A Container Idea For An Apartment
Patio Or Small Landscape Area

Are you a person that has lived for years in the same apartment and have containers of weeds out in your balcony or patio area?

Planters and pots are becoming more popular every year.

If your area is real small create a garden with three pots.

Put two different size pots in the back with one smaller pot in the front.

Create a triangle look and presto, you have a small landscape area on your balcony or patio.

Below are two different styles of pots to consider in your apartment.

The Tarra Cotta or clay pots come in different sizes and are wonderful for putting different annual or perennial flowers. You can also have your very own herb garden using one or all of the sizes. There is a little secret when planting with this shape container.

Take a piece of soaker hose and put it in the center of the pot. Measure the width at the bottom of the hole so you will be able to insert the hose in the hole.

The piece of soaker hose is great when watering. It evenly distributes the water to each plant. Add your soil and start at the bottom planting your different herbs or flowers. Work your way up the pot. Leave a little room at the top. It doesn't matter if you have a shade or sunny location, there are many different types of shade flowers available for you.

Herbs do great in sunny locations. If you are thinking about an container herb garden, add some sand to your soil mixture. When using just containers, a good mixture of the right soil combination will help ensure your plants a long healthy life.

Purchase a light potting soil. Take a bucket or big bowl and combine with some humus and vermiculite. These three ingredients are great for flowers, herbs, and dwarf shrubs. This is the preparation phase of your garden project.

Herb Growing From Seed tells you step by step how to grow flowers and herbs. The neat thing about a container garden is you can start your own plants from seeds.

The second pot has a topiary wire form in the center. This is a nice touch to your outside look. One of the most common plants to put in the topiary is ivy.

Many climbing vines will also work. Put your roots on one side of the form and begin at the bottom and work your way up putting the ivy or vine throughout the wire.

Start out with a small plant and each new growth spurt will develop into another level in the form. If you have an existing plant, you can transfer into a pot like this one. Put your roots in the same way and weave the plant through the wires.

Put three or more plugs of annual or perennial flowers around the topiary and this makes a wonderful container arrangement for your area. Make sure you add a saucer or catch bowl for the water underneath each pot.

Another suggestion in a container garden is building a wooden trough. This is great near a small patio with some ground available. I wouldn't recommend this trough on a porch apartment patio unless you have some kind of catch basin underneath to take care of excess water. The picture below show you a homemade trough done in a couple of hours.

The trough is made out of pressure treated wood. Three two by eights were used for the sides and bottom. Two two by fours were nailed on each end. Long decking screws were used to connect the wood. This particular trough was built with each end open to allow the water to flow out the trough. You can also close the ends with wood and drill some small holes in the bottom piece of wood to let the excess water escape.

Perennial Iris, Dianthus, Lambs Ear, and Sedum were planted down the trough. This year a couple of annual Dusty Millers were added for a white tone to the greenery. There are so many different possibilities when doing a tough like this one. You can have a whole garden of just evergreen shrubs. Create your herb garden or do a combination of shrubs, herbs and flowers.

Easy Container Gardens (Pamela Crawford's Container Gardening, Vol.2) is a fantastic book for any level gardener. Pamela shares basic ideas and techniques so you can easily have your very own small garden.

Consider putting some basil in along with a tomato plant. A wonderful vegetable side dish at dinner is slicing some tomato pieces, chopping up some basil and sprinkling it over the tomato slice.

Grill or broil and when just about done, add a little of shredded Mozzarella cheese. Fresh Basil and Tomatoes make this side dish delicious.

There are so many different ways to create a wonderful garden project for your apartment, patio or small landscape area using different size planters. You don't have to be envious of big landscape gardens.

Think about your own area in your apartment, by your patio or even if you have a small area in your yard. Using pots and arranging them in a pattern will create a wonderful garden for you and your friends to enjoy. Small areas can be beautiful and remember, this is your special place.