Tips and ideas
Saving weight in pots and planters
I was helping a neighbour with her planters a while ago. They had been planted using some plants I had given her. I was very surprised at how light the troughs were. She showed me how the bottoms were filled with empty milk bottles, thus removing some weight. (As well as saving on compost!)
Any way, here are a few photographs of the process.
First, get a clean, empty planter. (Thank you Mrs. Beaton).
Secondly, choose your items to pack the bottom of the pot. In this case a trough. Make sure they are clean and light. I washed these with water with soap and disinfectant as well. Ensure they have lids as water may enter and make the container heavy, not what we want. Depending on size and shape of your container will determine the items used to pack the bottom.
Now we place them in the trough and position how you want them. In this case not much choice, but it was exactly what I wanted.
Number four, introduce the compost and fill as per five.
Number six shows this one “potted up”. For these plants there was plenty of compost to allow their roots to spread out.
I use this mainly to save weight as I quite often want to move my troughs. Having said that, there will be no moving of troughs, pots or planters by me this year, 2025.
Hope this is a wee bit of interest,
Andrew Lothian.
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Digging holes for planting.
I remember being told a few times, mainly on gardening programs, that when digging holes in gardens for plants, the holes should be square. The reason being that the roots growing in round pots would not spread out as much as they should. If the holes were round, the roots would continue in a circular direction. A square hole would help to force the roots to spread out better.
I also like model railways. As well as the real thing, but I normally do not watch much of Michael Portillo’s “Great Railway Journeys” as they are more travelogues than about the actual trains. This time it was on and I was not paying too much attention until he got to a pine forest garden. At 640 acres it is a bit much to call it a garden. They look after and preserve pine trees. All sorts of varieties. He was invited to plant a “dinosaur” pine tree. There are supposedly less than a hundred growing in the wild in Australia.
This specimen was about 3 feet tall, and in a pot of about 8 to 10 inches. I was too busy watching the gardener digging a perfectly square hole for the tree. He made sure the sides were vertical and the hole was square.
So folks, if after being told by various gardeners on t.v. and now seeing such a major arboretum doing it, I will make sure I follow suit and advise others to do the same,
Andrew Lothian.
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If you have bought any Begonias to plant, two things to be aware of.
One, Begonias, the Non Stop and Illumination varieties are grown from tubers. In the case of Begonias, they put out roots from the top of the tuber as well as all round. This means that when they are planted ensure the tuber is completely covered. (Other Begonias are grown from tubers and this applies to all of them. Not all Begonias are grown from tubers.)
Two, When planting out, ensure the plants are not sitting “proud” of the soil. They should be in a little hollow. This means that when they are watered the water will stay around the plant, and not flow away. Be careful if you have planted small young plants in a large container. I plant a few Fuchsias around a large basket and have to ensure that they actually get watered. It is no use watering the centre of the basket, it may not reach the plants.