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Container Gardening Annuals

No matter what the space limitations, the planting of annuals in a container makes gardening a hobby that anyone can enjoy.

 Container gardening is your ticket to great blooming annuals. Most annuals are easy care plants, quick growing, and fast to bloom. They readily adapt to container life if provided with enough space, enough sun and enough water (with adequate drainage, of course!).

Use autumn as a time to get a head start on next season’s annuals’ container gardening. Deciding on your annuals container garden concept, seeds, and plants in advance helps you find the pots and containers that will complete your container garden design.

Start you container garden by determining your goal. Are you gardening simply for the aesthetics of color and style or do you have some practical needs? Choosing a focal point will help you decide on a mixture of flowers, vegetables, and/or fruits that will give you the over-all look and result you want to achieve.

Next choose your containers and pots, first considering the needs of the annual plants you’ve chosen for  your (flower) container garden. Some plants need to breathe and require porous containers such as terra cotta, clay, or wood, while others will thrive in plastic, glass, ceramic or metal containers.

How large will your plants become? Will you plant several plants in one large pot or plant your annuals each in separate pots? For instance, shallow rooted plants, like strawberry cultivars, may do well in a low pot, but need more width for roots to fan out. Although they produce well in containers, they are not aggressive plants and won’t thrive if forced to compete for nutrients and water. On the other hand, you can easily grow an ornamental pepper with a small variety of tomato, like Roma or the Cherry Tomato, trellised behind it. A grouping of spikes adds extra greenery and a focal point to a cheerful pot of petunias or pansies. In fact, some annuals for container gardening will do best if planted in groups of two or more. However, be sure to choose plants with similar characteristics and needs occupy a community pot. And how about a hanging strawberry in your kitchen?

Will your container garden be stationery or will you easily be able to move your plants? Will your garden be confined to one area or will you place several pots in different areas? Those are the questions you have to ask yourself to make a good container garden design.

When you’re ready to plant annuals in your container garden, use only quality potting soils or soil-less potting mixtures purchased from a reputable nursery. Such potting mediums are lighter weight for better drainage than regular garden soil. They are also weed and disease free; many are pre-packed with enough nutrients to get you annuals off to a good start.