Small Scale Gardening Offers Big Benefits
Container Gardens and Small Spaces Work Together
Backyard gardening is on the rise. Many homeowners who never before considered a garden are now taking up spades, shovels, and watering cans in order to reap the benefits that come with creating and tending a garden. Gardening is not only a way to create something beautiful for people and animals to enjoy, it is a means of providing the family with fresh and nutritionally superior produce. Gardening also offers many health benefits that include improved flexibility, increased strength and stamina, and decreased stress.
Gardening without a Backyard
If you live in an apartment, condo, or other small space, though, you may feel that gardening is not a possibility. How can gardening be accomplished when there is no backyard in which to plant? Apartment dwellers can still reap the benefits of gardening because it can be done on a smaller scale. Container gardening or garden boxes allows you to create beautiful landscapes in miniature that can be easily tended on a balcony, next to a sunny window, or in a window box.
How to Choose Your Garden Planters
Choosing the right garden planters for your container garden depends on the space available. First, consider the size of the area where the garden planters will be located. Then, decide which shape would work best — square, rectangle, or circle. What material is preferred — natural wood, sturdy resin, metal, or clay? Be sure that the garden planters you choose are safe for growing edible plants, if that is your goal.
Planning Your Miniature Garden
Once you have selected your garden planters, decide what you would like to grow in your new garden. Containers can support a wide variety of plants, including herbs, vegetables, flowers, small shrubs, grasses, and vines. Not all plants like to live in containers, though, so be sure to select varieties that are known to be suitable container plants. Combining different plants in a container provides visual interest: choose plants of varying colors, sizes, and textures to give your container the feel of a “bouquet.” Be sure to choose plants with the same or similar lighting and watering requirements to ensure proper care for all of the plants.
Living in a small space does not mean that you can’t enjoy the benefits of growing and tending a garden. In fact, container gardening provides some added benefits that traditional gardening cannot offer. Small scale gardening using garden planters costs less and requires less maintenance than larger outdoor gardens, so not only can you enjoy the health benefits of gardening, you can also enjoy the money and time saved in the process.