Autumn Oak Lane: Why to container garden

Container gardening has become quite the trend in suburban gardens. Backyard spaces overrun by vines of potatoes and tomatoes now tied up in a cloth bucket, freeing up the space to plant flowers such as vinca vines or mums. Several fruit trees can be planted in the place where a raised flower bed would have taken up space. The main benefit behind growing vegetables, herbs, or seedlings in a felt bag allows the plant enough root ventilation through a process called air pruning. Here are four reasons to start a container garden.

1. Air pruning

Air pruning allows for the roots to hit the side of the bag, where they die off, sending signals to the taproot (main root) to send out more fibrous roots so the organic structure is sturdier and can gain more access to nutrients in the soil.

2. Space-saving

Garden beds usually take up a considerable amount of space in the landscape. Using containers allows for vertical space occupancy instead of horizontal ground covering. In place of a normal garden bed, you can now plant petunias, grasses, salvia, or other annual or perennial shrubs. You can even plant a fruit tree from the local nursery. Using a grow bag to plant trees allows for root structures to form in healthy bundles.

3. Pest control

Putting plants in the ground is always a good move. Depending on the area, there may be infestations of spider mites or other pests. Plotting trees and other shrubs above ground allow for an easier eye on plant pests. Root rot and other below-ground pests will be cut to pretty much nonexistent levels.

4. Aesthetics

Grow bags come in a plethora of colors. You can mix and match to add color to your garden. From tomato red to tangerine orange and lilac-pink, there are many ways to spice up the creativity in your garden space.

Grow bags allow for an apartment garden to live its life to the fullest, making the flower bed, once immobile, now portable by having handles on the side. An easy candidate to take with you to college or a metro area that doesn’t have a community garden. Check out some grow bags here!