Backyard gardening is growing in popularity every year. Many homeowners who never before considered a garden are now taking up spades, shovels, and watering cans in order to reap the benefits that go along with creating and tending a garden. Gardening is not only a way to create something beautiful for people and animals to enjoy, it is a practical way to provide the family with fresh and nutritionally superior produce. Gardening also offers many health benefits that include increased strength and stamina, decreased stress, and improved flexibility.

Gardening without a Backyard

If you live in an apartment, condo, or other small space, though, you may feel that gardening is not a possibility. How can gardening be accomplished when there is no backyard in which to plant? Apartment dwellers can still reap the benefits of gardening because it can be done on a smaller scale. Container gardening allows you to design and grow beautiful landscapes in miniature that can be easily maintained on a balcony, next to a sunny window, or in a window box.

How to Choose Your Garden Planters

Choosing the right garden planters for your container garden depends on the space available. First, measure the location where you will place the garden planters. Then, decide which shape would work best -- circle, square, or rectangle. What material is preferred -- natural wood, sturdy resin, metal, or clay? Be sure that the garden planters you decide to use are safe for growing edible plants, if that is your goal.

Planning Your Miniature Garden

After you have chosen your garden planters, decide what you would like to grow in your new garden. Containers can support a wide range of plants, including flowers, vines, grasses, small shrubs, vegetables, and herbs. Not all plants like to live in containers, though, so be sure to choose varieties that will be suitable container plants. Combining different plants in a container provides visual interest: choose plants of varying textures, sizes, and colors to give your container the feel of a "bouquet." Be sure to choose plants with the same or similar light and water requirements to ensure proper care for all of the plants.

Living in a small space doesn't mean that you can't enjoy the benefits of growing and tending a garden. In fact, container gardening provides some added benefits that traditional gardening cannot offer. Small scale gardening using garden planters costs less and requires less maintenance than larger outdoor gardens, so not only can you enjoy the health benefits of gardening, you can also enjoy saving time and money in the process.