Container Gardening

"Master gardeners" talk about container gardening.

But if you’re like me, you want your yard to look great, but you don’t want to have to work at it.

Yeah – I’m the lazy gardener.

So, when I started looking at my backyard and noticing that it was looking a little bedraggled, I had to do something quick.

I decided that a few cute pots would be the trick.

Using pots is something that I’ve wanted to try for a while, but just didn’t take the plunge…

I started out by really thinking about the area of my yard that the containers would be in.

Full sun, all day. Hot as heck.

Then I started pondering what I wanted from the container gardening plants.

A bit of shade to sit in while splashing in the pool.

Lastly, I thought about how low my bank balance was…

So, cheap materials.

I found two whimsical pots on sale at a local gardening center.

They are pretty big so they will hold a lot of soil.

More soil = less watering = lazy gardener’s friend

Then the hunt was on for plants.

Most gardening stores have a “Half-dead and dying” section that’s really cheap. I shop this section frequently for plants that look bad, but are easy to bring back to life.

This time I was lucky enough to find purple and yellow Lantana for $0.75 each.

Lantana grows like a weed in my yard… so I knew I could make these little plants happy again with some container gardening.

Finally, I was on the hunt for some shade.

Areca palms would do the trick. They are casual, cheap and fun.

With a little sweat, suntan lotion and muscles I ended up with two adorable little pots of goodness by my pool.

What’s the total cost?

Pots: $13 x 2 = 26

Lantana: $0.75 x 6 = $4.50

Areca Palms: $6.99 x 2 = $13.98

Soil: $4.97 x 2 = $9.94

Total: $54.42

Not too bad for something that will last a long time!

Have questions? Contact me about container gardening.