Garden Diary: Container Gardening – Hints, Tips and a Garden Tour

For this week’s gardening post and coffee share, I decided to focus on how I use containers to create an inviting illusion, particularly when approaching our entrance door. I have been told that it feels like you’re walking into a secret garden. I will add that, unlike the UK, we do not have a traditional front garden. Our garden is a wraparound. Here in Portugal, I’ve noticed that you do not walk onto a property to ring the doorbell. No, the doorbell is at the entrance gate, which is locked. I found this strange at first, but it does give you a greater sense of privacy. We never walk onto someone’s property, not even friends, without first ringing the bell and then being invited to do so. Many people own dogs, so enter at your own risk.

Why Grow Plants in Containers?

If we were having coffee and you were new to the pros and cons of container gardening, I’d suggest that container gardening is akin to giving plants their own little apartment—cosy, contained, and easy to move. Of course, there are downsides to container gardening, and I struggled to maintain them all in the very hot weather. I wrote about it here:

Garden Diary – I’m Too Hot and so are the Plants!

which resulted in a creative project to downsize the number of pots and amalgamate several individual plants into a mini gardens in larger pots, just like several people sharing an apartment.

So far I’ve created three succulent arrangements. All the plants prefer partial shade or, at the very least, will tolerate it.

In this one, I utilised a cracked terracotta pot and inserted succulents into the broken area.

three succulents of similar colour

and finally, my latest creation

What are the Pros of Container Gardening?

• Flexibility: You can grow plants almost anywhere—balcony, patio, doorstep. Hang pots from branches and utilise outside wall space or add extra height to an arrangement of pots by sitting the pot on an old chair or upturned log.

• We have a tall hedge whose invasive roots prevent planting any new plants in the area.
• Mobility: If a plant isn’t happy in one spot (too much sun, shade, too windy or cold), you can move it. I often do this. Especially when temperatures here regularly reached the mid to high 30C for several weeks and many plants were happy to move into a shaded location.
• Creative: I arrange groups of pots to create interest in different areas.
• Control: Easier to manage soil quality, drainage, and nutrients compared to garden beds.
• Accessibility: When you have limited mobility, as I do, container gardening allows me to enjoy gardening on a different level.

Cons

• Watering: Containers dry out, especially in hot weather, so they need more frequent watering.
• Limited root space: Roots get cramped; some plants won’t thrive without room to spread.
• Nutrient depletion: Soil in pots loses nutrients quickly, so I need to feed the plants regularly. However, I now use the natural green fertiliser I produce rather than the commercial fertiliser
• Container gardening is convenience versus commitment. Containers make life easier in some ways, but they ask for more consistent care in others.

TIPs: I learned the hard way

• Do not plant directly into decorative containers such as bulbous-shaped pots I inherited this pot already planted with a lovely succulent which is now rootbound.

• I suggest using a standard plastic pot as an insert.

• When planting directly into a pot, raise it off the ground to help prevent infestations of ants and leatherjackets.
• Ensure there is adequate drainage to prevent the soil from becoming waterlogged. Some people add a layer of stones at the bottom of the pot. Have you tried this?

My Container Garden in August

Apart from the Bougainvillaea, the plants on the top terrace rarely change throughout the year. The dipladenia usually flowers throughout the winter, as does the hibiscus. I used to have pots of bedding plants for extra colour, but now I don’t bother. Instead, I rely on leaf colour and form.

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Surprisingly, this weeping fig plant has lived outside by the front door for about fifteen years. I’m just relieved that when the green caterpillars ate all my basil plants, they did not touch the weeping fig.

The chain curtain across the front door is meant to deter mosquitoes and flies. It doesn’t. Have you used one?

To my surprise, the dill plant produced interesting seed heads.

The banana tree, after an iffy start, is beginning to thrive. I don’t know how it will fare in the winter. Perhaps we will need to relocate the pot to a more protected position next to the Madagascar cactus palms. We will see. That is the benefit of growing plants in containers.

That’s it for my weekend coffee share for this week, folks. Please share your successes and failures in container gardening.

This post started as Six on Saturday but I got carried away. Sorry Jim.

Related Content:

Garden Diary – The Garden is NOT Just for Plants