some tips for pot or container gardening

coline3bettson

Hi Rosette ! Greetings from Alberta Canada...
Deciding What to Plant
What kind of light does your site receive?
Whether the site is sunny or shady, it's important to select plants adapted to your conditions. If it's shady, you'll be wasting your time if you plant tomatoes and certain flowers. Group plants with similar care requirements. For example, a sun-loving, drought-tolerant herb and a thirsty, shade-dependent fuchsia could not both thrive in the same container.
What are your space and weight requirements?
All but the smallest dwarf trees need relatively large containers—at least 50-gallon. Generally, shrubs and woody vines require at least 10-gallon containers. Cherry tomatoes can be grown in baskets and 1-gallon pots. Dwarf tomatoes typically require 3- to 5-gallon pots, but old-fashioned slicing tomato varieties need barrels or 30-gallon cans.
Soil Mixes for Containers
Soil in containers should have the same qualities as garden soil. It should not be too heavy or compacted. It should have adequate porosity to allow circulation of air and water. The soil should be loose and friable so that roots can penetrate with ease. Don't use regular garden soil in your containers.
"Soil-less" mixes
Soil-less potting mixes are lightweight and ideal for containers where weight is a consideration, such as window boxes, hanging baskets, and roof gardens. Rhododendrons, camellias, Calluna, and acid-loving plants flourish in these peat-based, soil-less mixes. If you are growing plants that don't like acid soil, add limestone to the soil-less mix.
Soil-less mixes have several drawbacks. They leach nutrients quickly, so feeding is required more often than with soil-based mixes. Soil-less mixes can sometimes be difficult to wet again once they have dried out, and because they retain water, they also can be a problem if you tend to overwater. Because soil-less mixes are lightweight, they sometimes fail to anchor large plants adequately.
Soil-less mixes are composed mostly of vermiculite or perlite and peat moss. Sometimes ground bark is used in place of part of the peat. Mixes with perlite, a lightweight soil conditioner made of popped volcanic rock, are the lightest and fastest draining. Perlite doesn't absorb water but holds it on its surface area. Vermiculite is a popped mica that absorbs water. It drains more slowly than perlite but more quickly than plain peat moss.
Soil-based mixes
Soil-based mixes work better than soil-less mixes for large, heavy plants, especially permanent ones. They generally hold fertilizer longer than soil-less mixes and do not become too wet or too dry as easily.

Soil-less planter mix
(inexpensive, for large planters and raised beds)
* 1 part coarse sand
* 1 part composted bark or sawdust
* 1 part moistened peat moss
* Fertilizer
Featherweight soil-less mix
(for balconies, rooftops, and window boxes)
* 2 parts small nuggets pine or fir bark
* 2 parts ground pine or fir bark
* 1 or 2 parts perlite
* Fertilizer
All-purpose soil-based potting mix
* 1 part commercial potting soil
* 1 part builder's (coarse) sand or perlite
* 1 part screened compost or moistened peat moss
(For moisture-loving plants, add 1 extra part compost)
* Fertilizer
Fertilizer
* Pelletized dolomitic limestone, 1/2 ounce per gallon of mix
* Superphosphate, 1/4 ounce per gallon
* Gypsum (for acid-hating plants), 1/2 ounce per gallon
How much soil do you need?
To determine how much soil you need to fill your containers, use these conversion factors:
1 gallon = 231 cubic inches
1,728 cubic inches = 1 cubic foot
Thus, one cubic foot of soil will fill about seven 1-gallon containers.
How to Plant
Choosing the right size container
Dwarf conifers, cactuses, and broad-leaved evergreens are all relatively slow-growing. Roses, deciduous shrubs, and fruit trees grow faster, and perennials, annuals, and vegetables grow faster yet.
Except for fast-growing annuals, don't put any plant in too large a pot. The roots will have a hard time penetrating the soil, which will then remain wet and cool and susceptible to root rot. Too small a pot is also a problem, because the plant roots will fill the container too quickly. This will starve the plant, and cause it to dry out easily and decline prematurely.
Plant slow- and moderately growing plants in containers approximately one to one and a half times the size of the plant's top growth. With these plants, it will be important to check the roots at least annually to determine whether the plant is outgrowing its container. If it is, repot it into a larger container.
Annual flowers and vegetables multiply in size many times over during one growing season, so they should be planted in pots that will accommodate their mature size. For these fast-growing plants, buy the largest container you can afford.
Planting techniques for any container
No matter which plants you choose, it is important to have your soil mixed, water available, and containers ready before you begin to plant.
Planting cell packs
Cell packs—small plastic cartons of annual flowers and vegetables—are easy to plant. Work as quickly as you can to minimize the length of time roots are exposed to air, and remember to check plants to see if they are rootbound. If the roots are circling around the bottom of the rootball, they are rootbound. Cut off the circling part and loosen the compacted rootball. This may seem like harsh treatment, but your plant will never grow unless you perform this surgery to allow the roots to grow outward.
If you are planting several plants in a container, fill the entire container with soil mix first. Then, using your trowel or hands, make holes for the plants. Make sure the holes are deep enough for the roots to dangle straight down. Roots jammed crookedly into a hole do not grow well.
Planting bulbs
Set your bulbs in plastic pots and rotate them in and out of your larger planters. This way, when bulbs are done blooming, replacing them with summer annuals is a quick and easy job.
Tulip, narcissus, hyacinth, and iris generally do well in containers for one season, but they should be planted in the garden after that.
Plant these bulbs in fall or winter in containers that are at least 8 inches in diameter, and allow a minimum 12-inch depth for root growth. Plant thickly so that the bulbs almost but don't quite touch. (Give hyacinths more room—about 4 inches on center—because of their leafing pattern.) Fill the container with soil, tamp the soil slightly, then set the bulbs on the tamped mix. Tamping the soil helps guarantee that all bulbs are planted at the same depth and bloom at the same time. Cover the bulbs to within an inch of the container rim and moisten.
Store planted bulbs for winter. Where and how you store them depends on your climate. In moderately cold areas where they are unlikely to freeze solid, you can store the bulbs outdoors in a covered trench or box. In areas of very severe cold, store them indoors in a cool, dark place and cover with sawdust or leaves to moderate the temperature of the soil. Keep the soil evenly moist—not wet—by watering about once a month while the bulbs are in storage. When the weather begins to warm, set the bulbs outside. Once top growth has begun to sprout, you can interplant seedlings of early flowers such as pansy, primrose, and forget-me-not among the bulbs. The flowers will hide the bulb foliage as it yellows.
Many bulbs will grow in containers. Get instructions for planting depth and spacing when you obtain the bulbs. If you want to plant summer bulbs such as lily, gladiolus, and dahlia, look for dwarf varieties that won't require staking.
Planting large plants
Remove the plant from its nursery container by turning it upside down while supporting the rootball. This way you will not injure either the rootball or the canopy of the plant. If the plant is heavy, you may need to lay the container against a bench and tap the sides to loosen the rootball. If the rootball is extremely stubborn, you may need to cut or break the container to release the plant.
Once the plant is out of the container, check the condition of the rootball. Lop any roots that are circling around the bottom. If there is a mat of roots on the bottom of the rootball, cut it away.
Position the plant so that the top of the rootball is about 2 inches below the rim of the container. Then begin gently filling around the plant with your soil mix.
Container Gardening:
Metal containers: the zinc coating that results from galvanizing can be toxic to plants ???
Paper pulp pots ?? Their life span averages about three years.
Plastic-lined baskets, wheelbarrows, chimney flue tiles, large cans, tree trunks, ammunition boxes, concrete culvert segments, farm troughs, crates lined with plastic—
Submerge in water overnight any containers with stubborn stains or dirt.

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