The Green Witch: Your Complete Guide to the Natural Magic of Herbs, Flowers, Essential Oils, and More - Arin Murphy-Hiscock 2017

Tips on Planting
Keep a Green Witch Garden
Walking the Green Path

The urban green witch usually doesn’t have a lot of space. While sprouting plants from seed to repot outdoors in a container garden is a wonderful way to forge a connection with your garden from the very first stirrings of life, it is often a challenge. Try it. If nothing sprouts, don’t despair. There’s no shame in buying hardened seedlings from a nursery or garden center and planting those in your containers.

Be sure to use good potting soil. To ease drainage, blend another medium with it, such as peat moss, and line the base of your container with small stones. Regular garden soil isn’t right for container gardens. Container gardens need soil rich in nutrients, because there’s so little soil in the container. If garden soil is the only thing available to you, then blend equal parts of sand and peat moss into it. Ask your garden center about fertilizers for container gardens to maintain a high level of nutrients for your plants. Using fertilizer isn’t cheating; it’s nourishing your plants in an environment that cannot do it on its own.

Regular general maintenance is the key to keeping your garden in balance. Look at your plants every day. Look for yellowed leaves, limp foliage, dead flowers. Nip off dying areas and water dry plants. Clay pots are porous and will lose water faster than glazed or plastic containers. Rotate pots so that all sides of the plant get equal light. Being sensitive to the status of your garden will allow you to pick up on small oddities before they grow into problems.

Your watering schedule will depend on your weather, the size of your containers, and what kind of plants you’re growing. Containers tend to not hold a lot of water, because there isn’t a lot of earth in them. The water dries up or is rapidly absorbed by the plant. A good rule is to water every couple of days unless you’re in a dry spell, in which case water every day. If carrying heavy cans or pitchers of water is difficult for you, consider getting a hose attachment for your kitchen tap.