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Watering the Container Garden

Maintaining the health of your container gardens is easy: even with this oppressive heat and scattered chances of rain. It all comes down to proper watering.

Container Size:  Your container garden may have seemed large when you were planting it: that was a lot of potting soil! In fact, many are, in relationship to the number of plants within, on the small side. The smaller the container, the faster the soil will heat up and dry out. This is in addition to the plants pulling in all the moisture they can. Always opt for a larger pot when space allows. The more soil it contains, the easier it is to keep the roots cool and the soil moist.

Generously Water: Water till it flows out the bottom of the pot. 

Food for Thought: Because we have to water container gardens often, sometimes twice a day, nutrients are washed out of the soil. Feeding your plants regularly will help them thrive.

Loosen Up: I’ve noticed in my containers, the top of the soil can get tight and water may bead up and flow down the side of the pot. When I think I’ve watered enough, a quick finger check reveals dry soil in the center of the pot. I like to loosen the soil in my containers, if only the top inch or so. I’ve observed that when I do this and water lightly and for a long time, the water is flowing through the soil, not along the sides of the container. 

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