Container Gardening

 

Plants in containers are compatible with any decor, be it the straight horizontal and vertical lines of contemporary architecture or the more comfortable lines of the early European home, Plants display great variety of form and texture. They can be used to create instant indoor gardens; they can be moved from one home to another; and they can be moved outdoors in the summer and indoors during the cooler months.

Space is not a problem. Container gardening can be conducted in a single pot on a table or windowsill, in a more elaborate room divider, or in a built-in planter.

Just as there are many kinds of plants, there are many kinds of containers. Plants can be grown in any container that will hold a growing medium. The choice ranges from the common clay pot to cans, jars, boxes, baskets, and tubs. Containers may be made of wood, plastic, glass, metal, and glazed ceramics. They can be portable or built in.

Most people select containers for both their practical and esthetic qualities. These include cost, availability, weight, strength, durability, attractiveness, and decorative and sentimental value.

When you choose a container, its size and shape should be consistent with the plant's size and shape. Tall, tapering plants are more attractive in tall, relatively narrow containers. Short, compact plants appear more at home in shallow, wide containers.

Particularly important considerations for good plant growth are the volume and depth of the container, plus some provision for drainage, Select containers that have drainage holes in the bottom for removal of excess water. Watertight containers are difficult to manage; excess water will accumulate at the bottom of the container and injure plant roots by excluding oxygen. Container volume and depth become critical in relation to the quantity of available water and nutrients.

Although the evaporation of water through the container walls is not critical, plants in porous containers will require more frequent watering to maintain moisture levels than will those in nonporous containers.

Besides the right kind of container, some fundamental requirements for plant growth must be provided if you are going to be a successful indoor gardener. Plants need light, water, nutrients, and a satisfactory temperature range.

Light is the most critical requirement. The levels of all the other requirements are adjusted in relation to the amount of light that plants receive. When plants don't have enough light, they grow slowly and become tall and spindly; it becomes difficult to avoid overwatering them. Plants are easier to maintain in good condition when their light requirements are met. You can use fluorescent lamps to supplement or replace natural light. Or you can select plants to fit the level of light that is available in a particular location.

The majority of the plants grown in containers will thrive at temperatures ranging from 60° to 75°F. In poorly lighted locations, you should keep the air temperatures as low as people will tolerate. As the amount of available light increases, higher temperatures can be used.

Plants will benefit if moisture is added to the air to increase relative humidity. Plants will grow under conditions of low humidity, but a more frequent watering will generally be necessary.

Let's say you have a location with enough light and a satisfactory temperature range, and that you've purchased a few good containers. There's not much more to indoor gardening except making sure that you have a good growing medium and keeping your plants well watered.

Growing media can be purchased at nurseries and garden centers. Special kinds are available for acid-loving plants, for orchids and for cacti, but it is fun to make your own growing medium. You can either follow another person's recipe, or you can experiment and develop your own special blend.

A good growing medium does four things. It anchors roots and provides physical support for the top; it stores nutrient elements (fertilizer); it stores water; and it is a source of oxygen for root growth.

These last two items-water and oxygen-are the cause of most problems people have with indoor gardening. Plants can very easily get too much of one and not enough of the other. Part of the job of a good growing medium is to make sure that plants have a chance to get enough of both.

For this reason, soils containing large quantities of clay and silt should not be used, Because the particles of clay and silt are very small, they clog up air pores in the soil and keep the plant's roots from obtaining enough oxygen. When this happens, the plant usually will die.

Many people have excellent results with good garden soil. But if you don't have much experience with plants, you will probably be better off using a goo mixture.

In general, a mixture has three part -soil, organic matter, and coarse aggregate.

Soil is not essential for plant growth. However, soil is usually the largest portion of most mixtures simply because it is inexpensive and readily available.
Organic matter adds air space, reduces the weight, and keeps a mixture from compacting. In other words, it has just the opposite effect of clay and silt. However, should the organic matter decompose too rapidly, these properties will be lost. Thus, if you add organic matter, use a kind that is resistant to rapid decay.

Sphagnum moss peat, peat humus, sawdust, bark, hulls, straw, cobs, compost, manure, and animal byproducts are the major types of organic matter used in mixtures for container gardening. Sphagnum moss peat is excellent because it is readily available in several grades, slow to decompose, low in mineral elements, and chemically stable when steam pasteurized.

Coarse aggregates are used primarily to improve pore space and drainage and sometimes to reduce weight. Since they are either of mineral or synthetic origin, they are generally very resistant to decomposition. Sand, gravel, vermiculite, perlite, calcined clays, cinders, and shredded plastics are examples.

When soil is placed in a shallow container, the water-holding capacity of that-soil is increased and the amount of pore space occupied by air is decreased. Consequently, the soil must be amended to increase the size of the soil pores and decrease the ability of the soil to hold water. This is the reason that a mixture of ingredients is recommended as a growing medium for plants in containers.

Sometimes the medium itself plugs the drainage holes, and sometimes the roots of the plant do. To prevent this from happening, put some stones or curved pieces of broken clay pots over the drain holes. Special plastic drain pieces also may be used.
Here are some soil mixtures that will work quite well for most indoor gardening projects. The ingredients are expressed as parts by volume.

General purpose medium

• 2 parts sandy loam soil
• 1 part organic matter(medium to coarse grade)
• 1 part coarse aggregate

Add superpbospbate and pulverized or dolomitic limestone according to results of soil tests.

Some people add organic or complete inorganic fertilizers to their mixtures. This practice can result in root loss from excess fertilizer (soluble salts) unless you are quite knowledgeable of the correct kinds

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