Rental Space Gardening. My Experience with Container Gardening.
Three summers ago, our family moved from our very first home that we owned. We had planted a tiny garden with our daughter and had harvested a few peas, but leaving that garden was really sad for us. It was kind of a representation of leaving all of those first memories with our little girl behind. The next two houses that we have lived in have been rental houses without gardens. Since we aren’t owners of the homes, we can’t just dig up grass to create a garden. I loved how excited my little girl had gotten each day when she got to help me water the garden and I didn’t want to lose that just because we were renting. I decided to plant a garden in decorative pots instead. It has quickly become my favorite way to garden!
Gardening in pots has its positives and its negatives, but for the most part it is positive. One negative is that you aren’t able to grow items that are large. No corn, squash, pumpkins, etc. In order to grow those things, you have to have a lot of space and more space means more work, so I am alright with my small plants!
The thing I love the most about container gardening is the amount of color that it brings to my yard. I chose to plant everything in my front yard so that it would add more curb appeal to our home and so it could be enjoyed by others instead of hoarding all of the beauty to myself in the backyard.
Each summer, I seem to buy more and more pots because I want more plants every year! The garden gets a little bigger and more colorful each summer. It has become very therapeutic and something that I look forward to doing with my family each day when we go out to water our garden and check to see how much our garden has grown.
One major positive about planting a garden this way is the lack of weeding that needs to be done. As you can see, the ground is full of little weeds. I choose to ignore them most of the time because I HATE weeding. But they leave my garden alone because they are in containers. I usually end up pulling about 20 weeds total out of my garden all summer! Because of this, I think I will continue to live the container garden way even after owning a home again. It is the best!
Another positive part about container gardening is that the garden grows really well because of how nutrient the dirt is. This year, I splurged a little on the dirt that I used and it has totally made a difference! My plants have grown so quickly this year!
All of those things are great, but my most favorite part has been seeing my daughter’s excitement over our garden. She helps me choose what we are going to plant, she plants with me, and helps me water the garden everyday. This year, she even planted her own flowers in playschool that we have been able to watch grow. We have no idea what they are yet, but I am excited to see what they become! She takes pride in our little garden and I love that.
If you are renting a home, I strongly encourage planting a little container garden. It can be as small as one little pot on an apartment balcony, to the slightly out of control garden that we have! It has been a great way to bring our family closer together each summer as we watch our hard work grow.