Organic Container Gardening
 |
| Fuschia - Angel Earing $11.95 |
.png) |
One of the prime tenets of organic gardening is to create a healthy fertile soil that provides plants with all they need – so growing plants in containers cannot be considered truly organic. Containers however do have a valuable place in our gardens; particularly in urban locations- and they can certainly approximate organic growing, with the proper choice of potting soil mix and without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
Plants can grow in virtually anything but the container should suit the site or design style you have in mind. All containers must have holes in the base for drainage. The bottom of the container should be filled with coarse material before adding the growing mixture.
The soil mixture should be organic, multipurpose, and of high quality whether purchased or home made. In organic container gardening the growing medium should be a richer mix preferably one based on loam or soil. However if you are growing annual type plants a soil less mixture will work just fine, particularly for hanging baskets.
 |
Salvia May Night $19.95
|
 |
When feeding container plants you use the same range of composted organic materials and organic fertilizers that are used in the ground. Apply these as a top dres osing. See Managing Soil Organically for further information. In addition fertilizers such as an All-Purpose Liquid Organic Fertilizer
supply nutrients in a more readily available form can be watered on or applied as a foliar spray.
When growing organic container plants how much and how often you water depends on the container type, plant type, its size in relation to the container, the weather, and the season. Never let the containers dry out- plants are much more prone to problems if they are under watered. And dry soil is difficult to re-wet. Self watering container systems coupled with a Self-Watering Container Mix
work very well to reduce this problem.
As with all organic container gardening keeping plants healthy is the best defense against pests and diseases. Pot bound plants in overcrowded conditions with an erratic water supply will be more prone to pests such as red spider mite and aphids. By using fresh clean soil you can avoid many soil borne pests. Remove sickly and badly infested plants from containers.
Easy Maintenance Self-Watering Containers offered by Gardeners Supply Company
  |
  |
   |
31" Self-Watering Windowbox $34.95  |
Self-Watering Teak Planter $199 |
20" Botanica Planter $59.95 |
|
 |
|