Spring has sprung! If you’re looking for some good container gardening reading on a lazy Sunday, look no farther than this collection of posts…
PLANNING
- 10 Questions to Ask Yourself When Planning Your Garden: If you want to have a happy, healthy container garden that doesn’t leave you penniless, consider these questions.
- Selecting the Perfect Pots for Your Container Garden: Things to think about when it comes to pot materials, color and matching plants to pots.
- 5 Sneaky Tips to Create a Smokin’ Hot Container Garden: Behind the scenes ways to improve how your balcony garden looks or functions.
- Using a Color Wheel to Create a Stunning Balcony Garden: An easy way to pick flower, leaf and pot colors that are guaranteed to look great together.
CONTAINER IDEAS
- A Container Recipe for Bright Shade: An easy 1-2-3 plan for a pot that will be placed in the shade.
- Plant Combination Ideas for Beautiful Container Gardens: Included are plans for a hummingbird garden, apple “orchard,” drought tolerant container and more!
- Calendula & Bacopa Windowbox: Check out this cheery windowbox idea.
- Rose Container Recipes: Two detailed ideas for using roses in a container design and several more ideas to help you incorporate roses into your balcony garden.
- More Plant Combinations: You can never have too many ideas when it comes to which plants look good together!
EDIBLE CONTAINER GARDENING
- Keep Your Mind Out of the Gutter: But it’s okay to garden in one! Check out the plants you can grow in a rain gutter.
- 3 Great Ways to Grow More Vegetables on Your Balcony: A few ideas to make your balcony as efficient as possible.
- Tasty Flowers and How to Eat Them: A good way to kill two birds with one stone is to grow edible flowers. You get to grow pretty flowers and something you can eat all in one plant.
- Easy to Grow Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs: A list of great edible plants with links to information on how to grow them organically.
- Grow Your Own Food So Your Kids Will Eat Healthily: Tips for getting kids involved in growing food in order to entice them into eating the veggies they grow.
BIRDS, BEES AND BUTTERFLIES
- Welcoming Wildlife to Your Balcony: A great book about creating backyard and balcony habitats for wildlife.
- Bees Favorite Colors Are Blue and Yellow: Three things to look for in a flower if you’re trying to attract bees.
- Grow Your Own Bird Feeder: This is a great guest post from Janet Luke about growing birdhouse gourds on your balcony.
- DIY Modern Bird Feeder: My brother figured out how to recreate this designer bird feeder.
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Photo by Daryl Mitchell
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
those are very nice containers — great looking containers always catch my eye!
Me too Annie!
Awesome resources here, Fern! Thanks!
I’m SO EXCITED to find your blog! I’m a condo dweller, too, and have a cool wine barrel all ready to plant something in, I just didn’t know where to start. YAY!
Fern, I’ve been wondering what is that bright yellow-green plant spilling over the pot on the left in the picture? I think I want to find one…
Mary–It’s Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’, commonly called Golden Creeping Jenny.
Oh wow those leaves are humongous compared to my regular creeping jenny! Thanks Fern!
Mary C.–The leaves of Golden Creeping Jenny are about the size of a quarter. How big are the leaves on your plant?
Most of the larger leaves are 1/4″ to 3/8″ in diameter. It’s very pettite.
Plants in a rain gutter? What a creative idea! Hey do you know of any good earth friendly spray to protect your flowers against insects? I found Safer Brand’s EndAll spray online and was curious if you’ve tried it. It’s easily broken down by nature and is safe to use up to the day of harvest.
Travis–I don’t think it is ever a good idea to spray anything–allegedly environmentally friendly or not–on a plant before a problem even arises. I would suggest implementing good gardening practices to prevent pest infestations in the first place. Spraying prophylactically will kill beneficial insects like ladybugs, bees, and butterflies, in addition to the bad guys. I have no experience with the Safer Brand, but I find it ironic that their name is “Safer” and not “Safe.” Seems like you might want to take a closer look at the ingredients.