Smart Pot Container Gardening

by Marty Gottlieb

In recent years more and more of my gardening time has been spent doing "patio or container" gardening. During my more than forty years as a gardener I've had it all, large vegetable plots, perennial gardens, small fruits, rose collections, asparagus and potato beds and more. But that was then. Now understand that my passion for growing plants hasn’t faded; it’s just that I've been there and done that and there are lots of other activities with which I want to share my limited time.

These days patio gardening seems to suit my gardening appetite. I still care for the trees, shrubs and lawn but the majority of my flowers, vegetables and herbs are grown in patio containers. This way I'm closely surrounded by my "soul food" without having to walk very far or spend inordinate amounts of time coaching their beauty. My planted containers are spaced close to the house, on the patio, the deck, the driveway bordering the garage doors and near the front doorway providing beautiful flowers, foliage, veggies and herbs throughout the warmer months.

About five years ago I came across fabric containers known as Smart Pots. These containers have been used by professional tree growers for years because of their unique ability to promote superior root systems. It turns out many knowledgeable gardeners have been replacing their "hard sided" containers with "Smart Pots" because they like the commercial growers, found their plants responded better in fabric containers.

I read about the containers and liked the fact that roots are less stressed during the hot summer months because the Smart Pots stay much cooler than other containers. The fabric also attracted me because now I could plant the walls as well as the top of the container. I had been thinking of the strawberry jars and "gro-bags" available and what a fine substitute the "Smart Pots" would make. That first season I planted strawberries in one and a culinary herb garden in another. After filling the container with potting mix I used a utility knife to cut "X's" in various locations in the "Smart Pots" walls. For my new "strawberry jar" I planted several strawberry plants on top and several others roughly spaced into the walls all around the pot. Later in the season, I would cut additional "X's" and place the new runner plants in the walls. The plants did wonderfully well and had plenty of fruit. The "Smart Pot" strawberries even survived a northeast winter after I buried them in the late fall under about 1 ½ to 2 feet of leaves. Essentially I planted my "herb container" the same way. The prostrate or hanging herbs like rosemary were planted in the container’s sides and the upright ones like mint, dill and parsley in the top.

Every year my patio/container garden continues to expand and I've been won over by Smart Pot growing potatoes, tomatoes, assorted annuals, melons, and much more all in Smart Pots. Every spring I try to add something new to my container growing. Last year it was figs.

Marty Gottlieb lives in upstate New York, were he has been gardening and cooking for over 40 years. He earned a horticulture degree from Cornell University way back in the ‘60’s. Long ago, he was also a New York State Coop Ag Extension agent. Marty has been active in the Horticulture and Nursery business his entire career.