Convert your home into a garden part 1

Pot gardening is an art

I have written number of articles based on my father’s books (he was an agricultural engineer from the world renowned Naini Institute of agricultural. He was an expert on Gardening besides the fundamental art of growing or cultivating vegetables, herbs, fruits, flowers or trees in a farm or vast spread lands as an expert on his subject. Generally, as we know the agricultural activities are for the welfare of the society done either for its economic benefits or aesthetic values besides for keeping the human fulfilled.

However in the past few decades or so, gardening is also increasingly being used as a tool for other purposes such as improving the physical and mental health, developing social ability, providing educations and therapeutic cures etc. One of the most popular way of gardening is the container gardening.

Container gardening simply means growing flowers, vegetables fruits etc in a container or pots. These containers are then placed in any suitable places such as rooftops, balcony, verandah, indoors etc. The containers can even be hung overhead. Such types of gardening are more popular among people who do not have sufficient plot of lands for doing the traditional gardening. When planning for the container gardening. However, there are certain points which are worth keeping in mind ie plants to be grown, the containers to be used and the place for keeping the containers. Let’s look at them-

Select the plants carefully

Most of the plants can be successfully grown in a container as long as the container does not restrict its growth. Growing very big plants which require lots of space for growth may not produce good results. Apart from what to grow another question that a gardener often faces in containing gardening is whether to grow a single plant in a single container or many plants in a single container.

Many prefer to take the safest way of growing a single plant in a single container. But growing many plants together in a single container might be more appealing, as often it gives an impression of being full. Also various studies have indicated that the presence of one plant may promote the growth of other. Such companion plants benefit each other’s by repelling the insects, releasing chemicals that promotes growth and in case of leguminous plants by providing the nutrients needed by the others.

Be careful

On the other hand, the presence of some plant has adverse impacts on the growth of other plants as they either compete for the same nutrients or one of them releases chemicals that inhibit the growth of others. So, if you are planning to grow few plants together, identifying the compatible plants would prove to be more beneficial.

Another important factor to be considered when growing plants together in a container is identifying their basic requirements of resources such as sunlight, water, temperature etc. For instance, it is bound to be a failure if shade loving plants like ferns, begonia etc are grown together with plants that prefer direct intense sunlight such as cacti, ixora, begonia etc.

Image source https://pixabay.com/en/flowerpot-flowers-deco-flower-1124746/