Using Containers in Your Shady Space

Currently, the trend for home gardening is container gardening. Using containers, you can simplify your work load and add color and shape to small or dull looking areas.

Here are some tips to get you started: Stuff your pots with as much plant material as possible. This gives your pot a fuller look and allows you to include a variety of colors and textures. Use slow release fertilizer after planting to cut down on the number of times you will need to fertilize. Change the plants on a seasonal basis to maintain color. Plant containers in groups, varying the size and height of pots. Remove dead leaves or blooms weekly to keep your plants healthy and looking good.

 

What kind of media is best in containers? The most important factor in choosing the right media to use in a pot is drainage. If you use regular soil, chances are that it will be compact and stay too wet all the time, especially if it is clay.

Generally, you are better off buying a prepared soilless mix for container growing because it is free of weeds, often contains added nutrients to help plants grow, and will not be compact like soil from your garden may be. Choose a potting soil that will provide support for plants as they grow, and one that will help retain some moisture. A peat and perlite or peat and vermiculite mixture is usually a good choice.

Some great plants to try in your shade containers

Fuschia 'Gartenmeister' Standard Dicentra exima Begonia richmond alba Heuchera 'Plum Pudding' Coleus 'Compact Red' Impatiens, dark pink Aspenidum bulbiferum

Be aware of freezing temperatures for container plants that you want to return the following year. Freezing temperatures can easily damage your plants when they are in pots. Because there is little insulation around the roots of plants in pots, you face the prospect of losing a plant in a pot if there is an extended freeze. This applies to all plants, even ones that would survive the freeze if they were in the ground. The soil around the roots may freeze, and the roots are close to the outside of the pot. So the roots may freeze. Also, water in the soil is unavailable when it is in the form of ice. This can easily end the life of your plant. To save your plants from freezing, either bring them indoors, or cover the pots with blankets

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