Pocket Gardens and Container Pots
Great things in small spaces.
Pocket gardens and Container gardens are just that… small spaces planted with showy displays of plants and colors designed to bring a splash of life into spaces as small as cracks in the sparest of places.
Pocket gardens, also known as Cottage gardens, are ideal when you have small areas and want to get creative with plantings and presents an ideal opportunity to bring color and texture to the drab spaces of your home.
If this is the type of garden you want, then we’ll begin by assessing the challenges and opportunities the space provides for you. Factors to consider include access to sunlight, water & soil just to list a few. Ongoing maintenance is also to considered. You need to ask yourself how much time and energy you want to put into a pocket garden.
When deciding on the theme of your pocket garden, it is good to know that you have many options in terms of plantings. Some may contain herbs, various greenery and even dwarf varieties. You may even decide to go with small trees and shrubs.
Ideally it is best to choose plants that are considered “low need” and have the ability to sustain themselves to some degree. These also include grasses and succulents. My goal with this garden strategy is to bring the most ideal textures, plants and colors to achieve a complimentary look and feel.
We can also bring container pots and raised beds into the Pocket garden category if your man-made space does not have the surface for a clump of soil in any niches. You might be surprised how much we can do with this method.
When it comes to the size of the containers and raised beds, it simply comes down to the area of space you have decided you want to beautify. One of the things I like best about container gardens is that they are mobile. So, if you decide that you want to change it’s location, the option is certainly available and quite easy to execute.
One of the considerations in these types of gardening is whether or not you would like to bring birds and other flying creatures into your environment. This could include attracting humming birds, butterflies, dragon flies and even song birds by using plantings that naturally appeal to these creatures.
Soil and drainage are also key components of gardening in small spaces. The soil must be of good quality to start in order to build a strong foundation for the plantings. Poor soil will only produce poor, low quality plants. These will be sickly and not live long enough. Nurturing the soil is an ongoing need and should be a priority if you want the best from your small gardens.
Drainage is important so that plants, especially those in container gardens, have enough access to water but not too much. Plants that live with their roots constantly soaking in water will actually quite rapidly die from too much water. Essentially, they drown from the over watering. It’s very important to keep an eye on the soil and how much or how little moisture is present.