Container gardening is a totally achievable way of creating a beautiful and varied organic garden of any size and scope. It all just depends on how much space you are working with and how creative you want to get!

Even if you have access to a decent bit of surrounding lawn area, if you are limited by the restrictions set by your house, apartment, or condo's rental agreement, container gardening is usually the best way to go.

Utilizing your patio space, driveways, footpaths, balconies, and windows ledges are great starts for creative ideas like window boxes to hold flowers, herbs, or loose-leaf organic lettuce. Or, you can go with something larger, like these distressed wooden barrels which have sufficient capacity to house a more complicated root system, like that of young navel orange trees.

Just be sure to confirm that the barrels are made from wood that has not been chemically treated--you wouldn't want those toxins leaching into your nice organic plants, would you?

5 THINGS TO KNOW FOR CONTAINER GARDENING SUCCESS:

Ensure proper drainage:

Make sure to cut or drill holes large enough in the bottom of each container so that water is not collecting and sitting in the pot when you water your plants. This could cause root-rot, eventually killing them.

Place them in a sunny spot

Make sure that you choose to plant in a sunny spot that sees sunlight exposure for an average of 10 hours a day (unless you are growing shade-loving plants).

Use good soil

Using good potting soil will help retain the nutrients, moderate the ground's temperature, and retain the right balance of moisture in the soil. The more potting soil, the better!

Read and save your plant tags

The plant tags that come with those plants? Save them! They have important information on them! You should adhere to their planting recommendations and guidelines when first setting out to plant, and then for continued care and so on. The same goes for seed packets. They have similar planting information that will guide you through the process.

Water your plants regularly:

Usually Florida's summertime can rely on daily afternoon showers. Not so this year. My plants have definitely taken a hit this year. I've tried to keep up with watering them using my rain barrel sources, but it's been challenging.

We'll have to see how make grapes make out this year. So far, they are looking good!

What container gardening ideas do you have? Any ideas or suggestions not shown here?