New start with containers

[Auricula]

I have decided to empty all my ceramic pots and hanging baskets and start again!!
I shall major on large pots this year, containing perennials, smaller pots on staging with dahlias and pinks in them and fuchsias in hanging baskets. I'm hoping to cut down on watering ( we're going to have a scorching summer you know i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd161/GWDAdmin1/Smilies/Default/wink.gif ) and have pots which make a statement.
What are you growing in pots for 2010??? i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd161/GWDAdmin1/Smilies/Default/smiley.gif

[Deleted]

I have 15/20 empty hanging baskets and want to fill most of them. I havent got room to really grow loads of annuals etc in me little plastic green house, so shrubs i could just plonk in the baskets would be good. Do fuchsias grow well in them and what ones are you thinking of using Auricula. I will be keeping an eye on this thread
Just seen Chuckles old thread she done very well with her cuttings for her baskets and her baskets looked beautiful gardenworld.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=2008trials&action=display&thread=5191

[Missredhead]

I am going to try spuds in pots this year for the first time...last year I grew spring onions, beetroot, carrots and lettuce all in pots.

I also put the left over bedding plants that wont fit into my baskets and beds into pots.

[Auricula]

I'll let you know, Steve

[Jasmine]

I have got about 10 tubs with tulips in - It should look great in late spring but I am not going to do that again! ;D
I'm wondering more about tubs with things that come back each year with a few bits added for a bit of 'newness'. I liked Chuckles picture from Barnsdale (?) with the penstemons arranged in pots.
Ideas, ideas.....

[Auricula]

Half my potted tulips are out now but I keep them in plastic pots so I can just whisk em away after the event ;D

[Jasmine]

That was my idea too Auricula - I am having pots for different things and not waiting to clear out pots to replant.
Some of my daffs in pots have not done very well this year - I don't know why.

[Auricula]

Steve - I find fuchsias do well in hanging baskets. They won't render the basket invisible ( like surfinia petunias for example) but they make a good display, and it is easy to appreciate the flowers when they're at eye levelish. I put 3 trailing fuchsias in a 30cm basket and if the basket is bigger, I still put in 3 trailers but add an upright one in the middle.If they're pinched out a couple of times they bush out and trail nicely. I take cuttings to use next year, if mine don't survive, but if you don't have a lot of space for cuttings, you could take the baskets in overwinter, keep them dry ish( they don't need much light) and they should come back ok. I usually keep mine for about 3 - 4 years before I replace the plants....which is where I'm at this year. I'm biased cos I love fuchsias, but they always do well for me in mild,damp Cornwall

[Auricula]

Forgot to say, I buy the little plug plants from GC or B and Q if I don't have enough cuttings

[Deleted]

Cheers Auricula I will have a look around during the week

[Barbara]

I plant my tulips in pots, when they finish they are dug out and put in my gardening cupboard in a shoe box, that has had Dahlias in, (are you with me so far) the dahlias then go in the pots that had the tulips in, so it's a bit like sharing a bed only in a pot.

I put trailing fuscias in hanging baskets as well, and I put creeping jenny in as that hides the baskets.

I have Agapanthus in a pot, and all my hostas are in pots as well.

My ruby wedding has always lived in a pot, it has never had the freedom to runaround.

when you don't have a vey big garden, and when some of it is so water logged that you have to pave it, you have to learn to love pots, so I buy lots of them.

[Auricula]

Sounds good Barbara

[Ladygardener]

I share my pots too Barbara although I'm not as organised about it as you. ;D

[Auricula]

Do you get the tulips to refower Barbara? They say now to treat them as annuals, but I'm not too sure

[Jasmine]

I planted some of last years at the bottom of the garden to give them a second chance Auricula. They are just leaves at the moment but I am really interested to see if they flower again and whether they are as strong as they were last year.

[Auricula]

I have only bought dwarf ones this year, so they will look good in pots without flopping over. I am tempted to leave them in their pots in a coldframe over the summer and see if they come again next year. I can't put them in the ground cos they either rot off or the mice etc eat them.

[Barbara]

Yes, I replant them, they are in flower now, when they finished last year I fed them with the dreaded chicken sh ..poo. and after a couple of weeks into the shoe box they went, If it stops raining I'll take a picture.

[Barbara]

Mini pinky/ white ones I can't remember the name sorry.

[Barbara]

[Barbara]

What on earth is going on with PB, it's driving me mad.

[Auricula]

Great, Barbara, thanks - I'll do what you do

[Auricula]

Dunno - lots of things seem to be having a silly few days!! ;D

[Deleted]

Went to B+Q today and bought 6 hanging Fuchsia called Spion kop and a tray of mixed colour hanging Lobelia for my hanging baskets. I have some creeping jenny around the pond i could take cuttings of that as well. Anyone know how big the fuchsias will grow in a season?Or how many do i need in a basket?

[Auricula]

Depends if you feed them regularly I often forget My trailing fuchsias usually fill the basket ( 3 plants to a 12" or 14" basket) and trail down almost to the basket's bottom. I often get plants from B and Q and they're fine

[JennyWrenn]

After I moved all my containers to one part of the garden to make way for the guy putting up the decking I thought how neat and tidy it all looked without them

They are all sizes, shapes and colours - so they are GOING TO GO

Every Summer I spend ages every night watering them when I could be doing other garden things - like FEEDING MY PLANTS - once a week instead of watering containers EVERY NIGHT

I have some large established containers one that is home of my Pamela Jackman clem but the small ones are going to the tip ;D

[Auricula]

Gosh Jenny, is this the new ruthless you?? ;D
That was my thinking, actually - I had so many small and smallish pots, that it looked "bitty" and took an age to water.I've now only kept, a nominal number of large pots, in strategic places ( hopefully) and am trying to use more permanent planting in them. We'll see how it goes
P.S. I'm rubbish at remembering to feed plants so I've decided to have a "Feed on Fridays" routine ;D

[Deleted]

Mar 26, 2010 19:15:26 GMT Auricula said:

Depends if you feed them regularly I often forget My trailing fuchsias usually fill the basket ( 3 plants to a 12" or 14" basket) and trail down almost to the basket's bottom. I often get plants from B and Q and they're fine

Thanks Auricula 3 to a basket it is then i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd161/GWDAdmin1/Smilies/Default/smiley.gif

[Chuckles]

I sometimes think I'll get rid of some pots because of the time it takes to water them all and keep them up to scratch, but I couldn't ;D In the summer it can take me 1 - 2 hours to water them depending on how dry they have got but it's worth it. They only get outed if they break and I've lost quite a few this winter and the plants only get changed if they die or just don't like being potted. Some of mine have climbing roses in so are quite big, others which are a more movable size if the need arises have various shrubs and clems in them, others are brought out from the side of the shed or back of the GH when they are in growth, like Lillies, Tulips, Daffs, Eucomis, hostas, ferns,herbs, snowdrops, etc. Occasionally I plant stuff from them in the garden and then store them away until I find something else to plant in them. Always useful to have some spare empty pot about ;D for unexpected purchases that you don't have room for ;D

[Barbara]

I couldn't possibly throw out my pots, I remember who or where everyone of them are from.

And as you say Chuckles they come in handy if you have surprise plants ;D

I just love them grouped round the front door, up the path, and on the patio, they bring lots of colour and let you have plants in places where you sit.

[Auricula]

But they can look "bitty" or "fussy" and take a lot of watering and deadheading