If you have limited outdoor space but long for a garden and don't know exactly how or where to begin, container gardening may be the answer to your dilemma. Some of the best garden designs I have seen were accomplished in unbelievably small spaces.

The benefits of container gardening are many. Using containers means you can easily move them if you find their initial placement is not advantageous to their growth. If the pots are extremely heavy, be sure to fill them close to where they will be situated or use a wheeled platform for easy transport to a better location.

The variety of pots, colors and textures today is truly extraordinary. I recently assembled a three pot piggy-back project using plastic containers of different sizes, and the pots together cost only $21. Of course, you can opt for clay, ceramic or resin, but you will spend a lot more than that.

In visiting one of the larger garden centers, I found prices ranged from very inexpensive for plastic pots to well over $100 for a fairly large ceramic pot. Since this was my first piggy-back project, I thought it a good idea to start inexpensively with the hope that if the project goes well, I will invest in pots that are more elaborate and of better quality next time around.

Another great thing about containers is if you want to change your garden's "look," it is easy and so much quicker to do so with pots than it is with plants and bushes already in the ground.

Also, at the end of a season, you can easily pull out dead or dying plants and flowers and replace them with something new that is more suited to the upcoming time of year. And then, if you want to, you can empty, clean and store the pots for spring when you begin planning your next container garden.

Putting projects like these together is fun as well as creative. An additional benefit is that they usually do not take long to complete. The most important part is planning in advance where they will be located. You want to be sure that the plants are suited to the location you choose because if the sun is shining most of the day on plants that love the shade, inevitably, there will be problems.

Another hint for newcomers to container gardening is to think "color scheme" when planning your containers. Some people like flowers of all varieties and colors mixed together. Others prefer pots with flower shades in the same family. I find that very pleasing to the eye, although that's not everyone's choice.

Whatever you decide upon, the possibilities are endless with containers, and with just a little advance planning, you can design a lovely original piggy-back container that will become the focal point of your garden.

Learn more about this author, Linda Joyce.
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