A good place for any gardening beginner to start is container gardening. If you like to grow plants but cannot afford the space for a proper garden, a container garden is the answer for you.
Container gardens have the advantage in that they are movable (you can relocate them easily without harming your plants), they are easy to expand (you can add and remove containers or pots as you desire, start small and expand slowly) and they also require much less space and maintenance than regular gardens. Additionally, Container gardens usually cost less.
If you are living in an apartment unit in an urban estate where land is expensive, you might be interested in container gardening. Althought some plants cannot be grown in a pot because they take up too much space (such as pear trees), but container gardening is still extremely useful for starters.
Beginning a container garden is simple if you know a little basic gardening. Starting with easy plants such as chili and onion may be a good idea, they don’t grow too huge and may be grown inside the house. Buy a few clay pots with holes on the bottom and come with a drainage pan which allows excess water to drain off, preventing the soil from becoming soaked (soil should be damp not soaked). Buy some good topsoil from a plant nursery with the appropriate mineral content and PH level for the plants that you want to grow.
In container vegetable gardening, pests are not as much a concern though they can become a problem if conditions are bad. To prevent harmful pests and insects from breeding, do not let stagnant water to collect in unused pots and drainage pans, flip them upside down to prevent this from happening.
Placing the containers inside the house can have advantages, particularly if the outdoor weather is too chilly. Keep in mind that soil contains many harmful organisms and therefore should be stored apart from edible items and sensitive equipment.
That’s about it for basic container gardening. To learn more, try it out yourself!. You can also refer to a useful guide on getting started on gardening. Good luck!
8C8 has a blog all about gardening at http://gardening-for-beginners.blogspot.com
