9 Ways to Grow Healthier Container Plants

Small gardens, porches, and patios are perfect for container gardening! Containers allow for easy transporting, cultivating, and harvesting. Seasoned grower Jerad Bryant shares nine easy ways to encourage healthy and robust growth from your potted plants.

Written by Jerad Bryant Horticulture review by Sarah Jay Last updated: April 21, 2025 | 7 min read

The sunny garden terrace features a variety of healthy container plants including tomatoes, lettuce, thyme, rosemary, lemongrass, flowering begonias, purple sweet alyssum and more.

Contents

Potted plants are just like in-ground ones, except they have a cushy, enclosed space for their roots. They’ll thrive with little care or maintenance once you set them up successfully. Proper materials, planting techniques, and care regimens are crucial in cultivating healthy container plants.

Perhaps you garden on a patio, rent your home, or want more planting space in the yard. No matter your wants and needs, these steps will help you improve the site so it’s conducive to growing crops, fruits, and wildflowers.

We’ll cover the best potting soils, which fertilizers to apply, and how to care for your transplants after planting. Which materials to use depends on your chosen plants; cacti and succulents prefer different conditions than fruit trees or vegetables. Knowing your plants’ needs is key to creating a robust container garden full of healthy crops.

Start With Good Soil

A woman uses a garden trowel to scoop fresh black soil from a large black plastic bucket in a garden. — Good drainage makes all the difference for picky root systems.

The first step is choosing the right soil! In-ground plants are tolerant of less-than-ideal mixes with excess clay or sand. Container specimens are different; they prefer loose, aerated, and porous blends with little clay. The exact type of soil they’ll need depends on their growing habits and native habitats.

Succulents, cacti, fruit trees, veggies, and perennials prefer slightly different mixes to grow their best. Cacti and succulents benefit from free-draining mixes with sand, perlite, or plenty of pumice. They’ll suffer in soggy blends that retain lots of moisture. Veggies and perennials, however, thrive in moist soils full of absorbent materials.

For outdoor plants, potting soils with natural materials are ideal. They contain things like aged forest products, worm castings, and compost, which work well for most outdoor containers. Choose a blend like Happy Frog® from FoxFarm, as it’s full of beneficial microbes, nutrients, and potting materials that help roots thrive in their pots. It’s designed for container use!

For picky species like cacti, plant them in a mix with plenty of coarse sand or crushed granite to ensure water doesn’t sit in their pots. You may use Happy Frog®; simply amend it with these other materials. Epic Gardening’s Garden Hermit Jacques Lyakov recommends the following formula for dry-loving species:

3 parts Happy Frog® Potting Soil
2 parts Coarse Sand or Crushed Granite
2 parts Pumice or Perlite

Select the Right Container

A gardener wearing white gloves transplants blooming bright yellow primroses into a large ceramic pot next to which stands a large clay pot with a young tree, in a sunny garden, — A deep pot up front saves stress down the line.

Container size is everything for healthy potted plants! Certain crops have deep-reaching roots that require a deep pot, while others have fibrous roots that grow near the surface. Taproot-forming species will perform poorly in shallow containers.

Most crops prefer growing in pots that are at least a foot deep. High-feeders, like tomatoes, peppers, and squash, will grow better in pots that are two feet deep. Start with the right-sized pot, and your plants will thank you with healthy growth!

Fruit trees and big specimens need lots of space for their extensive root systems. Trees like apples, peaches, and plums benefit from growing in 20-gallon, 25-gallon, or larger-size pots.

Some types have reservoirs where they hold water. The reservoir’s water slowly seeps into the containers through a wick or rope. These containers often cause plant death, as many gardeners water them like regular pots.

Rather than top watering, refill the self-watering reservoir after it empties. This will ensure your plants stay moist without excess sogginess. These containers are best for rental homes, lake houses, and cabins that you visit infrequently.

Follow Spacing Guidelines

Close-up of a female gardener in white gloves transplanting young strawberry seedlings into an elongated plastic pot filled with soil in a sunny garden. — Smart spacing saves you from thinning out later anyway.

Crop spacing is as significant as container size in cultivating healthy plants. If you space crops too close together, they’ll have small yields. But if you grow them too far apart, they’ll allow weed seeds and volunteer seedlings to sprout in between them.

Spacing guidelines are on each seed packet you purchase, and they’re generally okay to follow for other varieties of the same species. If you save seeds, your containers may not have spacing guidelines! Use the spacing requirements that other packets advertise for the same crops.

An example is broccoli; I save broccoli seeds each year from my favorite plants. Then, when it’s time for planting, I follow spacing guidelines from a similar variety like ‘Di Cicco’ online.

The best plants to pack into containers are leafy greens; their spacing needs are less than other demanding crops, and you can harvest them continuously to let nearby plants fill the space they leave behind. For example, you can cut lettuce heads within four inches of the ground, and they’ll resprout if the weather is cool and mild.

Choose a Good Location

A cozy home garden with a variety of potted crops including carrots, lettuce, strawberries, bugleherb, and tomatoes. — Lettuce breathes easier with a little afternoon shade.

Different plant species prefer various locations. Sun-loving crops like peppers, tomatoes, and fruit trees prefer full sun to grow well. They need six to eight hours of daily direct sunlight to thrive. Others, like leafy greens and shade-loving perennials, will grow best in partial shade.

Because containers are easily transportable, you may move your garden specimens as often as necessary to give them the sun exposure they crave. Perhaps you notice burn marks on leaves and want to move the plant to a shadier location, or you see the plant stretching toward the light and want to give it more sun.

One thing to note is that plants aren’t meant for transporting; they have roots that anchor them in place. When moving them, transition them slowly by exposing them to the new environment for a few hours a day. Increase the exposure time over two weeks until the plants fully adapt to their new locations. The slow exposure is like hardening off for seedlings—it helps the plants acclimate themselves.

Add Compost

Close-up of female hands holding dark brown loose compost against pile of kitchen waste. — Every garden wins when the compost gets in the mix.

I swear by compost and its ability to help soils! It’s an organic material you can make in your garden. Compost consists of organic waste that decomposes into a humus-rich soil amendment. You’ll put kitchen scraps, garden clippings, and fall leaves into a pile, turn it daily, and keep it moist. After a few weeks of turning, you’ll have a rich, fertile, and absorbent soil amendment.

To use compost to boost the health of container plants, add a layer one to two inches thick on top of the soil. Leave space around the plant’s crown so you don’t cover up its trunk or main stem. Water the soil, and watch as your plant takes off with healthy new growth.

Other materials act like compost to insulate, feed, and protect plant roots. Straw, leaf mold, and aged wood chips are other suitable amendments. Choose your favorite product at the garden center, or use whatever you have available to save money this growing season. Fallen leaves are a budget-friendly option; they’re abundant, easy to source, and all-natural!

Fertilize Regularly

A woman's hand pouring organic granular fertilizer to the base of a growing tree in a large black pot. — Acid-loving plants brighten up with low-pH fertilizers.

Regularly fertilizing your potted flowers and veggies helps them thrive with unchecked growth. A lack of nutrients may cause them to stop growing, have weak stems, or attract pests and diseases. How much fertilizer and which kind to use depends on the plant species.

Well-balanced fertilizers with plenty of phosphorus and potassium work well for flowering and fruiting varieties, while leafy greens prefer mixes with more nitrogen. Some, like blueberries and rhododendrons, prefer acidic soil and need fertilizers with an acidic pH.

A few different types of fertilizers exist. You’ll find liquid, granular, and powder forms of organic or synthetic materials. Organic fertilizers are generally better for home gardens than synthetic ones, as they don’t add salts to the soil. Synthetic types, though quick-acting, may cause a buildup of nutrients if they’re overapplied.

No matter the fertilizer you choose, the product’s label will have the proper dosage and application rates. It’ll tell you how much to use for lawns, veggies, and flower beds.

Ensure Consistent Moisture

A man's hand uses a hose to water young tomato seedlings planted in large gray pots in the garden. — Deep watering helps when the heat hits hard.

Moisture is essential in keeping your container plants happy and healthy. Water allows them to transport nutrients from their roots to their leaves and topmost stems. Without it, withering and death will quickly ensue. The rate of water loss is higher for potted specimens than for in-ground ones.

The amount of water to apply varies depending on the plant type. Cacti, drought-tolerant shrubs, and succulents thrive with infrequent watering, while heat-loving crops and annuals require consistent moisture.

Most growing crops benefit from irrigation every week or two. This frequency will increase during summer and decrease in the fall and winter. Hot temperatures and ample sunlight cause the dirt to dry quickly; you may need to water daily in the middle of summer.

Using a large, well-sized planter is key in preventing water loss. When a plant sprouts too many roots in a small pot, it grows root-bound and cannot drink water efficiently. The irrigation will drain freely without soaking into the rootball unless you transplant or repot it.

Protect Tender Plants

A small vegetable garden on the balcony, with various crops growing in terracotta pots of different sizes, including peppers, tomatoes, and strawberries. — Keep plants cool by providing afternoon shade during heat waves.

Rather than letting your tender specimens burn or suffer frost damage, you can preemptively protect them with simple tricks. Frost cloth or row cover is one material that helps as cold temperatures arrive during fall and winter. Simply drape the cloth over the top growth at night and remove it when temperatures rise above freezing.

Sun and heat damage are also concerns for a container garden. Umbrellas, shade cloths, and taller trees provide shade when your crops need it most. Consider moving them out of the sun on hot days during the afternoon. Heat waves are of particular concern, as most species cannot resist the pressures of high temperatures.

To further protect against heat, ensure the soil is consistently moist and water daily during heat waves. If heat or frosts are excessive, consider moving the pots under a porch, patio, or balcony with protection. Spots close to your home’s walls are warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer than the surrounding garden.

Some frost-tender types, like peppers or coleus, need extra protection during winter. They benefit from indoor overwintering if you have the available space. Consider taking cuttings in the fall and overwintering them in containers near a windowsill until spring warmth arrives again.

Repot Overgrown Specimens

A woman in a brown hoodie and jeans transplants a parsley plant with a large root ball into a large black plastic pot on a porch. — Repot when roots start pushing through the drainage holes.

After a year or more of growing in the same container, many plant cultivars will need to be repotted or transplanted to continue producing healthy growth. Their overgrown roots need more space and fresh soil to dig into. Fall and spring are the best times to transplant your shrubs, trees, and perennials.

To transplant, tip the pot over on its side and knock the rootball until it slides out. Some roots may stick to the edges; cut them with a hori hori knife or a similar sharp tool, then continue knocking until the roots slide out.

Prepare a new container with fresh Happy Frog® potting soil or a similar mix, then move the plant into it. Add more soil until you cover the roots, then add water until it drains freely from the pot’s drainage holes.

How often you should repot your perennials depends on what kinds you’re growing and how quickly they mature. If you notice roots poking out of the drainage holes or out of the top of the soil, repotting may be necessary to grant them more space.