How to Build a Container Garden
Never let it be said that container gardens are second best to gardens in the soil. They may be labour-intensive, but, as a reward, they can be as rich and extravagant as your pocket and patience will allow.
Containers solve many problems for would-be gardeners. They are the answer for a paved town courtyard and a roof terrace ten storeys high, and an excellent solution for people who cannot bend easily to dig. They are an ideal finishing touch: an array of window boxes can complete a house front. Whatever the reason, the choice of containers is enormous.
However, certain ground rules need to be borne in mind. You need to consider the work involved in occasional changes of soil and the ease of access; most important of all, you need to consider watering. Do the containers have adequate drainage? Is there a water supply nearby? Will you be able to use liquid feeds? What will happen if you are away for a weekend or on holiday? Watering is by far the greatest chore of container gardening and it needs to be done generously and regularly. Rain is never adequate on its own and can fool you into thinking the containers are wetter then they really are. Automatic irrigation is well worth considering for a large container garden.
It is important to decide whether to plant for a 12-month display or to let the containers remain empty during the winter. Remember that many plants which would be hardy enough in the ground may succumb to the cold when their roots are raised up in a container open to frosts. Frozen, waterlogged soil can also burst containers as it expands. Conversely, containers in sun can get very hot in summer and your choice of plants needs to be governed by this fact: it is all too easy to bake the roots of plants.
With these practical points in mind, you are free to choose from the gamut of container gardening styles. Formal courtyards can be graced with potted bays, sentinel cypresses, camellias or bamboos. In addition, some especially beautiful pots may look best not planted but used as an architectural contrast. Large concrete planters can be filled with trees and shrubs, almost as if they were in the ground. Stone troughs can be planted as miniature gardens of alpines or screes, but they can equally be filled with a single carpeting plant as a piece of living sculpture.
In a more cottagey style, tubs, pots and even baskets of all shapes and sizes can be clustered to form splashes of colour, by doorways or lining steps. Window boxes and hanging baskets blend in well with this style and provide an opportunity for bold or restful incidental planting in prime locations.
With the aid of a circulating pump, even water can be a feature of container gardens, either as a small fountain or trickling over pebbles from one container to another. Certainly such details add great charm.
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