How To Care For A Container Garden With Garden Pots

With some basic gardening skills, you can ensure a successful container garden. Starting with the containers themselves, make sure that any garden pots made from porous materials (such as terracotta or wood) are sealed on the inside with a quality water sealant. Otherwise, the pots will soak up much of the water meant for your plants.

Watering Your Plants

It's just as important not to underwater as it is not to over water. To catch any extra water and keep it from rotting your patio or deck, most garden pots will have a saucer or bowl placed underneath. You should try to water your container garden by filling up the saucers. This is the best way to water as it help you avoid over watering and spilling the water over the top of the saucer. By doing this, the water will feed the roots of your plants by seeping up through the hole in the bottom of the garden pot.

Watering your plants on the top surface of the soil is another way you can water. However, if you do, avoid over watering by filling it a little at a time (about a cup or so) and be sure to keep an eye on how much water seeps into the saucer. Try not to overfill the saucer. Use a hand sprayer to spray your houseplants with rain or bottled water. This will keep calcium from forming on the leaves.

Plant Food

Since pots are generally small, the nutrients in most potting soils don't last much more than five or six weeks. Therefore, you will need to replenish the soil with vital nutrients. Plant food generally comes in liquid or granular forms. Slow-release granules are recommended as they last a long time and keep a steady supply of food going to the plants.

Pest Control

The two main types of insecticides are Systemic and Contact. Systemic works by pouring the insecticide onto the soil. It is then absorbed through the root system then up through the plant. This works best for pests under the soil and for leaf eating bugs as they ingest the poison.

The next type of insecticide is the contact type which is sprayed directly onto the insects. It should work rather quickly but you might have to repeat the application after a few days depending on the amount of infestation is going on.

With loving care (and sufficient monitoring), you are sure to have satisfying results with a thriving container garden.

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