"Dirt + Design" Offers Tips and Services to Beginner Container Gardeners

As planting season begins to bloom across southern Indiana, many gardeners—especially beginners or those working with limited space—are looking for ways to bring color, life, and even food to their homes without the hassle of major landscaping. Enter container gardening, a flexible and stylish solution that’s catching on fast. And here in Salem, one local business is planting itself firmly at the heart of the trend.

Dirt + Design, founded by Salem native Bex Atwood, specializes in container garden design and installation, offering custom plantings for both residential and commercial spaces. Whether it’s a storefront looking for curb appeal or a home gardener hoping to grow fresh veggies without tearing up the lawn, Dirt + Design provides beautiful, functional options.

“Container gardening is applying basic gardening principles to containers,” Bex explains. “It’s especially popular for folks that rent or who don’t want to break ground in their yard, and it offers a way to garden without significant maintenance.”

More than just flower pots, container gardens can host a variety of plants—flowers, herbs, vegetables, even climbing varieties with the help of trellises. Bex emphasizes the value of container gardens in adding green space to concrete-heavy commercial areas and making edible gardening more accessible to everyday families.

Bex's Story

Bex’s journey into horticulture has taken her across the country—from greenhouse work at Kentucky Kingdom to commercial design for major clients like Starbucks, Safeway, and Hilton in the Pacific Northwest. But her heart brought her back home to Indiana.

“ I grew up in a split home and spent half my time in Salem, half in Bedford,” she said. “I wanted to ultimately stay in our neck of the woods and felt a desire to offer my niche container services that I both favored and saw as an under-served area of the local industry. People in rural areas deserve to have beautiful pots and gardens too!”

Her business, Dirt + Design, is focused on the kinds of jobs that larger landscaping companies often pass up or overcharge for—things like custom hanging baskets, window boxes, and large planters. Customers can drop off their own containers for planting, buy premade pots, or work with Bex directly for custom designs, installation, and maintenance.

“Whether it’s buying a premade pot or having me assist from design to install to harvest, I’m excited and eager to help,” Bex said. “With the ideal ‘Dirt + Design’, you have success every time.”

Tips for Beginner Container Gardeners

If you’re just getting started, Bex has a few practical tips:

• Skip the pricey soil mixes and go for a compost-topsoil mix with added perlite for drainage.

• Use slow-release, granular fertilizer when planting to keep plants fed all season.

• Save soil (and help with drainage) by filling the bottom of large pots with cardboard or small rocks.

• Don’t shy away from growing vegetables—even climbing ones—in containers. “Trellises are a container’s best friend,” she says.

  
  

While Dirt + Design is based in Salem, Bex provides services all across southern Indiana—from Bloomington to Vevay and Rising Sun, Clarksville to Evansville, and up to Vincennes. She sources plants and materials from local greenhouses and centers, supporting the region’s gardening economy while providing boutique-level service.

Though she doesn’t yet have a physical storefront, her dream is to one day open a showroom and greenhouse of her own.

Until then, Dirt + Design continues to grow—one beautiful container at a time.

To see examples of Bex’s work or to inquire about services, visit Dirt + Design on Facebook.