Lesson 1
Why containers work
Container gardening is not gardening with compromises — it is gardening with control. You choose the soil, the drainage, the exact position. A pot can be moved into sun or shade, sheltered from frost, rotated for even growth. The ground cannot.
Small spaces force clarity. You cannot grow everything, so you grow what matters: the salad leaves you eat daily, the herbs that cost £2.50 a packet, the single tomato plant that fruits from July to October. One well-chosen edible in a 30cm pot will outperform a neglected bed.
Containers also extend the season. A pot of chillies can live outdoors all summer, then move to a bright windowsill in September and fruit until Christmas. Tender perennials — pelargoniums, rosemary, bay — overwinter on a porch or against a south wall where they would perish in open ground.
What you'll learn
- How to match container size and type to the plant's root system
- Why 'multipurpose compost' fails in pots and what to use instead
- When to feed, how much, and which nutrients matter most
- How to arrange containers for maximum yield in minimum space
Numbers that matter
- Minimum pot depth for most edibles: 25cm
- Ideal compost pH for vegetables: 6.0–7.0
- Typical container lifespan for compost: 2 seasons before replacing
- Weekly water requirement in summer: 10–20 litres per square metre of canopy
- Dilution rate for liquid feed: usually 5ml per litre, weekly from flowering
A single 45cm pot of bush tomatoes, fed weekly, will give you 3–4kg of fruit — more than most people harvest from an entire raised bed.