With little soil or space, selecting the right plants and containers can result in a beautiful, functional patio, deck, balcony, walkway or doorstep. Containers provide you more control over soil, watering, sun and shade; allowing you to make your statement in the garden. Container gardening is also mobile gardening, with the flexibility to start small in building your Garden of Eden and quickly change your focal points with the seasons, new found plant treasures or your mood.

While the possibilities for container gardening are endless, consider the following -

* Don't limit yourself to annuals. Perennials can be mixed with bulbs and annuals for a long-blooming interesting display.

* Water containers until it runs out the drainage holes, wait five minutes and do it again, and may be third time. Large containers can regularly require a gallon of water.

* Prune any scraggly stem and deadhead flowers.

* Check the flower guides for sunlight requirements for each plant.

* Spin containers every couple of days to provide even sunlight.

You can grow almost anything in a container garden with virtually no limit to the type of container you can use. Even if anything that holds soil, is a container, make sure every container has sufficient drainage. Plenty of pot shards or gravel in the base will help maintain good drainage. If there is any question about adequate container drainage, drill or punch additional holes. Roots rot in waterlogged soil.

*Put a regular pot inside a decorative container, if you do not want holes in your planter. This can benefit some heavy drinking plants, but they should not sit in water for an extended period.

* Setting the container on a solid surface or floor reduces drainage. Slightly raise the container off the floor with bricks or wood blocks.

* A clay pot “breathes,” allowing more air to the plant’s roots, but will require watering more often.

* Cheap plastic pots may deteriorate in direct sunlight and terra cotta pots dry out rapidly. Glazed ceramic pots, though excellent containers, may require drainage holes.

* Redwood and cedar are best, but all wooden containers eventually rot. Don't use any wood that has been treated with Penta or Creosote.

* A pot with a flared top allows the plant to be repotted more easily.

* Small pots restrict the root area and dry out very quickly. The size and desired number of plants to be grown should determine the size of the container used. A larger pot helps protect the plant’s roots from high and low temperatures.

* Gravel or newspaper in the bottom of the pot helps to prevent soil loss.

* Use light-colored containers to decrease heat absorption and discourage uneven root growth and keep baskets out of the afternoon sun.

* Closely monitor porous clay pots, smaller containers, sun or wind exposed plants for moisture loss.

Container soil
Roots require both air and water with their fertilizer. Container soil must be porous enough to drain rapidly, yet retain moisture. Soil or dirt is typically too heavy and holds too much moisture. Most lightweight packaged potting mixes from the garden center will work. If your container will be of any size, we recommend your own mix: one part peat moss, one part garden loam or sandy soil (or potting mixture), and one part coarse sand. A higher percentage of soil-based potting mix is best for long-term planting. Compost or composted bark are always good additives. Depending on the plants, lime may be needed. Commercial potting mixes sometimes have a high percentage of slightly acidic composted bark. This is also a good time to add your slow-release fertilizer to the mix. Leave room at the top of the container for water and maybe mulch. A mulch on top of the soil mix helps retain water.

Fertilizer
Depending on the plant requirements, top performance may require a variety of nutritional elements, and remember watering washes out nutrients. We recommend slow release fertilizers (with trace elements) and frequent watering with diluted liquid fertilizer - if you want to be the envy of friends and neighbors. Occasional application of liquid fish emulsion, liquid seaweed or compost will also add trace elements. Do not overdose with any fertilizer, excess fertilizer can harm, even burn and kill, your plants.

Here are a couple of final thoughts for container planting:

*Planting in containers can be a temporary plan to develop root systems, or can help determine whether you like its attributes well enough to place the plant permanently in your garden.

*A plant can stay in the same pot for many years but will need annual feeding with a slow- or controlled-release fertilizer. Scraping off and replacing the top few inches of potting mix also helps to keep older plants growing happily. Planted in a containers, perennial plants (and their offspring) will eventually become rootbound, requiring them to be stepped up to larger pots or be divided.

*Most any perennial can be grown in a container. As a general rule of thumb the minimum container size should be 1 gallon capacity for each foot of potential growth, i.e. 1 foot = 1 gallon, 3 feet = 3 gallons.

*Traditional settings demand classic, quality pots, while contemporary minimalist gardens can accommodate sculptural containers with simple lines and those made of innovative materials. Rustic gardens require natural-looking containers sympathetic to their environment.

*Overwintering can be a concern for some plants. If your local temperatures fall below 15F, you may need to provide some protection against the cold. Set the pots in a bed of mulch or for larger containers, use of burlap or poly foam sheets wraps. You may want to overwinter some of your containers in a unheated garage or basement, but be sure to water occasionally. In zone 7, we over wintered thousands of plants in containers at the nursery without extra protection. The only plant the we seem to have difficulty with are purple coneflowers.