Containers

 

I used to have a lot more containers than I have now. My city garden was full of containers and finding unusual containers was a hobby of mine. I found plants to be easier to plant, maintain, control, feed and look after in containers. I could control the soil and the food easily. Move them if they were not happy. They provided bright colour in shady places just by rotating them out into the sun and back.

In my Valley garden, I find containers far more labour intensive. They fill with ants. To place them anywhere in the sun garden requires a lot of time laying hose to water or hauling water in buckets a long way... down steps. The steps are more decorative than functional and are among the paths that were built for me to garden - they are not paths or steps I would invite visitors to use. lol. Plants seem to need more water in containers here than they ever did in the city. The result is that I have pared down my container collection to about 10 or so. And so far this year, they are not all planted. The ones that are were only planted recently.

Of all the changes I have made to my gardening style, methods, design since moving from the city, this is the most noticable.