by Susan | Aug 21, 2015 | LB Tutorial: Container Gardening, Plantswoman Design
I don’t know about you but I have random collections of plants. I love succulents and I overwinter them in the greenhouse in small pots. When summer comes I’m ready to move them outside. BUT the very thought of having to water lots of small pots in odd places is daunting to say the least. So… a little pondering came up with a solution. I would use my collection as a vignette.
I purchased a couple of galvanized containers at a local store (TJMAXX).
Because I live near the beach I went and collected some driftwood and bits of beach debris. Because it is close and free I used it. You can use anything that is around you. If you live near a wooded area you can use old logs, branches, rocks, pretty much anything natural to create the interest around the pots.
I placed driftwood and debris under and around the containers. Using a couple of upside down plastic pots I elevated the shorter pots so they all are at approximately the same level. This creates easy watering and same type of sun exposure. The galvanized containers would hold water so I punched a small hole in them to allow excess water to drain out. If I ever wanted to reuse them and have them hold water I would just plug the hole with caulking.
Galvanized watering cans out of the greenhouse add to the display to finish it off.
Bringing the containers out and elevating them gives you a chance to see the interesting things in each plant.
Finished Display. Notice the old wheeled cart that the containers are sitting on? This allows me to move the plants around. When they first come out of the greenhouse they will get sun burnt if placed into direct sunlight. So, I move them from shade to part shade to more sun over a couple of weeks.
Smaller plants in an old plant pot carrier. This can be carried inside or placed on a table during a dinner then back out again. Versatility is the key here.
Join me on Facebook and share your succulent creations!
by Susan | May 8, 2015 | LB Tutorial: Container Gardening, Plantswoman Design
Succulents are all the rage right now. Every place I look, from the grocery store to the nursery, I see them. Many of them are not hardy in our area so they are treated like annuals. Surprisingly enough they are not hard to keep alive in your house with reasonable light and very little water.
I hate to throw away plants so I try to keep them alive if I can. Now that the weather is getting better I’m ready to bring some of my previous saves back out. Sometimes I pick up a few more to add to the collection. Ready for a quick planting idea that you can engage your kids with?
Lowes had a very lightweight rectangular planter. Just perfect for dropping some plants in! First I pushed out the plug in the bottom so the water would drain out. They come with a plug so they can be used as a water planter as well.
The succulents only need a small amount of soil to survive. The hardest part of keeping them alive is soil saturation from over watering. The way to use a deep container like this is to use a filler of some sort so the soil level is much less than the entire volume of the planter. I have used several types of filler but this time I’m using old 4-inch pots. Dropping them upside down inside the container will leave airspace beneath them and less room for soil above them.
The soil used here is regular potting soil with extra perlite added to increase the air space in the soil. You can use a cactus mix but you can also mix your own soil from all purpose soil mix and adding different amendments.
Using what I had over wintered with some new plants I created a little mini garden. 
When planting try to plant contrasting leaves next to each other, putting tall things in the center or off center and build the contrasts around them. Firm the soil around the plants and soak the soil to settle it around the plants.
For the finishing touch I grabbed some pieces of driftwood, and shells from the beach. This is the perfect opportunity to have your kids help. My grand kids are always picking up rocks and sticks from their outdoor adventures and these collections can be added to the top of the planter to act as mulch. Ask your kids to add what they’ve collected on top of the soil. Rocks, sticks, beach glass, feathers, seedpods, whatever they come up with is so much fun. I usually have the worse time keeping my puppy from dragging out a couple of pieces to chew.
Do you have succulents? How have you displayed them?
by Susan | Mar 23, 2014 | LB Tutorial: Container Gardening, Little Bytes
Welcome back to Little Bytes! I’m excited to start our first container today. Jen will be my partner-in-crime for this demo.
Before going out to purchase the necessary supplies to plant her pots, Jen needed to figure out where to put them. She picked out a spot by her front door that gets good sun, is out of the dog traffic pattern, and someplace where she will see them and remember to water them. Each new gardener should take into consideration sun exposure, traffic patterns (human and animal), water availability, and enjoyment. Sun is essential for most vegetables.
Here’s what you will need to follow along with us and plant your own container:
- A container
- something sharp to poke drainage holes into your container (unless your container already has them).
- Small shovel or spade
- filler (packing peanuts, plastic bottles with lids on, crushed plant containers)
- Potting soil and compost
- Plants
- gardening gloves (optional)
First we will need to provide drainage holes. These pots, purchased at Lowe’s, have ‘punch outs’ for the holes. Jen worked on punching out the holes with a screwdriver and hammer but ended up using a drill instead because the first container fractured instead of giving a nice clean hole. The integrity of the container is still there but it doesn’t look ‘perfect’ anymore.
Next step is to add filler. We recommend choosing containers that are at least 2 1/2 feet tall by 2 1/2 feet across. Fill in enough space to leave 18 inches from the top. This pot will house herbs that can overwinter (stay out all winter with out dying) so they get a little more soil than containers that get to come inside for the winter. Adding filler allows the growing material to be easily reached, have just enough soil to grow plants successfully and aids in drainage. The root systems of most vegetables are about 6 inches to 1 foot down in regular garden beds, which is what our plants will get. Too much soil becomes waterlogged and can cause problems for the roots of your plants. Look for something light weight so the container can be moved easily if needed. Pebbles, rock and dirt are not a good choice. Packing pellets, plastic bottles with lids, or crushed 4 inch growers pots are good choices (and help you recycle). Keep in mind you want the water to drain past the filler material not get trapped in it. If your drainage holes are bigger than a dime go ahead and place a larger piece of broken clay pot or an upside down growers pot at the drain holes so they don’t get clogged.
Next we need to add the soil and compost which we picked up at the local nursery. We chose an organic soil mix with no fertilizer in it and planting compost. I like to mix some extra nutrients into the potting soil using 1/3 planing compost and 2/3 potting soil mix.
Pour in your soil and compost then mix the materials together by hand…. Mmm, smells good as we mix the soil and compost. We tapped the container a few times to settle the soil and filled it up to about 2 inches from the top
Now that your soil is ready it’s time to place our plants. In container planting I like to work with heights and textures when planning my container. Place all the herbs, still in their pots, into the container to come up with a pleasing arrangement. I like to put plants that are tall in the center and creepers towards the edge so they have somewhere to go as they grow (looks great and makes harvesting easier). Then arrange fat leaves next to small leaves and spiky in between. There is still a little room here for our basil seeds when it gets a little warmer. Be sure to keep them in order when you start planting so you can remember the arrangement.
Now time to plant! Starting in the middle pull the plant out of the pot, gently tease the roots apart so they will start reaching out to the soil right away and plant it at the same soil height it had in the pot.
Gently firm down the soil before going planting the rest of the container in the same manner. This time of year the plants are not usually root bound (a tight network of roots from being in the pot too long). If they are you may have to get a little more aggressive with the ‘teasing of the roots’. Save all the tags and place them in the corner of the container in case you need to look at them.
After all is planted it is time to soak the soil with water. Use a gentle spray of water until you see liquid running out of the bottom of the container. Check the plants to see that they are still firm in the soil (some may need to be re seated because of air pockets). Add a top coat of compost and you are finished! We will fertilize in a few weeks but I like to give the herbs a little time to adjust to their new home before fertilizing. For the most part herbs aren’t heavy feeders so we will only give them a little boost as they get started growing.
And we are done!
See below for the list of the herbs Jen used. Kristen has the same herbs in Chicago and will post about her potting experience next week. She is in zone 5 so her spring is several weeks away so her plants get to hang out inside for a bit.
It’s always more fun to learn and garden together so let us know if you are joining in with us! You can let us know by posting to our facebook page, sharing on twitter (@susan_PWD) or leaving a comment below.
We will have harvesting tips and recipes to follow. We can plant, grow, and enjoy the fruits of our labors (literally)!!
Keep growing, Susan
Plant List:
- Rosemary Irene
- Silver Rose Garlic
- Chives
- Lemon Catnip
- Sicilian Oregano
- Silver Variegated Lemon Thyme
- Flat Leaf Parsley
- French Peppermint
- Berggarten Sage
- Vietnamese Coriander
- Gold Variegated Lemon Thyme
by Susan | Mar 10, 2014 | LB Tutorial: Container Gardening, Little Bytes
Here is a quick garden house Byte…
My local nursery has some great things in the green house and I recently picked out this sarracenia Flava from Courting Frogs Nursery. Use this quick tutorial to bring the garden indoors as we wait for our plants to wake up outside.
Here’s what you need:
>A container – This hurricane glass is from my collection but you can find them at your local craft store (I use hurricane glasses for MANY things as you will see).
>Preserved reindeer moss (I wanted a color that was exactly the same color as the blosom, also from the nursery)
>Beautiful plant to show off
First, I placed a thin cushion of the moss under the pot inside the hurricane lamp. Then, after I pulled the tags off the pot and placed it in the container, I packed the moss around the edges. This beautiful container can go inside or outside. I like to use it inside then put it outside when the weather warms. It likes constant moisture so putting it in the hurricane glass it can have water up the sides of the pot.
Here is the final result. This also makes a great unusual and fun gift. Such a great way to share your love of gardening with non-gardeners.
What do you have growing inside right now?
