Gardeners Like Keeping It Contained These Days
Container and Raised-Bed Gardening Allow Cultivation on a Time Crunch
Derek Redd Trending
Tilling soil and planting in the ground isn't as popular as it was years ago, said P.J. Lenz, co-owner of Nicky's Garden Center with wife Nikki Lenz. The time investment just isn't there anymore.
That doesn't mean, however, that gardeners don't want to see new blooms and blossoms when spring weather comes around again. So those folks are getting what they want in a different package.
Container gardening and raised-bed gardening have become very popular in recent years, Lenz said, and that popularity isn't dying anytime soon. Those who come to the garden center these days often are looking to decorate their yards and porches in that manner.
Container gardening puts the plants in different-sized pots. The bigger the plant, the bigger the pot. Those pots can be placed anywhere around the home. With raised-bed gardening, homeowners build a box with wood, concrete block or another material. That bed is filled with topsoil, rather than the gardener digging into the ground.
"Planting in the ground isn't as popular as what it used to be," Lenz said. "Everybody basically wants instant gratification now. A lot of people just come they'll buy the big containers, which we've already got growing here. They'll be huge by Mother's Day. They can take it home and sit them on the porch, water them and have instant gratification all summer."
Lenz said he understands why container and raised-bed gardening have become so popular. They're both less time-consuming than other, more traditional methods. People's days are filled with plenty of tasks that keep them from spending hours tilling soil.
"Everybody works," he said. "Back 20 years ago, you had a lot more time to do things at home that, now, nobody has time to do."
Raised-bed gardening is a good way to grow different fruits and vegetables in the backyard. The key, Lenz said, is to make sure the beds have enough soil for those fruits and vegetables to grow properly. A bed should be, at a minimum, 12 inches deep. If it can go 24 inches, that's even better.
"It depends on the crop," Lenz said. "The deeper, the wider, the bigger, the better.
"Tomato plants should be planted about five feet apart," he continued. "They shouldn't be crammed into one little area. They need the air. Tomatoes require a little bit more room. If you're growing anything underground, it would require even a little bit more."
Lenz said the employees at the garden center are more than happy to help consult and advise customers on how to best plant their containers and raised beds. Right now, Nicky's Garden Center is inviting people to drop off their own containers.
From March 21 to April 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays through Fridays, customers can drop off containers to Nicky's, and the garden center will grow the patio pots for them. Those pots, Lenz said, will be lush and ready to display by Mother's Day.
"We've been doing that now probably for about 10 years," he said. "And it's been pretty popular. We haven't advertised a whole lot. We haven't had that much greenhouse space, but we have an extra greenhouse this year, so we have more room to do more of that. It's kind of nice because basically for about the same price as what you come in and buy the plants for, these ones are already gonna be rooted in your pot. So all you've got to do is take them and put them on your porch."