10 Container Garden Tips for Beginners (2024)

Even if you don't have a yard available to you, it's still possible to enjoy container gardening. Once you get the hang of container gardening you might find yourself growing more and more pots each year. But keeping plants in containers alive and thriving doesn't require the same care processes as raising plants that are growing in the ground. Here are some of our best tips for successful container gardens.

• 01 of 10

  Don't Skimp on Drainage

  

  While this may sound like an odd first tip, it can be a matter of life and death for your plants. When there isn't a big enough hole or holes for water to get out of your pot, your soil becomes too wet and the roots of your plants can rot which causes the plant to die.

  The bad news is that many garden pots that are sold simply don't have enough drainage. You can often increase drainage, by drilling, punching or carving bigger holes. However, sometimes it's just easier to buy a pot that does have enough drainage. The minimum size for a drainage hole is 1/2 inch in diameter for small or ​medium-sized pots. For larger sized containers, look for at least an inch in diameter.

  It is a total myth that by adding gravel, pot shards, or stones to the bottom of your container garden, you will increase drainage. Some people even say you don't need drainage holes if you put these things in the bottom of your pots. Unless you are a really attentive container gardener, who can water perfectly, or you have a plant that likes wet soil (and there are some that do), you need holes in your pots -- preferably lots of them.

• 02 of 10

  Evaluate Your Light

  

  People often wildly overestimate how much sun their containers get. While you can find a great plant for almost any amount of light, you have to know how much light your container will get before you choose your plants.

  To figure out how much direct light your container will get, place it where you want it and then time how long the sun hits it. You can also use a sun calculator to determine your sunlight.

• 03 of 10

  Feed Your Plants

  

  Most potting soil has no accessible nutrients for your plants, you need to add those. The vast majority of plants will need fertilizer added to your soil, in order to thrive. You can mix in a slow release fertilizer into a potting mix. To do this, either mix up a big batch of potting soil mixed with fertilizer in a bucket or fill your pot with potting soil and then mix in the fertilizer.

  Then fertilize every week or two with a liquid fertilizer, usually a fish emulsion, seaweed blend. It smells awful but really helps to give plants the nutrition they need.

  See Also

  Top 10 Questions About Container Gardening10 Common Container Gardening Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemContainer Gardening Made Easy: A Beginner's Guide to Choosing the Perfect Pots, Plants, and SoilContainer Gardening Secrets: Ideas to Inspiration

  Many people use a commercial fertilizer, and while it will feed your plants and help them to grow if you start using it, you will have to continue because this type of synthetic fertilizer will kill the beneficial organisms that exist in the soil. Organic gardening depends on these organisms so once you've used a synthetic fertilizer, you will have to stick to it.

• 04 of 10

  Make a List Before You Go to Buy Plants

  

  One of the best ways to avoid plant panic, or at least minimize it, is to decide what you want before you go to the nursery and make a list. This list doesn't even have to have the exact plants, though if you are ambitious, you can go online or look through plant catalogs and decide exactly what you want. Try to create a list at least with the number of pots, the sizes, and where they are going - so you can get plants that fit the pots and know if you need plants for sun or shade or anything in between.

  If possible, it is a great idea to bring either your pot or a picture of your pot with you. Smartphones are great for this. Most nurseries will have someone there who can help you out with your choices. Also, in most nurseries, the plants are organized and labeled for how much sun they require.

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• 05 of 10

  Plant Good Neighbors

  

  When you are choosing plants for your container make sure that they will play well together. This means that all the plants in one pot should all require the same amount of light and moisture. If you combine plants with different needs, some of them will not thrive. So, for example, if you have a plant that requires full sun, you want all the plants you choose for that pot to also require full sun. If you have a plant that likes to dry out between waterings, you don't want to put it in a pot with plants that like it wet.

  To find out what a plant requires, either check the plant tag or if there isn't one, ask a salesperson. If all else fails, try to look it up on the internet.

• 06 of 10

  Read and Save the Plant Tag

  

  Plant tags are critical. They will tell you how big your plant will get, how much light, water, and food it needs and how much care it will need. The tag will also tell you if your plant is annual or perennial and if it's a perennial, what zones it will survive in.

  See Also

  Expert Tips for a Sustainable Container Garden

  The tag will also tell you about your plant's "habit," which means its shape and how it will grow. This is important when considering your container design and how to arrange your plant combinations. For example, if you have a large pot you might want some plants with "upright habits," to give your design height and then some plants with a "mounding habits" for filling in your design. To finish your pot, you might choose plants with "trailing habits," to drape over the sides of your pot.

• 07 of 10

  Acclimate Your Plants

  

  Many plants don't like abrupt changes and if you acclimate them, over a period of time to changes in light, exposure to the elements, water or temperature, they are generally happier. This is particularly important with young plants and is essential for most plants that have spent their lives in the pampered climate of a greenhouse.

  When you buy seedlings in the spring, or if you grow your own from seed, you must harden off your plants. This is a slow and tedious process, but if you don't do it, the chances of your plants thriving will be significantly reduced.

  If you live in a colder climate and plan to overwinter your plants, they will also need an adjustment period to get used to less light and drier air.

• 08 of 10

  The More Potting Soil the Better

  

  There are lots of people out there who will tell you to fill up your containers with all manner of junk - from packing peanuts to milk jugs. While doing this will make your container garden significantly lighter, it will also make it harder to maintain because it will dry out faster.

  The more potting soil you use, the more water retention you will have which will give you a much great margin for error when it comes to both watering and feeding your plants.

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• 09 of 10

  Sometimes Plants Die

  

  The more plants you grow, the more plants you will kill. It's that simple. Sometimes even the most expert gardeners will kill plants. It's a fact of gardening life. The trick is to know when to give up on a plant. In a mixed container garden, it makes sense to give up rather early, so your whole container doesn't look ugly.

  When a plant starts looking dreadful you have a couple of choices. Depending on the plant, you can cut it back dramatically, and hope for the best. For many plants, this is all it takes, and in a few weeks, your plant will come roaring back, happy and beautiful.​

  You can pull out the unhappy plant and put another plant in its place. Depending on how dead and/or precious the plant is, you can try to rehabilitate by repotting it and baby it until it rebounds or you just can't stand the look of it any longer.

  However, if your plant is exhibiting signs of serious disease, take it out immediately, re-pot it and either quarantine or put it in a plastic bag and throw it out.

• 10 of 10

  Garden How You Live

  

  Here's the honest truth – container gardening is hard work. It takes time and attention, and while it doesn't have to be expensive, it can be. Here's some more truth – there is no such thing as a foolproof plant or gardening system – even if you cover all your bases, some plants with thrive and some will not.

  This is both the good news and the bad. All of the uncertainty and hard work makes the whole endeavor exciting, rewarding, and endlessly interesting. To have the most fun and to increase your chances of success with any kind of gardening, assess how you live before you dive in. No matter what the answer is, there are container gardens that will work with your lifestyle. You don't like to water? Grow succulents and other drought-resistant plants. Don't have a lot of extra cash? Make your containers out of found items or haunt yard sales and second-hand stores. If you have a formal entrance and want a more tailored container look choose large containers in classic shapes and plant them with luxurious and eye-catching plants.

  Whatever your style, there are plants that can work for you. You just have to do a little research and experimentation to find what works.