pictures of them. We also have a number of potted plants that are just decorative, which I'll talk more about in a different post for the Indoor Plants community.
I hope you've enjoyed this brief informative tour of our potted herbs and vegetables. As always, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have in the comments below.
I hope you can all 'contain' your anticipation, until next time...
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Thanks for attention! I don't usually cross-post my gardening stuff to DIYHub, but I do have some build posts coming up that I'm happy to share in your community as well.
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Well done sir I can see you have put in lot of energy to get this done, thanks for sharing this wonderful method of planting even when we don't have enough space.
I grow my garden in containers too!!!!
If you don't want to use poisons on aphids, you can use a 1-2% dish liquid solution to spray on them.
Seeing your garden gives me hope for mine!
I almost never use any poisons here, but I've also had no luck at all with dish liquid solutions. When I get aphids on the outdoor plants, I can usually just spray them off with the hose until the problem corrects itself. When those potatoes got the aphids in my basement, I'd never seen anything like it before. In the course of one evening, the plant was completely swamped with them, and within two days all of the top growth had died. This was the first year I ever lost anything to aphids, and they also ruined all my pepper seedlings this spring.
If I have problems with them over the winter, or next spring, I may resort to pesticide.
What about a vinegar solution?
That worked on my pepper seedlings last year, no effect this year. Neem oil seemed to slow them down... a little.
Yikes, your aphids are tough. Unfortunately, it sounds like you may have to resort to a pesticide...
Or have you considered Nasturtiums? I hear when they're planted close by the aphids prefer them to other crops. The Nasturtiums then become a sacrificial crop.
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Maintenance is always my downfall when it comes to container plants. Especially when the weather heats up. Plants in containers too long here are going to end up dead at some point.
I definitely had this problem a few years ago when we first started growing some things in containers. Now I keep them all on the deck, with a hose handy, so I can easily water them every time I go in or out of the house.
Whenever I put them in handy to water places, my husband moves them. 😆
It sounds like he's volunteering for the watering chore... 😂
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Nice post! Containers are the answer to so many gardening issues. Down here, we have to make sure they don't cook i our hot Aussie sun but there are ways around it. Great to see that your's are cranking along nicely.
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