Last week at the Bangor Garden Show, I gave a talk on container gardening that made a believer out of at least one person. Me. Which is to say that when I sat down and figured out all the advantages of gardening in containers as opposed to gardening in the ground, I surprised even myself. In fact, my current feeling is that if I had to choose between the two methods of growing plants, I’d be more willing to let go of the vegetable patch and flower border than all the pots, baskets, boxes and urns that my wife and I have acquired over the years.

Truly I see container gardening as the emerging trend of the 1990s. It’s the next logical step after raised-bed and square-foot gardening. And for all the baby boomers with their legendary appetite for instant gratification, container gardening is the obvious answer. The relatively short lifespan of most potted gardens means that you can get away with cramming more plants into each container which, in turn, means that the containers will achieve the desired look of fullness and luxuriance almost immediately.

Another major attraction of container gardens is that by virture of being elevated off the ground, they tend to bring the plants that much closer to our senses. And we are drawn in by the beauty, fragrance and tactile pleasures of our plants. Watering, feeding, deadheading and general caregiving are somehow transformed from mere chores to satisfying rituals when we garden in pots and planters.

Some aspects of vegetable gardening will always be more appropriate to the backyard (e.g. corn and pumpkins), but it’s surprising how much produce can be raised in containers. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cukes (short-vined varieties), zucchini, radishes and almost any other small-statured vegetable is worth a try in whatever container is most handy. Some desert dwellers do all their vegetable growing in plastic trash bags as a water conservation measure.

By far my favorite vegetable to grow in a pot is lettuce. Specifically, I like to use a 10-inch hanging pot with four to six 1-inch holes bored halfway up the sides. Fill the pot with soil or potting medium, insert a seed or seedling in each hole, and hang in a sunny location where the wind won’t bother. Four to six weeks later, you’ll be picking the cleanest, most un-buggy lettuce leaves you ever imagined.

Parsley and basil adapt well to the same growing system with equally delightful freedom from soil pests. Almost any other herb is appropriate to the container garden. Terra cotta pots are ideally suited to the container herbs which typically have a marked preference for good drainage and well aerated roots.

When putting together a strawberry jar, look for such ever-bearing varieties as Tristar and Tribute. These are so-called day neutral types, meaning that their fruiting response is unaffected by the length of day. With a little protection from fall frosts (easy enough — just bring indoors on cold nights), you’ll find that the plants are quite productive well into November.

The element of portability is often overlooked when gardening in containers. But when you think about it, there is a distinct advantage to being able to move your garden wherever the spirit or circumstances might dictate. Having a party? Clear the deck. A wedding? Arrange the planters formally or informally to create a floral chapel.

In thinking about this subject, I hit upon one final reason to consider container gardening as an alternative to earth-bound horticulture — and that is that the soil is undoubtedly happiest when left alone. The worms and microbes are far better husbanders of the earth than the mad, two-legged rototilling beings that we have become.

Michael Zuck of Bangor is a horticulturist and the NEWS garden columnist. Send inquiries to him at 2106 Essex St., Bangor, Maine 04401.