Container Plants


Container plants can be used to brighten up your house or garden; or why not grow vegetables as container plants to cut your food bills? We suggest container plants for all situations.

Pots, window boxes, and hanging-baskets can all be used for growing container plants to enhance your house and garden. The container plants you choose do not need to be restricted to flowering plants, fruits and vegetables also make good subjects as, providing you water and feed them well, your plant containers will look good throughout the year. In addition some fruits and vegetables can be combined for instance strawberries and lettuce can be grown well in large pots and in hanging-baskets; plant a variety of lettuce types to vary the look as well as the taste of your crop.

Strawberry Pots

Strawberry pots are available in terracotta or plastic and both look wonderful. Try planting strawberries in the side holes and a mixture of lettuce and strawberries at the top. The larger pots are easier to maintain than smaller ones and can yield useful crops throughout the summer. Make watering easier by placing an empty plastic drink bottle, into which holes have been punched, in the centre of the pot as you are filling it with compost. Water through the bottle to deliver moisture to the roots of plants at the lower levels of the pot.
 
Container Plants - become an expert!
 

Growing vegetables as Container Plants

Vegetables can also be attractive container plants. The container plants will perform best if the pots chosen are large and deep and will need regular feeding and watering but the results are well worth the effort. Runner beans, peas and sweet peas can be combined in the same pot partially trained up a central support and allowed to spill over the edge to give a natural-looking display. The sweet peas will attract pollinating insects. With a little planning you can grow a variety of crops such as fast growing lettuce and radishes which can be harvested while the slower growing plants are still maturing.
 

Feeding Container Plants

Start feeding your plants from six to eight weeks after planting and continue until the last crops have been picked. Choose a high potash feed to encourage flowering and if your plants look at all "tired" a foliar feed can give them a rapid boost.

 

Great ideas for "Crops in Pots"

Pruning Container Plants

As your container plants mature they may need trimming to control their growth and to remove any dead or fading leaves or flowers (except on vegetable plants!) to encourage new growth. Do not allow flowering plants to form seed heads, to stimulate the plant to continue forming buds and larger flowers over a longer period of time. This will also keep the plants bushy and looking at their best. Some species may tend to overwhelm less vigorous specimens and need to be kept in check to maintain the balance in the pot. Use sharp scissors or secateurs and pay regular attention to trailing plants. Remove any dead leaves, or any dying plants, since they encourage rotting and disease and the problem may spread throughout the whole container. Always pinch out diseased shoots back to an area of healthy growth.

Displaying Container Plants

Pots can be used in many ways throughout your garden; vegetable and herb containers are essential near the kitchen where they can be quickly cut to enhance your cooking, but pots full of flowers can be moved to fill a bare patch in your borders especially where early flowering plants or bulbs look unattractive but cannot be dug up until the leaves die back. Newly planted borders can look a bit thin before they are established; don't be tempted to overplant these areas: use pots  of container plants as a temporary gap fillers until the border plants are established.
 





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