How to Garden in Pots
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Find wonderful containers for your plants that fit into the style of your balcony, patio or "outdoor room." Pots can be traditional clay, cement or even plastic so long as they have proper drainage holes in the bottom. Or put plain clay pots in larger "cache" pots or wooden containers that fit your decor. Cache pots insulate and conserve moisture and give you the added flexibility of being able to change their contents without having to dig everything out and get dirt all over. - 2
Choose pots or containers that are large enough for your plants. Plants should grow about one and a half times the width of their pots and as much as twice as tall. Some plants, like geraniums, flower better with smaller pots, but most vegetables want plenty of room for roots. Generally, the more room a plant's "feet" have, the better it will be able to "support" itself, both physically and in gathering nutrients. You can grow almost anything in a pot that's large enough, but pots that are too small require constant attention. - 3
Put stones, shards of broken clay pots or thick wicks in the bottom of pots to keep the soil from washing out with water. Then fill your pots with sterile potting mix made from equal parts sterile soil, sand, peat or sphagnum moss, perlite or other inert media and a dash of compost for fertility. If you buy your potting soil, get "soilless medium"; avoid potting soil with fertilizer unless the fertilizer is a slow-release type. Fill your pots to an inch or two below the rims, settling the soil by lifting the pot a bit and "bumping" it down as you fill. - 4
Assemble your "chorus" and pot up "soloists." Put plants that have similar or "complementary" requirements together. Feel free to plant red leaf lettuce with your chrysanthemums---they have similar moisture requirements and complementary nutrient needs. Put "companion plants" like tomato and basil in big pots together. Put no more than three varieties in a pot together and choose a variety of sizes, shapes and colors when possible. Plant a few dramatic specimens, like roses, that would rather not have company and are dramatic enough by themselves. - 5
Arrange pots in sunny paces according to light needs of plants---remember that you can always move them to other places for entertaining. Put very large pots on bases with furniture rollers so that they can be moved for evening meals or large gatherings. Arrange groups of three or more pots---use odd numbers because they make more visually "active" pictures. Try to create "schemes" for groupings; complementary, monotone shades, pastels and primary colors all make your containers look like part of a whole picture.
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