"Life Changing" Gardening Tips

I'm being sarcastic with the title of the post of course. The news feed that comes up on my computer often has headings that profess life changing food choices or makeup tips or kitchen cleaning strategies. Not sure they are life changing. Sometimes they are remotely interesting. Most of the time I don't bother clicking on them.

So, if you clicked on this, these are just some handy dandy tips, showing you a couple of things I've been doing over the years when planting large pots / planters / urns. You likely are already doing them, but just in case you aren't, here you go:

The first tip will help keep the soil in your pot, and keep your porch or deck or patio from being a bit messy. Your pot likely has a drainage hole in the bottom. It's necessary so your plants don't get waterlogged. But sometimes the water carries a lot of soil out the bottom, too. I keep a package of coffee filters with my gardening supplies.

Before putting the potting soil in the container, just place a coffee filter in the bottom. It still allows water drainage, but keeps your soil in your pot, not on your patio.

Handy Dandy tip number two:
If you are planting a large planter, you really don't need to fill the whole thing with potting soil. Most annuals have roots that don't need much more than several inches of room below them for their roots. Why use a huge bag of premium potting soil when the depth isn't necessary? Instead, fill some of that space at the bottom of the pot with something else.

I save large plastic containers for a variety of reasons. Husband uses them in the shop for storage, or for paint. I use the lids in my classroom for little paint trays. In this case, just use empty plastic containers with the proper fitting lids.

I was able to fit three containers in the bottom of each planter. I likely could have fit in more! They fill up a decent amount of space, don't add any weight, and can be reused again after you empty the planter out at the end of the season. Just put your potting soil in over top (and in the spaces in between), plant your flowers, and watch them grow. This year I've used mostly sweet potato vine (I like the light green kind), geraniums and coleus.

One last hint - I stole this one from a local greenhouse owner and heck of a funny guy. He fertilizes his pots and hanging plants at home once a week on Fridays. He calls it fertilizer Friday. I use the blue powdered fertilizer that you just mix with water. It makes a big difference with how big and lush your flowers are. Fertilizer Friday - an easy way to remember to take care of your planters.

Today was lovely and warm and felt like summer. Oh happy day!