Container Gardening A Portable And Affordable Approach To Plants

BY SHANNON HICKS

Container gardening is just what it sounds like: growing plants in containers, of all sizes.

Container gardening is also generally portable and affordable. The portability allows gardeners to move plants to locations where they will thrive, maximizing all available space. Weeding will be minimal, and harvesting is generally much easier.

One caveat to container gardening is the contained plants may need more attention than those growing in the ground. That maintenance can still go a long way toward healthy, productive plants, however.

Paul Split, one of this year’s guest lecturers during the 2023 CT Flower & Garden Show, offered “Organic Container Gardening” on February 23 and 24.

Split has been a nursery principal, a nationally recognized designer, a director of horticulture for two Live Nation locations, and writer and lecturer for 50 years. His presentation was filled with information, a little bit of humor, and enjoyed by those who attended.

“You can put anything into a container that your neighbor puts into the ground,” he said.

The containers will control spreading that often happens with some plants, Split added.

“The time is right for the planning, to make your selection and get your gardening ideas out there,” he told attendees during his Friday morning presentation at Connecticut Convention Center. “I’m here to give you some ideas and some information about containers.

“Containers are available in all different sizes and shapes. The industry is producing polypropylene, the old cement ones reinforced with concrete, and of course terra cotta and clay,” he said, holding up one of the latter.

“Clay pots originated in Connecticut, in the Connecticut River Valley in the 1920s,” he told the approximately 75 people in the room.

He prefers clay pots, he said, “because they breathe. You can also see what the moisture content is inside your container because it breathes.”

Plastic containers, he said, especially those inside homes, do not allow air movement within the walls of the pot.

Filling A Container

Split does not use potting soil. For one, he said, it’s heavy. Second, most are not clean.

“Whatever you start with, make sure it doesn’t have any additives,” he said. “You don’t need any water helper, you don’t need any fertilizer in there. You can make your own.”

Large containers do not need to be filled fully with soil. Most annuals in New England only need four to six inches of fill to be happy.

“If you only need a few inches for growth, why would you put in three feet of soil?” he said. That’s where putting something in the lower portion of pots, especially larger ones, is beneficial for the plants and their caregivers.

Split used to use rocks or shards of clay, he said.

“But that gets so heavy,” he said. “Just make sure you put something in that will prevent your mix from going through the space at the bottom of the pot.”

Packing peanuts are biodegradable, Split said.

“They’re impervious to water,” he added. “They don’t take up any water. They repel it, in fact.”

Pinecones, wood chips, leaves, and sticks can all be used but will break down over time. These are a sustainable choice for seasonal planters who repot regularly.

For soil Split suggests using an organic, soil-less mixture like his preferred filler — triple ground peat moss, often sold as Starter Mix — which will hold moisture in containers while taking up space.

To fill containers, Split goes with 80 percent peat moss and 20 percent Perlite, a well-draining soil made from

Paul Split holds a terra cotta pot, his container of choice for container gardening. Anything that can be planted in an outdoor in-ground garden can be planted in a container, he told those who attended his lectures during the 2023 CT Flower & Garden Show. —Bee Photos, Hicks transformed volcanic glass. The naturally occurring mineral is the small white balls that look like — but is not — Styrofoam.

“The peat moss holds the moisture in your container, so it doesn’t all run out the bottom when you soak it, and the Perlite keeps water and air from escaping your container,” he explained. “So now you’ve got water, and air, and a nice way for the food to travel.”

Food & Water

“Remember to feed your plants,” Split said. “They won’t say a word. They’ll just die quietly.

“You have to eat, you have to feed your pets … you have to feed — or fertilize — your plants,” he said.

Put fertilizer in first, he said. Liquid works very well, he added, as do granular formulas.

Anything that was once living is considered an organic fertilizer, he said.

All-purpose fertilizers have nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, nutrients needed in larger amounts, as well as iron, manganese, and zinc.

To promote flower or fruit production, look for fertilizers with higher amounts of potassium and phosphorus vs nitrogen. Split likes a 0-1-1 fertilizer, he said. Kelp and dehydrated manure are both among his choices, he said.

After a container has been filled with its filler, put the fertilizer in before the plants.

“The action of planting it will mix everything up,” he said.

After the initial planting, fertilizer should be put down first, then water.

Water plants regularly, but not too often. Most container plants prefer moist, not soggy, soil.

According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, while it may sound counterintuitive, “watering a plant with a small amount of water very frequently is worse than watering with a large amount infrequently.

“Frequent, shallow waterings encourage plants to develop weak, shallow roots, while infrequent, deep waterings encourage them to put down deeper, healthier roots. Most plants can tolerate — and actually benefit from — having a little break between deep waterings, so don’t be afraid to let the soil dry out a little bit between waterings,” The Almanac offered in a November 2022 online feature.

Split also covered watering within his lecture, saying in part that spraying over them “will only reach 18-20 percent of your plants.”

Watering a plant every time it droops, he said, will drown a plant.

“When you have a plastic container, and it’s in the house, and your plant is drooping, the first thing you do is water it,” he said. “When it’s still drooping the next day, what do you do? Give it a little more water.”

While a few in the room chuckled, some also nodding their heads, Split explained: “You’re actually drowning the plant. The water goes in and actually replaces the oxygen, and it suffocates.”

Split suggests using a timer, to alleviate the worry of missing the important offering to plants. He also likes drip irrigation, he said, which connects multiple pots to a garden hose or spigot. When that system is activated, all plants are watered simultaneously.

Gardeners also need to check the pH levels of their containers regularly, Split said.

“The items in your container need to be soluble for your plants,” he explained. “In order to do that, you have to make sure the pH is OK.”

Tomato plants like a more acidic soil than others, he said. Fruit generally likes a less acidic soil.

Most plants want to be in an area of 6.5-7.0, he said. “Earthworms and grubs are happy at 8,” he said. “When the pH is correct, the food for the plant will be available immediately.”

Tests can be done at home with litmus strips. Local garden extension centers are also helpful with testing, and offer solutions for soils that are too acidic, he said. At the end of each season, pots can be put away with their soil in them, he said.

“New fertilizer will be needed each season, but keeping that soil will save you a lot of money, especially if you have those big containers,” he said.

Mixing Plants, Multiple Plants

Containers can hold multiple plants, including mixed varieties.

“It’s my opinion,” Split said last month, holding up a medium-size clay pot, “that you can get as many plants in here that will fit.”

Vegetables can absolutely be grown in containers, he said. Zucchini, peas, squash and pumpkin are all very good for containers.

“When they star to tendril down, let it,” Split said of pumpkins. “Cut the tendrils after three or four flowers, which will focus the plant’s energy on the pumpkins.”

Plant peas in succession, he suggested.

“Do one area each week for four weeks, to spread out the harvests,” he explained.

Ditto with squash.

“Put mounds in the same place, but at different times, which will again spread blossoms through their plantings,” he said.

Want to grow herbs? Rosemary officinalis in the cen- ter of a pot creates height. Surround that with thyme and/or basil and you’ll have a garden with variety within one container, he said.

“If they don’t fit, push them together,” Split said. “Make them fit. Make them go together. It’s not going to hurt those plants.”

Fertilize and water regularly during the 120-day outdoor growing season, he said, “and you will be successful because you are giving them everything they need to grow inside the container.”

Tomatoes work very well in containers, but make sure to begin with indeterminate plants, he cautioned.

“My neighbor filled his whole garden with tomatoes one year. He spent a fortune,” Split said. “He used the rototiller, brought the rocks up, and got the hose and his shovel and the wheelbarrow going.

“Then a woodchuck showed up, so he had to put a fence around it. He fertilized it, and now he’s not quitting because he put his mortgage into the thing and everybody’s watching him,” he joked.

The neighbor had also filled his garden with determinate plants, which require little to no staking, but are also done after one harvest.

“The middle of August, his garden was done,” Split said. “His entire investment was nil.”

Indeterminate tomatoes in a container — just like the same in the ground — will continue to bloom and fruit and bloom up until the frost, he said. Fill the spaces in containers, he reiterated, with as much as possible.

“Whatever you can fit in there is great,” he said.

Raised Gardens & Vertical Containers

Raised gardens are a form of container gardening, Split said.

The location of these gardens is just as important as the placement of small containers.

While gardens will still need to be placed where plants will receive at least four hours of sun, they can also be advantageously located.

“Put it over the swale in your backyard that you can’t do anything with,” he said, drawing a laugh before also suggesting an unused basketball court. “Again, roots are not going there. There will be no weeds during the first year, either.

On flat ground, Split prefers a simple construction using New England white pine laid on the ground.

Layer a container with flowers that will bloom at different times, suggested Paul Split. A layer of bulbs, such as Stargazer lily, can be covered with a layer of annuals. The bulbs will bloom first, then be cut back. With proper care, the annuals will continue flowering through the end of the season.

“Have four pieces cut, 8 by 8 inches, 8 feet long, which will be heavy enough to lay out without needing to fasten together,” he said. “This is a raised bed. It will contain at least eight inches of growing medium and can be placed almost anywhere the ground is level, without any preparation … meaning no digging.”

An 8- by 8-foot bed will require 1½ yards of material, he said.

Apartment buildings and other locations where horizontal space is a premium does not mean gardens can’t happen.

“Think of those things you see on TV, like a big bedsheet with holes in it,” he said. “It’s got holes in it, and you put the plants in a pouch.”

Any approach to gardening, Split said, should always be about enjoying the effort as well as the resulting plants.

“End of the day, this is a leisure activity after all,” Split encouraged his guests. “This is where you’re supposed to relax. Don’t make yourself too crazy.”

Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.

BY SHANNON HICKS

Lorraine B. Ballato promised her guests “Easy, Breezy Plants,” and in just under an hour that’s exactly what she delivered.

Ballato was one of the guest speakers at the 2023 CT Flower & Garden Show. The Brookfield resident and expert horticulturist and hydrangea expert breezed through 38 trees, annuals, vegetables, perennials and shrubs, all hardy to Connecticut’s growing region.

The selections, she promised, would offer home gardeners low to no maintenance and great performance.

“We want the plants to do what the growers and the breeders and the garden centers and all the advertisements tell us that they’re going to do,” she said.

All of her recommendations, she added, were Proven Winners, Pennsylvania Gold Medal, Green Ribbon Native Plants, and other award-winning selections. Many were also natives.

“Natives by their very nature do better,” she said.

Accompanied by images of every plant, Ballato began with four Proven Winner selections. Among those was Euphorbia Diamond Collection, which she called a “bulletproof” plant. An annual in the same family as poinsettia, Ballato said she has grown “every single one of them, in the ground, in the container, and you get this nice white baby’s breath kind of a plant without the demands of baby’s breath.”

It does well in sun and shade, “it’s not fussy about soil,” and deer do not like the plant because it releases a sap as soon as its stem is broken.

“They look really great, and there are three now in that collection,” she said.

A Pennsylvania Award Winner, Coralbells ‘Caramel’ (Heuchera) was among the plants found within the flower and garden show. Prides Corner Farms included Coralbells ‘Caramel’ as a display of shade plants at the base of a large tree.

“Don’t give it too much sun, because it won’t be happy,” she cautioned. “It’s going to do really, really well for you.”

Natives, she later noted when speaking about sweet aza-