Plants and Flowers

Container flowers may be either annuals or perennials. They either live their full life cycle from seed in one growing season as annuals, or bloom in the second year and last for some years as perennials.
Gardeners often cannot resist annuals’ temptation, since these flowers add bright color to any flower-bed. Petunias, for instance, thrive in almost any type of container and are easy to grow, though they can not stand high heat every afternoon. If you desire color during those mild winter months, then primroses will be the best choice for you, as they bloom from winter to spring.
Annuals are so easy. And flowering perennials last longer than a few months or so. You should remember, that perennials can grow larger over time so they can fill rather large space of your deck that might look overwhelming with a small set of annual flowers.
Your perennials will demand more attention throughout the whole year: they need to be fertilized even during the coldest winter months. And you may need to cut those withered stems. However, this pruning and fertilizing care will result in stronger perennials in spring. And you won’t have to rush to your local nursery for new seeds. In some cases, you can pinch off sprouting flowers so that even more flowers or little plants grow.

Gardening tools
Regardless of the size and choice of your container garden, you’ll need appropriate tools, ranging from, but not limited to, watering cans, wrist-easy hand rakes, transplanting trowels, by-pass pruners and soil-testing kits. Many shops and nursery provides a great selection of quality garden tools, and you can even purchase that little garden gnome you’ve been looking for.
Plants for Container Gardening
When you’ve got the initial list of garden tricks, pots and tools, you just need the plants. Again, a word of warning: do not load your car to the brim with ferns and bamboo shoots, but start with a few of your favorite plants: pansy and marigold seeds and rosemary and coriander. And then in a month or so, you can add some broccoli seeds. There are thousands of types of container plants and flowers, and the following information should give you at least light sense of types of plants with which you could start.
Once again, take into account your climate and garden layout. And necessarily read the directions on packets with seeds. You may ask questions at your local nursery or submit inquiries online to your virtual nursery or favorite gardening website that helps you to discover whether one your plant enjoys the company of the other.

If you prefer wooden pots or baskets, make sure that your wood is of a good quality. You may also finish the wood of your containers with a plant-proof preserver. If you are going to use barrels, make sure that the hoops are firm. Wood containers are good for colder weather and also are better than terra cotta pots.
Do not forget that your plants roots need to breathe, so terra cotta pots will suit it, and also they hold warmth. But if you live in cold climate where soil may freeze and expand, terra cotta pots may be spoiled very soon.
Glazed clay pots aren’t as spongy as terra cotta, but you can choose such colors that match your decor. Glazed pots are often used in Japanese gardens.
Stone containers perfectly add a natural effect to your house and garden, but they are difficult to move and can be easily broken.
Plastic pots are very convenient and resemble terra cotta ones, they can be easily moved or cleaned, but plastic doesn’t allow the plants to breathe.
Plants like mint, that spread easily, will do best in sunken containers.
No matter what type of containers you will choose, in any case you’ll need some kind of saucers to capture loose soil and dripping water that escapes through the hole in the bottom of any pot and container.

Consider different types of groupings for your plant pots. Very often occasional containers attract more attention, but sometimes, one plant in a center, surrounded by small herb containers looks also attractive. This large central flower-bed could have a number of different flowers such as daffodils, narcissi and violas while the smaller containers could contain one type of plant or herb.
If you are going to keep your plants indoors, you should determine which parts of your house are warm and let sunshine in lots. And where are the cooler and shadier rooms.
Now you have just an idea of what your container garden areas will look like, and it is time to give more attention to the types of containers, tools and plants that you’ll need.

Pots and containers
Be creative in selecting your containers, but you should bare in mind functionally of a container. For example, if you decide to grow berries (strawberries), think over a purchasing a terra-cotta planter that has special holes through which you can cultivate your fruit or herbs. And your small lilies need also tiny pot, as they may feel overwhelmed in a two-foot container. At the same time your tiny bonsai will need taller and roomy holders.
Remember that the size, material and shape of the container should correspond your plant’s health as well as to your surroundings.
You should be careful so that your indoor hanging pots don’t drizzle. They should also hold plants that won’t be too heavy.

Plants in pots can be moved easily.
If you have huge and heavy pots, then garden wheelbarrow can transport these containers indoors during an early frost.
If pests infect your plant, you can easily move it away and treat with appropriate sprays without disturbing other plants and fear to infect or damage them.
Pots of blooming flowers can decorate any room, window or small table.
You may get a bunch of small containers or some really big ones. All depends on you. You may grow herbs and flowers or choose one type of plant.
But before you rush out to buy needed plants, pots and tools think over the geometry of your garden.
Take some paper and pencil and write down a few notes. Having considered several questions you may discover that you’re interested in herbs, but not in flowers. Since the summers can be too hot, you also may want to be able to move your pots to a cool, shady place of your garden or house. You also should consider where you can put plants for the winter period.
Even if you dream of herbs in your garden, think over varying your choices slightly.
So before buying anything let’s do some sketches of your ideal garden.

What makes plant growing in pots so convenient? Think over the following short list of advantages.
Pots and containers allow you to enjoy plants in areas where a traditional garden will be awkward or impossible. Even with limited space in a city apartment, you can grow trees, fruits, vegetables, flowers and shrubs. Plants can thrive anywhere: on rooftops, decks, balconies and even stairs. And if you have a private house and nice outdoor garden, you can vary your selection as you may want.

Home gardening also gives you possibility to experiment with plants: you can offer your vegetables and herbs more light in your garden or you can offer parsley well-drained soil ina pot that just doesn’t exist in your outdoor garden.
You can grow different plants and flowers in one container in order to allow plants to exist in symbiotic relationships. Many plants help each other to survive. You may try oregano, which resist insects that bother broccoli and increases the flavor of beans.

Now pumps: you need one to help circulate the water. The best choice is to get a pump that is capable of “turning the water over” once an hour. If your pond is 400 or so gallons, buy a 400 gallon per hour pump. Pumps are frequently used to pump the water through a waterfall, fountain, filter or some their combinations. Note that the waterfall or fountains are very important as it injects more oxygen into your pond.
Filters are also involved in the pond treatment. You can buy an expensive sealed biological filter from the store or one for about almost 10 times cheaper. It’s easy. You will need some 1/2″ PVC piping, the necessary solvents to weld it, some hose clamps, silicone sealant, lava rocks, garden hose and some tub.
Cut a notch in the container and using some dirt, build a ramp from the pond to the lip of the container. Using silicone sealant, attach a leftover piece of pond liner to the lip of the container. Let the pond liner run down the ramp and overhang the edge of the pond. Let the silicone cure.
Then build a “filter element”. Its shape doesn’t matter, you can make a horseshoe or square shape. It just has to fit inside of the bottom of the tub. Leave the tube sticking above the top level of the tub so you can hook the hose up to it. Then get some lava rocks like you use in gas grill, wash them thoroughly and fill the container at least half full with them. Hook the pump up to the filter element, turn it on and check for any leaks.

Careless of the way that you use, fill the pond up about 1/4 of the way, when the liner will be in the hole. Then cautiously observe the bottom of the pond for any bumps. If you see them, lift the liner (keeping the water on the inside) and remove the waste. When everything on the bottom of your pond looks good, continue filling of the pond and, from time to time, pull up on the edges of the liner to check that it settles into the corners. As soon as the water fills the pond, it will force the liner against the walls of the pond, continue to observe the liner for bumps that may show up and remove the hampering objects.
When the pond is filled with water, smooth the liner out.
Then remove the chlorine from the water: you may try one of a few commercial products for this and they normally have instructions for use.
The next step is to trim the liner. Use some extra material around the edge; do not trim it too close.
At last you’ve got to landscape. Stone is the most popular material for landscaping of the ponds. Start with laying the stone around the pond. At any point on the liner, use flat rocks and avoid placing sharp points against the liner.
Now the time comes to put pond plants into the pond and let them strike roots. Wait about 5 days to put fish into the pond.

Some things for consideration how your pond will look:
In most modern gardens it will be a good idea to make part of your pond at least 2′ deep. This helps to keep water temperature more or less constant.
A multi-tiered design: these are especially good as different plants sometimes need to be submerged at different levels.
A slanting floor is also good. Many ponds have most of the pond at 2′ deep but part of it might step up to 18″ or so.
Experience showed that it takes about 8-10 hours to dig a 5×10 pond, 2 feet deep. It may also take less time if you have help or particularly appropriate soil.

When the hole for your future pond is ready, you have to install a pad for the liner. You may take advantage of commercial pads (some liners even have one attached) or do it by own strength. Some manufacturers recommend sand but it is rather difficult to get sand to stick to the walls of the pond. You may use newspaper or thinner cloth but a low-nap indoor or outdoor carpet is to tested out. Line the bottom and sides of the hole with the carpet. After you line the sides and bottom, make sure that you clean up any waste that may have fallen from the sides of the pond.

The next step is to layout the pond liner. To do this you will need someone’s help to get the liner into the hole without knocking all of the carpet from the walls of the pond.
Get down into the hole and flatten out the liner as much as possible, then carefully fold it so that it goes around the corners of the pond. You may also try simply to plop the liner into the hole, start filling it and wait for the water to flatten the liner.

Lily ponds are very popular. They are a nice place to sit and have a rest, especially if you have taken care of a water fall or canal. Nothing will help you best to settle down in comfort and think like a small waterfall and gurgle of the water.
But installing a lily pond requires is a lot of work, time and money. Make sure you have enough free space to excavate your pond.
While planning your pond, make sure you age ready to spend about $250 to get everything done properly. You do not need immediately expensive fish, but pump you do. And you should put the plants in your lake in about a week before you are going to put any fish into the pond.
The first thing to do is to make lay-out of your pond. Take into account the available space and how much you are ready to spend on a liner. Consider that bigger liners are more expensive and bigger ponds demand more efforts to excavate. Another consideration should be the surrounding area; and if you are going to install a filter, it is better to place it on the high side of the pond.
The easiest way to layout the pond is to take a garden rubber hose and outline the shape of the desired pond. The more popular shapes resemble oval or rectangles.