Fall Container Gardening

25th Anniversary of The Woodlands Garden Club — Containers and Community

The Woodlands Garden Club produces monthly floral arrangements for several hospice facilities, funds a learning garden program in several Conroe Independent School District elementary schools and assists The Woodlands with its Arbor Day festivities. They also volunteer in the community for The Montgomery County Women’s Shelter, Interfaith’s Food Pantry and the local animal shelter.

To celebrate the club’s 25th anniversary serving our community, The Woodlander asked President Betty Lahiri and Founding Members Sharon Podolski and Mary Barnes to share their knowledge of container gardening.

They shared 8 steps to make your own container arrangement.

Step 1
Find a container you like. Make sure it has a drainage hole or make one.

Step 2
Fill the bottom half of the container with polystyrene pieces to assist with proper drainage and make the pot less heavy to move.

Step 3
Fill the top half of the container with a good potting soil that contains peat moss, a large absorbent moss that helps holds the soil’s nutrients during plant waterings. Fill the container enough so that when plants are placed in the container the top of the roots are 1-1 ¼” from the rim of the container.

Step 4
Loosen roots of the plants and place into the soil. If using several plants, arrange tall plants in the back and short and trailing plants in the front of the container.

Step 5
Add soil to fill in the spaces around the plants and up to 1-1 ½” inches from container rim.