Container gardening may be the answer when space is limited. Containers can also be used to accentuate decks, patios, entrances, and other areas. Most vegetables and herbs can grow well in containers, especially if you pay attention to companion planting.

Container Gardening
Containers allow you to enjoy plants in areas where a traditional garden is awkward or impossible. Even with limited space in an urban apartment, you can grow fruits, vegetables, flowers and shrubs just about anywhere. Plants thrive on rooftops, decks, balconies, stairs and even on the stoop of your mobile home. And if you have a nice outdoor garden, you can vary your selection or save yourself the trouble of walking out to the yard on your sore ankle.

Container gardening also enables you to experiment with plants and to optimize or to control environmental conditions. If you live in New Hampshire, you can offer your sun-starved vegetables and herbs more light indoors or you can grow cacti or parsley in dry, well-drained soil that just doesn't exist in your outdoor garden. And if you live in Arizona, you can shelter those Siberian crabapple plants.

And plants in containers can be moved easily. Whether it's shifting your pots of gardenias from your front porch to your back door during the rainy or cold season or transporting them to a new home, your plants can go with you. You can also isolate plants that need to be treated with special pesticides.

Getting Started with Container Gardening
Now that we've piqued your interest in container gardening, you ask: How do I get started? Do I want to get a bunch of small containers or two really big ones? Can I place pots around my regular garden? Can I grow herbs and flowers or should I stick with one type of plant? Will someone trip over those small herb troughs near my narrow pathway?

To discover the answers to these questions, you'll need to consider the geometry of your garden. You'll also need to decide which containers and plants are appropriate for your home and garden. Soon those terra cotta pots of dwarf pomegranates and orchids or that old Michelin tires filled with impatiens will grace your shady deck or bedroom windowsill with color and fragrance.