Pots - a real novice

staceysteve

As you will see from my threads I am a real novice at gardening.
I'd like to do a couple of large pots for the spring summer - this there anything more interesting than a little conifer that will be just as easy and hardy??
Lol please be kind!!

foxgloves

Hi, this won't be any use to you now, as you need to do it in October, but I thought I'd still reply in case useful for next year? I layer my big pots so I get a display for as long as poss before having to chuck it all out & start again. I do them in October. For my biggest pots, I put the usual smashed crocks in the bottom for drainage & fill about half full with compost, then I do a layer of tulip bulbs. Then I cover them with soil & put in a layer of daffodil bulbs, then I fill the pot to the brim & fill the top with winter flowering pansies, a cyclamen, heathers, the ornamental pink & purple kales, primulas, etc You can enjoy the stuff you've put in the top late autumn & winter until it gets really cold, then some of the plants will need a tidy-up - kales can be removed if they have gone mushy & weird - the pansies will usually start flowering again when the coldest of the winter weather has passed, then your daffodils will start to push throough & you'll next have a display of those to enjoy, then by the time they are ready to be cut down, you'll have the tulips coming through. When the tulips are over (April/May) then it's time to tip it all out, & get pot ready for its summer display. I find that this way, I only have to refill pots twice a year. Hope this is helpful x

foxgloves

Oh me again....forgot to say, I keep the bulbs and replant them in my flower borders. Tulips don't always reflower again...they mostly do but can be iffy, but the daffs almost certainly will & it feels less wasteful than throwing them away or onto the compost.

staceysteve

Thanks foxgloves, will definately do the daffodils and tulips in October this year - I probably didn't make myself clear, I was thinking like is there a nice bush (don't know if that's even the right word) that flowers in the summer but will alive at least thought the winter, won't grow majorly?
Lol I must sound so awful saying this but I just don't have a clue!!

Linda32

Hi,

Do you have garden centres near to you, they are brilliant places and have the plants grouped together, say for shady areas or sunny areas. If your planting in pots then you don't need to worry about what type of soil you have got, so thats easy.

Then just choose one that you like You will have to water them of course in the dry weather. If you keep them in pots then they are not going to grow much either.

Rosebud24

[QUOTE=staceysteve;29051807Lol_I_must_sound_so_awful_saying_this_but_I_just_don't_have_a_clue!![/QUOTE]

Not at all Staceysteve, we all start somewhere. I got my first garden 18 months ago and didn't have a clue, I love it though so have done loads of reading and visiting nurseries and gardens to get ideas. I can't believe how much I've learnt in that time - I have a suspicion I've just scratched the surface though! There is nothing like actually learning from experience I suppose.


My garden is decked so I have loads of pots! My favourite, and the easiest to look after is a Pieris . It is a small shrub (about 2 feet tall), nicely shaped with slim, oval shaped leaves. The variety I have has variegated leaves and is evergreen so looks pretty all year round. In the spring when new leaves come through they are bright red and the plant looks fantastic. The leaves then fade to pink before eventually becoming green and cream.

It likes ericaceous (acidic) compost so you would need to buy this and not water it with tap water but with rain water.

Hope you find something you like.