Skip to main content
A first container garden asks for very little: a sunny corner, pots that drain, the right soil, and plants that thrive with a beginner's care. Everything grows in containers, so a few pots along the railing or against the wall hold the whole garden. You can buy all of it in one trip and have it planted the same afternoon.
Your patio or balcony at The Argos Apartments on The Beltline has room for a row of containers and a chair beside them. Begin by watching where the sun lands, since the amount of light you get decides which plants will do well.
Find the Sunniest Spot on Your Patio or Balcony
Spend a Saturday noting when sunlight reaches your outdoor space and when the shade takes over. Most herbs and vegetables want six or more hours of direct light, and a south- or west-facing space gets the most sun. East-facing spaces get bright mornings and cooler afternoons, which suits leafy greens.
A railing or the sunny edge of a patio usually catches the strongest light, so put the sun-lovers there and keep the shade-tolerant plants closer to the wall. Containers move easily, so you can slide them a few feet as the sun shifts through the season and keep every plant where it grows best.
Pick Pots with Drainage Holes
Drainage holes are the one feature every pot needs, because they let extra water drain away and keep roots healthy. Turn a pot over before you buy it, and if the bottom is solid, drill a few holes yourself or use it as a decorative cover over a plastic nursery pot.
Set a saucer under each pot to catch what drains through, which keeps your patio or balcony clean and tidy. Size the pot to the plant: herbs are happy in six to eight inches across, leafy greens want eight to ten, and a pepper or a cherry tomato needs twelve inches or more. Terracotta dries quickly and suits rosemary and thyme, while glazed ceramic and plastic hold water longer for basil and greens.
Fill Each Pot with Container Potting Mix
Choose a potting mix made for containers. Its blend of peat, bark, and perlite stays loose and light, holding water while letting air reach the roots.
Fill each pot to about an inch below the rim, which leaves room for water to pool and soak into the soil. Most bagged mixes include a starter fertilizer that feeds your plants for a few weeks, so plan to add a liquid fertilizer every two weeks after that. Refresh the top few inches each spring, since mix breaks down and compacts over a year of watering.
Start with Herbs and Greens That Grow Easily
Herbs reward a beginner faster than anything else. Basil, mint, thyme, rosemary, oregano, and chives all thrive in containers, and cutting them regularly makes them fuller, so the herbs you cook with most end up your best-looking plants. Keep mint in a pot of its own, because it spreads quickly and grows best with space to fill.
Leafy greens come next. Leaf lettuce, spinach, kale, and arugula grow quickly from seed, and Atlanta's zone 8a means the cool stretch from fall into spring suits all four. Cut the outer leaves and leave the center, and one plant keeps growing new leaves for weeks. Four or five plants make a manageable first season, and you can add a cherry tomato or a pepper once the watering routine feels automatic.
Grow Your Garden at The Argos Apartments on The Beltline
Once your pots are planted, a little water and a sunny spot keep your garden growing all season. Plant it right outside your door at The Argos Apartments on The Beltline, and within a few weeks you are snipping basil for dinner and pulling lettuce leaves for lunch, a few steps from the trail and the saltwater pool.
The direction your outdoor space faces and the length of its railing or edge decide what you can grow, and both are easiest to judge in person. Schedule a tour at The Argos Apartments on The Beltline today and choose the patio or balcony where your garden will grow.