Learn how to grow edible and ornamental plants in containers on your porch, deck, balcony, or patio. This workshop explores soil, containers, maintenance, and selection of suitable plants.
Speaker: Anne Reed, Extension Master Gardener
Zoom session, recorded May 1, 2020
Video of Presentation
Chapter Breaks
- 0:00 Introduction
- 04:15 Why Container Gardening?
- 17:32 Containers
- 52:28 Growing Mediums
- 59:00 Watering Basics
- 1:03:27 Fertilizing
- 1:07:00 Right Plant, Right Place
- 1:21:01 Plant Selection
- 1:27:15 Pollination
- 1:28:38 Potting Demonstration
- 1:46:17 Care Basics
- 1:48:19 Overwintering Basics
- 1:49:21 Resources
- 1:49:50 Questions
Additional Resources
- Relf, Diane, reviewer John Freeborn. Vegetable Gardening in Containers. n.d. Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech & Virginia State University.
- Traunfeld, Jonathan. Container Vegetable Gardening: Healthy Harvests from Small Spaces. 2006. University of Maryland Extension, Home & Garden Information Center.
- Best Management Practices – Outdoor Container Gardening.
Container planted in video, four weeks after planting:
- Thriller: Duranta repens (Gold edge)
- Filler: Thymus vulgaris (English thyme)
- Spiller: Dahlia pinnata ‘Bahama Mama’ (Dahlia)
Container Gardening with Native Plants
- Check out Elaine Mills’ presentation on Small Space Gardening for Pollinators. Start at 1:09:43 to see her recommendations for natives for containers. Suggested plants include perennials, ferns, grasses, sedges, rushes and small shrubs.
- Check out our Tried & True Native Plants for the Mid-Atlantic factsheets when choosing native plants for containers.
- See Anne Reed’s 2021 class, Contained Excitement: Outdoor Container Garden Basics & What’s Trending! for more ideas.