Container Gardening for Full-Time RVers

Who says you can't have your garden and be a full-time RVer? For most of us, spring marks that special time of year that gardeners get ready to plant for the summer.

For gardeners who have decided to immerse themselves in the RV lifestyle, the prospect of leaving an established garden at a year-round home may seem like an inevitable sacrifice, but it's not something you have to give up! You can still enjoy growing and tending to colorful and fragrant flowers, plus the just-picked freshness of fruits, vegetables and herbs that you can use in your everyday cooking with year-round container gardening!

If this type of gardening is something that's right up your alley, starting and maintaining a container garden is easy. To begin, simply gather a variety of receptacles such as strawberry pots and planters like the popular Topsy Turvy® or containers that can range from jam jars to 5-gallon buckets. Since extra weight is always a factor when RVing, try mixing potting soil with Styrofoam beads and lighten containers to move them back and forth.

Space is also a precious commodity when RVing, so be creative with possible multi-tasking items such as an over-the-door canvas shoe holder to store small plants, which will keep them out of walkways and off counters. Larger pots should always be strapped down or secured while during times of transit.

Once you're stationary for the day or at a park location, you can hang plants outside on your awning or just pop them outside to get more sun. You can also find RV-sized window boxes or portable planter boxes that fit on your RV's bumper.

Some advantages to container gardening include portability, ease, variety, and total control of variables. There are also a number of health benefits such as reduced risk for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and bone density loss. Learning how to cook using your own fresh herbs and produce can also revolutionize your experience in the kitchen, plus having plants in the small interior of your RV can provide cleaner air and lighten your spirit on long road trips.

Certain plants do better than other in a container garden, so choose herbs like basil and rosemary and avoid sprawling plants like mint. Lettuces labeled "cut and come again," like Swiss chard, are excellent because you can harvest them and they'll grow right back. Other popular plants that thrive in a container garden include tomatoes, strawberries, and peppers.

So take back your passion for gardening and turn a traditionally seasonal hobby into an interest you can enjoy all year round with a portable container garden!