CONTAINER GARDENING 101
Plants grow flowers to pollinate new flowers. While the full cycle won’t happen in your container garden, you will see a single plant grow multiple stems with flowers at different rates throughout the season. Each stem blooms for a week or so.
Some flowers lose their petals and deadhead themselves while others require you to snap the stem at the base for it to encourage further blooming. In the summer, geraniums are the most obvious flower that needs deadheading.
When it looks like a bloom has seen better days, it’s likely ready to be deadheaded. Don’t just pull the petals off or you’ll have an empty stem for the duration of the season. Rather, snap or cut the stem at lowest point possible. This is usually close to the central stem of the plant. In a few days, you should see the beginnings of new flowers.
April showers bring May flowers. That may be true, but it won’t be enough to get you through June, July, and August. Water early in the morning or later in the evening when it’s cooler. This allows the water to saturate the soil and get all the way down to the bottom of the roots and soil below where the roots need to grow.
To error is human but to not properly aerate your soil makes it really hard for the roots of your plants to spread and get established. Before planting, always chop up the existing soil and mix it well with the new soil. Lots of air pockets give the roots a place to go when they grow.
I’m hungry, is my container garden? Probably, but it doesn’t do coffee so skip the coffee grounds in your container garden. Instead, Semi Green Thumb recommends using a slow release plant food like Osmocote each season. It’s available at Menards, Home Depot, and the garden centers. Sprinkle on the soil as your final step based on the recommendations on the bottle.