When you only have a few feet of balcony or patio but love the idea of gardening, try some container gardening. The basics are simply, easy and great fun. What you plant inside your container is entirely up to you; just make sure that you have the right size and type for your plants. In containers you can grow anything from pansies to petunias, from tomatoes to peppers the choice is yours.

One upside to container gardening is that you have the ability to guarantee yourself a great and an ideal gardening soil. The use of a good potting soil mixed with peat moss, vermiculite and perlite will hold moisture longer and it also helps to make the soil well draining. First thing is to decide what sized container you want for which area, then what you want to plant. Know how much sun you will be getting at what time of day, some plants don't need all day sun while others only need partial sun and when planting plant, plants that will thrive in the same amount of sun, heat, and water, containers heat up faster and hotter than an in ground garden.

Keep in mind also that a container regardless of size should have adequate for drainage holes in the bottom and be large enough for the plants root system to grow downward after the container has been filled with soil. Container garden plants can't move deep down for surface water and the lack of it will kill them quickly. If you end up with a pot that does not have drainage holes add a minimum of a half inch of gravel to the bottom of the container for draining purposes, or insert a smaller plastic pot with drain holes inside the larger pot.

Plant your plants in the largest containers that you can afford and tailor your plants to the availability of sunlight of the day. In the hot summer months, a daily watering may be necessary so some self-watering containers are a good buy too, they will also help to give your plants a fighting chance. Keep your plants in balance with the container, wide enough and deep enough for what you are growing. Many potting soils come with fertilizer mixed in and many don't so a replenishing of soil nutrients on a regular basis will be necessary. Use good water soluble times released fertilizer and apply every two to four weeks is often enough.

A note to remember, container garden can be started in the spring as any other ground garden whether its veggies or flowers and as they start to dwindle away you have the option of starting another, because you have control of what you plant. A fall garden grows well in containers too.

Eudora DeWynter offers tips on Container Gardening Basics on her blog at http:www.gardentoolguru.com Eudora DeWynter may be contacted at http://www.gardentoolguru.com