How To: Organic Container Gardening

Let’s face it: Gardening is hard. It’s like having several extra children to take care of, and with a full time job, school, real children, S.O.’s, etc.  It’s easy to slack on yet another job to focus on. But gardening doesn’t HAVE to be such a strenuous struggle every day. Why not turn it into something you’d like to see the finish line for? What we’re talking about here is organic vegetable gardening, but the same tips and tricks will work just as well for other plants, flowers and grasses.

1. Space Requirements –

If you’re a new gardener, or have tried before in the past to make this work, let’s start with spacial requirements. Why not start with ONE planter, let’s say a 12in. square, and plant 2 different types of vegetables next to each other. (Now I’m no expert on which veggies will grow together without creating some kind of mutant pepper-carrot monster, but the blogs HERE and HERE can help you out a little more!) Now that you’ve got an idea of what you want to plant, traverse out to your local nurseries or home improvement stores and pick up a nice planter. Now on to step 2…

2. Planter Type..? –

There are so many different materials to choose from when shopping for a planter, and as with most other things we always say quality over quantity. We sell concrete for a reason: it’s durable, long lasting and has a classic aesthetic. That being said, concrete will dry out your soil faster than other options, so you must take care to water a little more often to compensate (for beauty!) It is also fairly heavy so take into consideration where exactly you’d like to have your plants and veggies in the yard. Clay is very similar to concrete in that it will dry out faster than plastic or resin, but it is more lightweight. Plastic or Resin is the lightest materials to use, and is recommended for first time planters or finicky gardeners who will want to move it around to find the perfect space. (This would be me!) The upside to plastic will be that once you realize that magnificent green thumb you’ve had all along, you can place the resin container INSIDE OF a beautiful, classy, concrete planter! Then you don’t have to worry about drying out your soil!

3. Just Wait –

Gardening isn’t an immediate-reward system. This is something that you’ll have to hone your patient, tolerant, unassuming side for. And believe me, I was not any one of these things before I grew my very first tomato from a seed. That thing turned yellow, brown, and grew sideways before perking up and eventually taking over my entire side yard. I had to buy tomato stakes to keep this wild thing tamed! The point is, plants and vegetables are living, breathing things that need nurture and patience to grow up and be strong, just like you and I. Just wait and don’t get frustrated, keep trying and trying and when you think you want to give up, DON’T! You can do this. There are onion plants that grow against my fence and the neighborhood yard guys mow them down every two weeks. They grow back ON THEIR OWN! These things want to live, and will try their hardest, they just need a little push from you!

I hope you’ve got a couple of hints, laughs and maybe epiphanies from reading through this quick blog! Give me some feedback! Leave a comment or send a message and tell us your story, we love to hear from our readers and customers!

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