Container Gardening
Growing plants in containers solves many problems facing the gardener, but it also creates a few unique problems.
The advantages are that you can to a degree control the plants conditions. For example if you live in a chalky soil area and wish to grow azaleas or other acid loving plants you have a problem. If you opt to grow them in pots you can use a sedge type peat combined with dressings of iron sulphate or flowers of sulphur to maintain a low or acid pH. (Ericaceous compost helps create the ideal environment)
There many advantages to using containers some of which do not spring to mind immediately such as the additional height the plant gains, no need to wait for it to grow. Another advantage is that using containers means that you can experiment with different combinations of plants moving them around changing how they interact together with regard to the heights, leaf colour and flower colour.
As the seasons change you can rearrange the pot to highlight the most interesting plant, placing the flowing plants at the front.
Container growing also provides its own special problems, such as wine weevils and a few other pest problems. The soil or compost have there own set of requirements such as the need to maintain the correct pH. For example if you are growing acid loving plants and watering with tap water, pH in the container will rise and you will need to counter act this. One obvious draw back with pots is its dependence on you to provide water on a daily bases in the summer. However micro irrigation systems often provide the solution. When considering irrigation you must first explore how the plant grows naturally. In the case of a fern it would be better to water as a fine spay over the whole plant but for petunias in containers the same method will greatly reduce flowering.
Simple weed control in containers
Creating the ideal growing conditions for your prized plants also means that you have created the ideal conditions for the unwanted weeds.
Here is a simple method of controling the weeds. Once you have finished potting up your plant in the container use the compost bag or sack to form a mulch mat by cutting it to shape to cover the top of the pot. Next covers with gravel, cobbles, or a heavy grade bark mulch. Finally pierce a 10 to 12 holes in the plastic cover to allow the water through. Combined with drip irrigation this makes an easy to maintain plant pot
