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Container Gardening Tips: 5 Simple Steps I Wish I Knew Sooner
In Container Gardening

Container Gardening Tips: 5 Simple Steps I Wish I Knew Sooner



In this video I will show you how to grow in pots the right way for your garden.
If you’ve ever struggled to keep your container plants thriving, this video is for you! I became obsessed with container gardening and after plenty of trial and error, I finally discovered the 5 steps that make all the difference. Whether you’re growing flowering shrubs, evergreens or flowers, these simple strategies will help you get bigger, healthier plants and beautiful results.
In this video, I’ll walk you through the essentials of successful container gardening, choosing larger pots, improving drainage, enriching your soil, making watering easier, and grouping containers for a high-end designer look. These practical and fun tips will save you time, reduce plant stress, and transform your porch, patio or deck into a lush space you’ll love spending time in. If you’re ready to elevate your container gardening game, hit play and let’s grow together!

00:00 – 00:13 Intro
00:13 – 00:46 Why I started gardening in pots
00:46 – 02:23 Number 1 – Size matters
02:23 – 03:32 Number 2 – How to fix the drainage
03:32 – 05:46 Number 3 – How to improve the soil
05:46 – 06:47 Hack to save the amount of soil needed!
06:47 – 08:35 Number 4 – How to make the watering easier
08:35 – 09:34 Bubblewrap hack!
09:34 – 10:22 Number 5 – Create a grouping for maximum impact
10:22 – 10:54 Recap

#containergardening #containergardening for beginners #DIYcontainer gardendesign

I got obsessed with container gardening, but there are only five things you need to know to do it correctly. And in this video, I’m going to show you what they are, plus two things I only learned by trial and error. When I got interested in container gardening, I think it’s fair to say that I became obsessed with it. I read everything I possibly could. And what was driving me was that I don’t have a large garden. So I wanted everything I did to have a huge impact with high style for the least amount of money. I’m going to share with you five things that I learned after all of my research, all of my trial and error. In this video, I’m going to show you how to be a successful gardener in containers. Number one, go big. Bigger really is better. There are so many times where I have regretted buying a pot because it was too small. But I have never once regretted buying a pot because it was too large. So, let me show you around the garden and I’ll give you some examples and I’ll also share with you how I overcame some of the challenges of using oversized pots. Here’s another example of why when it comes to pots, bigger is better. This asparagus fern is in an egg pot, which is 17 in tall. When I got it, if I had wanted a fern this big to fill a pot this large, I would have spent a lot of money. Instead, what I did is I bought a onegon asparagus fern. I took my trusty steak knife that I showed you in a previous video of six favorite tools. I took that steak knife and I cut the root ball in half and I planted it on each side of this pot and it had plenty of room to grow and fill in and that’s exactly what it has done. You see what I mean about the bigger the pot is usually better. Here’s another way to elevate your style. Anything you can put up on a pedestal just makes it special. This is a good way to add interest to your front yard. These are just sitting in my driveway in front of my front door. And they are 36 in. And after I show you a few more examples, I’m going to tell you what you don’t see. Number two, fix the drainage. No oversized pot that you buy at the nursery is going to have adequate drainage. You’re just going to have to fix it yourself. Let me show you how. So, with one simple tool and a hack that I saw online, I’m going to show you how I’m going to create adequate drainage in an oversized pot so that I will never lose a large mature plant in a big pot. Again, this is a diamond chip hole saw and it has diamond chips so it can cut through terracotta without cracking the pot. The thing is you have to keep it wet. So, this is a little hack I saw online. You fill a soda bottle. You put a tiny hole and then when you release the cap, it’s going to position the water exactly where I need it every time. I love this hack. If you are watching this and you’re the person who thought of this, please give me a comment so that I can give you credit. It’s genius. Okay, mission accomplished. I’ve got extra holes drilled and I’m happy with the amount of drainage I should get out of that. Number three, make the soil better. Even if you buy good quality potting soil in a bag, you still want to improve it by adding your own nutrients. The more nutritious and the better drainage you can have for that soil, the longer it can stay in the pot without you having to repot a weak plant. Remember, if you do it right and you use a big enough pot, that plant can stay in that pot for a very long time. So, this is just something that I bought at my local nursery. I just tend to buy what’s on sale, but no matter how good the quality, I still amend it. So, this says for raised beds. There are some that say for containers, and you can use those as well, but I would still amend it. The only exception would be if it says it’s for cactus and succulents. I would use it exactly as it is. I wouldn’t add anything because for those plants, drainage is the number one consideration. So, I’ve got my soil. I’m going to add a little bit of chicken manure. About that much. Then I’m going to add a little bit of soil from my own garden. I like to add this because my soil in my n my native soil in my own garden is fairly sandy. So, it does help with drainage. Just going to make sure I get a good mix and it’ll be ready to use. So, you can see how rich the soil is that I bought and how depleted and old what came from my garden. But I still use it because like I said, my soil is very sandy and I know that for containers, it’s going to really boost the drainage. So there we go. I’ve got my perfect blend. I bought soil. I added chicken manure. I added a little bit of native soil from my own garden. At this point, some people add fertilizer. I don’t. I prefer to add things like shore start in the actual hole when I’m planting it because what some people don’t realize is that certain fertilizers don’t even work until the soil reaches a certain temperature. So, I wouldn’t waste my money putting fertilizer in at this stage. So, here’s a tip that I learned by trial and error. If you are using a tall pot, but you’re using a shrub that has fairly shallow roots, you don’t need to fill the whole thing with soil. I took an inverted plastic nursery pot, put it in the bottom part, and then I only needed to use twothirds of the pot filled with soil. So, the pot behind me, which is identical to this one, has styrofoam cubes in the bottom third. I live in Northern California and we are not allowed to put styrofoam in the garbage or the landfill. So when you buy something that has styrofoam packaging, you’re stuck with it. So I decided to use it to fill up the bottom third. Again, it provided good drainage. It allowed me to use less soil and it made the whole pot a lot lighter. The only caveat would be I would not put styrofoam in if you were planning to grow something edible like tomatoes. Number four, make the watering easier. If you love going around with a hose, tending to each individual pot, nothing wrong with that. Some people find it very relaxing and fun. To me, fun in the garden involves a margarita and a magazine. So, this is how I have made my watering easier. the pots. There are lots of cool videos on how to do drip, but the tip I want to give you is to try to put where possible, put the drip tube through the bottom of the pot rather than draping it over the side. That way, if it’s out in the landscape where it can sit on the soil or the rock, it’s very easy to put it through the bottom. And it gives you a nice clean surface, you don’t see the mechanics of the watering system. If the pot is somewhere that’s difficult to get to, this is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time. These are water storing crystals. And the idea is that they absorb many, many, many times their weight in water. And so you can put them where it’s difficult or impossible to have something on a drip. Like this pot right here. It’s sitting on a flag stone patio. There’s no way I can get drip to it without dragging this across the patio. But I don’t have to water it all that often with this because of this. I thought I would show you exactly how cool and efficient they are. So, I’m going to take a/4 cup, put it in here, and hydrate them. So, you can see how much water they can actually absorb. It’s amazing. So overnight it went from this to this. I just think that’s so cool. I wanted to come back to this grouping because if you’ve watched this far, you know now that the bottom third of this pot is full of styrofoam blocks. The top two/3 has those water saving crystals. But what you don’t know is that this exposure is west. This pot these pots take a direct hit and it reflected heat off of the garage. So, I took some recycled bubble wrap and I lined the front side of each of these pots before I put the soil in. So, the styrofoam went in first, the bubble wrap went in second, the soil with the water saving crystals went in third, and then the pot. Because what that does, it creates an airspace. Plants can take a lot of heat as long as their roots are cool. And this is a great hack for doing that. And again, this is something I learned the hard way after a couple of beautiful boxwood that I had absolutely fried. Number five, grouping the pots together for higher impact. What you’re doing is creating a designer look by making a stilllife focal point in your garden. That if I had placed these pots individually scattered around singly in my garden, they would not have nearly the impact that they do together as a grouping. So, a trio doesn’t always have to be the same size and shape container. A grouping creates a focal point. If you can add an accessory, all the better. Here’s another way to add a grouping. Doesn’t always have to be three. And here’s another way to create a grouping. If you prefer smaller pots, just remember to vary the color of the foliage and the texture. I love the way grass adds movement to the garden. So, just to recap, make the pot bigger, make the drainage better, make the soil richer, make the watering easier, and create a grouping, and you’ll be successful with container gardening. If you found this video helpful, I hope you’ll subscribe. I also hope you’ll pass the information on, forward it on to a fellow gardener. I would love to grow my community and find my fellow passionate gardeners. I know you’re out there.

44 Comments

  5. @ChungkingExpress1996

    What a lovely and informative video. I really like the easy-going but informative way you explain these tips, which are very useful and convincing. Thank you!

  6. @shardans1796

    So very happy your channel showed up in my feed, I just subscribed as this video is very helpful. I'm in Cape Town, South Africa and I'm hoping my local Nursery stocks asparagus ferns as yours is absolutely gorgeous 👏🏻👏🏻I'm also a huge lover of container plants and appreciate the tips you've shared in this video ❤❤

  7. @marycrowley4603

    Thank you for all those fabulous tips I live in Ireland where we get a lot of rain, I’m seventy one with a small little garden and I love it pot planting is my favourite ☘️☘️☘️

  8. @westhavenor

    I use black plastic landscape supply containers as liners for all my pots, especially to large ones. Not only does it make them much easier to move around, but it prevents my pots from cracking during subfreezing weather. Also, I can switch plants easily depending on the season (I like flowering plants in spring/summer and swap in my evergreens in fall/winter so I always have something nice to look at). I buy the plastic liners at my local pot-grower supply house if I don't have the right size. They have a huge selection of sizes:)

  9. @Humordoomer

    mirrors are fun but can drive territorial birds crazy thinking their reflection is an intruder. They will spend too much energy fighting their reflection. I’ve seen this behavior at shiny hubcaps.

  10. @dannyspromise

    You really are a wealth of knowledge and I agree with others that have commented on what a great communicator you are!

  11. @yvonnesmith2578

    After seeing this video, I subscribed!😁Thank you! I live in San Jose, CA Can you possibly share where you purchase your Large pots? I find they are a bit pricey.

  15. @TylerSikora

    This nice, but I live in Ohio, the only thing we can winter over in pots is pine trees, like her use boxwood, are would freeze and be dead in the soring!

  18. @mattycilovelucy

    Hello! I stumbled across your video by accident.. but.. there are no real accidents in life sometimes.. I needed to find this video… And YOU.. your such a nice person to watch and listen to. Your voice and kindness was so real, it was like having a cup of tea with a friend when you needed it .. Calming and relaxing and so informative.. i forgot about the world for a while, and while watching it gave me HOPE.. for alot of things i think, but also for my own garden. i LOVE green .. trees.. plants.. flowers.. right now in my back garden it is surrounded by trees and plants.. yet lots of bare spots.. i am trying to figure out what to do to Help it help its self into an even more beautiful place.. your video has given me inspiration. 🙂 so grateful for your time and energy you put into your video… Gardens are so beautiful right?! right now i have been kind of creating my own LIVE bird sanctuary… and it is amazing to me ( and PEacful!!) to watch all the birds flying through the trees… and all around my garden.. i get lost in it all. i'ts amazing to sit WITH trees and plants.. and i love how you said you love to watch grass move.. so true! its like mother nature waving her hand and saying " Hello.. thank you for noticing me " 🙂
    anyhow.. Bless you.. i Subscribed before i was half way through your video!

  21. @annhan777

    Thank you so much for your garden tips. I liked the parts about the containers and how you manage their size. I also like how you prepare the soil.

  23. @joannenardoni17

    Some of us live in cold winters and can not have pots outside.
    Your video is wonderful and makes me sad for all the pots I want and can not have.
    I moved to idaho from Northern California and brought all my many pots. Pots I love.
    They live in a shed! Hahaha. I moved all those heavy pots to a shed! So stupid.

  30. @sweetcello3358

    I’d love some terrace garden tips! West exposure Florida for herbs & white/silver. I miss ga gardening( boxwoods, hydrangeas, gardenias 😢)

  31. @Klairefields44-11

    I would love to see a session on balcony containers. I had a large pot with a cedar that did fine on a deck at our house, but died within a year on our balcony. Absolutely love container planting!

  39. @rebeccabryant8188

    I just subscribed too! I was feeling so sad because due to concerns over drought and water shortages in my area (southern New Mexico high desert) my lovely backyard garden is going to be converted to a more typical dry look with beds of hollyhocks going out. I have been unlucky with container gardening. I think you answered some of the issues ….pots too small, maybe some grasses, and a drip system. Watering on the top just doesn’t work well especially during the windy season. Going to give it a try to get elevation and keep some green in my life.

  40. @JimAu

    I start growing plants like Japanese maple in the pot too about 2 years ago. The challenge for me is the cold winter since I am living in Toronto Canada. You ring my bell that I can use the bubble wrap around the inside face of the pot as an insulation for the cold. Don’t you think it will be useful? Also can you tell us where we can buy those beautiful pots that you have?

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