How to Plant in Containers

Planting in containers can be lots of fun. I added a bunch of containers to my yard this year. I planted vegetables, herbs and flowers. I found a couple sunny spots outside and waited patiently for them to grow. They’ve added beauty beside my front door and tasty food for my meals. ​

Here’s how you can start growing plants in containers too.

1.   Get Some Containers
Buy, acquire or re-purpose a container into a planter. Glass jars and buckets make neat planters. The planter can either have drainage holes in the bottom or not. If it doesn’t have holes in the bottom, you can make holes yourself or go without. The drainage holes help the excess water leave the planter.

2.   Put rocks in your Planter
You can put rocks in the bottom of your planter to make it heavier so:

• If the planter is top heavy and could fall over
• It doesn’t easily knock over if it gets bumped
• If the plant has potential to grow tall to make it top heavy and fall

You can skip this step if you don’t need to make your planter heavier.
Putting rocks in the bottom of a pot will not help with drainage. This is a myth. Too many rocks in a planter take up precious space for the roots of the plant. This can cause the plant not to grow well.

3.   Fill your planter with soil
You can choose to use a couple different types of soil for your planter. A few key point about choosing soil for you planter:

• It needs to drain water well
• It needs to have the right nutrients
• It needs to offer air

Choose whichever soil below that makes the most sense for you and what you’re planting.

• Potting soil – found at your local home store in the gardening section
• Soil from your garden – easily available to you though you may want to add some extra nutrients
• Soil from another gardener – ask what type of plants they’re growing in the soil so see if it’ll work for what you plan to grow
• Homemade potting soil – there’s recipes online. They consist of peat moss, perlite, compost, garden soil and nutrients

4.   Plant your seeds or seedlings
Read the instructions that come with your seeds. Then begin planting!
If you’re planning seedlings, you’ll need to be gentle. Be careful not to break the roots. Dig a hole in the planter. It should be twice the width and the same depth as the seedling. Then take the seedling and:

• Gently squeeze all around the container to soften the soil
• Place your hand around the base of the seedling and grab the edge of the pot.
• Tip the pot upside down so the seedling goes between your fingers and the soil sits in your hand
• Flip your seedling into the hole of the planter, soil down
• Fill in the space with soil

5.   Watering
Water once you’re done planting. When you need to water next will depend on a couple things:

• The type of the plant – some plants don’t need much water, (think cacti and succulents) while others are big drinkers (think Impatiens, Begonias)
• The location of your plant – is it indoors
• The weather – is it outdoors and there’s a hot spell

Water your plant when you place a finger in the soil and it’s dry up to your second knuckle.
If you planter has drain hole, the excess water drains through to the bottom and out the holes. Make sure you have a container to catch this water if you don’t want it to go everywhere.
If you don’t have drain holes in your planter, the water will sit in the bottom. When the plant needs more water, it’ll use it. If you over water, the soil can become too wet and cause issues.

If you don’t have success with growing your plants, don’t be discouraged. We’ve all been there. Plants don’t grow for a variety of reasons. If you’ve used soil from your garden, maybe it was lacking in nutrients

• Maybe the seeds you bought were duds
• Maybe the seeds didn’t germinate
• Did you over water
• Did you under water

Do a bit of research, adjust what you’re doing and try again.

Look around your house and see what container you already have so you can start planting today!
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