Some of the people residing in Branson rental homes enjoy engaging in their gardening hobby by planting in containers that are normally placed on their apartments’ porches, balconies, or in the backyard. 

Once you find out if container gardening is a great way to grow plants or herbs in your apartment, you may find yourself growing your hobby and planting more pots each year. If you want to succeed in growing indoor plants in your apartment, check out these container gardening tips for newbies.

Don’t Skimp on Drainage

While maintaining good drainage is an old gardening tip, the survival of your plants will depend on it. When your pot doesn’t have enough holes for water to get out, the soil inside it can become too wet, and the roots of the plants can rot, which will cause the plant to die.

If you aren’t looking, you may accidentally get a garden pot that doesn’t have enough holes. But there is nothing to worry about because you can easily drill or punch bigger holes. But if you keep proper drainage in mind and know beforehand the negative result of not having enough drainage holes, you should buy a pot with enough drainage. Consider the minimum size of a drainage hole which is ½ inch in diameter for small or medium-sized pots. If you use large-sized containers, punch holes that are at least an inch in diameter.

Many think adding gravel, pot shards, or stones to the bottom of your container garden will increase drainage. Unless you are an expert in container gardening, who can water perfectly, or have a plant that likes wet soil, you need to put many holes in your pots.

Evaluate Your Light

People often don’t have an exact idea how much sun their containers need. While you can grow a plant that thrives in any amount of light, you still have to know how much light your container will get before choosing a plant that you want to grow in a pot. To figure out how much light your container needs, place the container where you want it and then time how long the sun hits it.

Feed Your Plants

Most potting soil doesn’t provide good nutrients for your plants, so it’s always a good idea to add more soil to it. For your plants to survive, you need to add fertilizer to your soil. You can mix the fertilizer into a potting mix. 

To do this, you should mix up a big batch of potting soil with fertilizer in a bucket, or you can fill your pot with potting soil and then mix in the fertilizer. Then add fertilizer to the soil every week or two, such as a fish emulsion or seaweed blend. It may not smell very good, but it can give your plants the nutrition they need.

You can use Miracle-Gro to feed your plants and help them grow healthy if you use it regularly because this synthetic fertilizer will kill harmful organisms in the soil.

Make a List Before You Buy Plants

If you want to avoid panic after buying the wrong plant or at least want to minimize it, decide what plants you want to buy and make a list before going to a nursery. You can even make it easier by researching and shopping for your plants online. 

Try to make a list at least equivalent to the number of pots and also notate where they will be placed – so you can get plants that fit the pots and know where you will need to put them - under the sun or shade or anything in between.

If possible, it can be a good idea if you can bring either your pot or a picture of your pot with you as a reminder. You can make use of your smartphones for this. The plants in most nurseries are well organized and labeled for how much sun they require. Most nurseries have someone working there who can help you out with your choices.

Grow plants that are neighbor-friendly

When you choose plants to grow in your container, make sure that they will play well together. This means that the plants in each pot should all require the same amount of sunlight and moisture. If you combine plants that have different needs, some of those plants will not thrive. For example, if you grow a plant that requires full sun, you want all the plants you choose to also require full sun. If you have a plant that dries out between waterings, don’t put it in a pot with plants that like it wet.

Whatever your style, maintaining a container garden at your Branson apartment or rental home is a satisfying hobby that you can enjoy. With the proper research, you can find plants that can work for your space and light. With determination and experimentation you can succeed in growing indoor plants.



At Thousand Hills Realty, leasing Branson apartments and homes is our specialty. Call us today at 417-337-8081. We will be happy to find the best rental property to suit your needs.