basket full of hens and chicks

Planting something that is usually hard to kill off [ like Sempervivum (hens and Chicks)] can turn a small corner in the garden into a really nice feature.

Sempervivum is a succulent making it an ideal summer plant to hang out under foliage.  Especialy if the summer is a dry one and the watering gets forgotten.

Tips for Making Container Gardens

Mix plants with at least three textures of foliage to make a container garden interesting. Use plenty of plants that are foliage plants (with no flowers) in your designs. In most cases, foliage color, leaf shape, and texture are just as important as the flowers themselves. Some good foliage contrasts would include: downy with glossy; dark with gray; small with large; yellow with violet. Use colorful foliage (like Coleus) to “echo” the color of flowers in the container. Vary the shape of the flowers in the container garden to add interest. Bicolor flowers are becoming more available and are great for color echoing. Sometimes you just have to do some “snipping and tucking” of faster growing plants when they are mixed in with slower growing ones. Otherwise, you will lose the slower ones and your design gets destroyed. Vegetative annuals mix well with other annuals, perennials, tropicals, and bulbs. Everything and anything goes as long as it is pleasing to the eye of your customer. Nothing lasts forever! Container gardens need to be gardened. Plants in container gardens need to be trimmed, dead-headed and replaced.

Grow-Together Combinations

Grow-Together Combinations Good to Use Do Not Work Well One vigorous foliage plant in the center Growth retardants Upright verbenas, double impatiens, geraniums Rampant growers Foliage plants for neutral color & texture Tall plants Summer bloomers for summer market Slow growers Plants with long necks Creeping and very compact plants Various textures and forms Too many fine textures Analogous color harmonies Salmon with violet or fuchsia with bright red Slight succession of bloom for earlier market Extremes in bloom times Odd numbers of plants Only two plants of one species

Definitions of Common Terms

Grow Together Container

Transplanting an assortment of plugs into 10-inch, 12-inch, or larger container and growing them on to a marketable stage.

Put Together Container

Transplanting marketable size, flowering, usually 4-inch or larger plant material into planters.

Plant Positions in Container Gardens

A plant can fulfill different positions in a design depending on the size of the container.

Center plants: provide compact, upright growth to fill in the crown of the container.

Filler plants: typically have compact, upright growth and round out the top of the container.

Corner plants: grow well over the container’s edge and benefit from a corner position where they have maximum elbowroom.

Edge plants: drape over the edge, softening the look of the container and filling out the space between its corners.

Color Bowl

A small, round container placed on a table top to house compact, annual plants.

Combination Basket

A hanging basket and usually holds mounding and trailing plants and excludes tall upright varieties.

Container Garden

Includes all shapes and sizes of containers, usually sitting on the ground, sometimes massive enough to hold all types of plant species including woodies, perennials, and bulbs.

Getting Started with your Containers

Two Types of Container Gardens Grow Together Put Together Advantages Disadvantages Advantages Disadvantages Doubt in final product Confidence in final product Possible plug death Better plant survival Natural gathered look Neat, methodical look Plants intertwine together Plants retain individuality Ease of planting Labor of transplanting Good for large scale growers Good for grower/retailer

Tips for Making Container Gardens

Mix plants with at least three textures of foliage to make a container garden interesting. Use plenty of plants that are foliage plants (with no flowers) in your designs. In most cases, foliage color, leaf shape, and texture are just as important as the flowers themselves. Some good foliage contrasts would include: downy with glossy; dark with gray; small with large; yellow with violet. Use colorful foliage (like Coleus) to “echo” the color of flowers in the container. Vary the shape of the flowers in the container garden to add interest. Bicolor flowers are becoming more available and are great for color echoing. Sometimes you just have to do some “snipping and tucking” of faster growing plants when they are mixed in with slower growing ones. Otherwise, you will lose the slower ones and your design gets destroyed. Vegetative annuals mix well with other annuals, perennials, tropicals, and bulbs. Everything and anything goes as long as it is pleasing to the eye of your customer. Nothing lasts forever! Container gardens need to be gardened. Plants in container gardens need to be trimmed, dead-headed and replaced.

Grow together combinations

Grow-Together Combinations
Good to Use	Do Not Work Well
One vigorous foliage plant in the center	Growth retardants
Upright verbenas, double impatiens, geraniums	Rampant growers
Foliage plants for neutral color & texture	Tall plants
Summer bloomers for summer market	Slow growers
Plants with long necks	Creeping and very compact plants
Various textures and forms	Too many fine textures
Analogous color harmonies	Salmon with violet or fuchsia with bright red
Slight succession of bloom for earlier market	Extremes in bloom times
Odd numbers of plants	Only two plants of one species

refrence: Container Gardens

Plant some sun shine.

What you Need:

• A few Sunflower Seeds
• Peat pot or container that drains
• A saucer that is bigger than the pot base
• Potting soil or seed starter mix

Instructions:

• Fill a container, or peat pot, with potting soil or seed starter mix. 
• Gently push one or two sunflower seeds into center of container. 
• Water lightly or mist. Keep in warm, sunny window.
• Each day check your container. 
• Water lightly every day if needed. Do not over water.
• In about 7-10 days your sunflower should sprout. Once sprouted make sure it gets lots of sun.
• When the weather warms and all chance of frost is gone plant your sunflower outside in a full sun location.

Window sill it

Attaching a small wooden or plastic container under a wind sill  means that there are small flowers or fresh just within reach.

It also means that some climbing insects may live there as well.

Watering the soil is necessary especially during the really hot days.

Planting plants that have differing seasonal growth times make an interesting and continuous view from the inside of the rooms.

Reuse ploystrene in 4 easy steps.

Ploystrene packaging comes with many new goods purchased. What begins as a way of protecting your new goods in transit then becomes an environmentally friendly disposal problem. So don't. instead reuse it in another way.

A clever way is to

• Brake it down into small hunks.
• Place these hunks intothe bottom of pots. 
• Fill the window boxes or pots with potting mix.
• Add plants as normal.

The polystrene is light weigt.  Lartge pots filled with damp potting mix do become heavy. Inhuries are more likely to occur when moving these containers. By adding the polystrene you are lightening the 'load' while reducing the amount of potting mix.  Hence also a cost cutter.

Don't throw them away

Use glass jars to propagate fushia and impatients, which happily root n water.

When there are enough roots [ie the roots have filled the bottom of the jar] simply divide the stems from each other. Plant  out.

Recycle and increase.

Make extra plants through taking cuttings.

• Trim off much of the greenery as this enables the roots to have a chance of growing without over stressing the plant..
• Place either straight into the soil or into small pots, glass jars or disposable containers until the cutting is ready to be placed into it's final position.

Mini toilet roll tubes for seeds

Do not discard the toilet rolls centers.

• Use a pen that will not run to name the toilet roll with the seeds name.
• Screw a little piece of newspaper and place it into the bottom of the toilet roll container.
• Fill each tube with potting soil.
• Place the toilet rolls on a tray.
• Plant one seed into each container.
• Water as required.
• Watch grow until ready to transplant.

Runners in Autumn

Autumn is a great time to divide the strawberries. Potting them then in pots seems to have problems in the comming summer season.  Usually remembering to water the pots enough for the strawberries to feel 'refreshed'.

Strawberries in tyres

Recycled car tyres make great mini gardens for strawberry beds. Especially racing car tyre s as these give great height so the strawberry can really stretch out.

Glass jar for growth.

First day of seed sprouting.

• Sprouting seeds such as alfalafa and mung beans may begin life by adding water and the beans into a jar.
• Cover with a net cloth and a rubber band.
•  Leaving the beans in there for 24 hours.
• Drain the water from the jar.
• Turn the on its side.  Set aside for until the next day.
• Rinse and set aside again.
• Repeat the process until the seeds have begun to sprout.
• Still moisten daily - keep in a cool place.

Containers for mini gardens suggestions

Yoghurt pots,  Plastic trays,  Wooden Crates,  Colanders, buckets, gumboots, tyres, plastic boxes
Hanging baskets, Water tanks, polystrine packaging, glass jars, coat hangers

Yellow flowers in a yellow pot.

Grown in pots or small container or even as a boarder the Torenia plants provide a splash of low growing [about 20 cm in height] compact color.

Semi-shade or sunlight the Torenia plants grow well.

• Just water them so that they can continue to grow and bloom.  
• The soil should be well draining, prepared with compost and fertilized every month.
• Grown in the sun the flowers are smaller than those benefiting from the shade.
• Although the plant can tolerate heat frost is unwelcome. 

For a year round colourful effect pots on the porches, sitting on shelves or as a hanging basket make the area a 'happier ' place to be. They also remind you when to check on the four points above in order to have an optimum growth display.

Creating a sand garden

To solve the problem of a porous soil and to conserve water just keep the plants in the pot and bury the pot in the soil. An instant sand garden is made. This allows you to re-pot for growth and move the arrangement according to the various sizes to create an interesting layout

There are many plant type, that grow in the sand.   It is a matter of choice versus care whether the plants actually grow or not.

Creating a vertical support

No matter how large or small your garden area is there are some things that just do not change.  Creativity is one thing as any person who sets out to 'garden' may not have the right tools on hand.  There fore that person learns new ways of doing things from using whats theres, [old knowledge or 'stuff'] or going out and finding new stuff to use while increasing their knowledge basis.

This backdrop structure has been built from recycled wood - it was not used for another older project- electrical cable ties, string and a hammer.  The knots used are a reef knot and a round turn with two half hitches.

Small Connections

Plants and gardens connect you with the seasons. having fresh new plants available to add into your cooking. Sometimes having fresh growth is a good 'excuse' for changing the meals offering around.

Soils ready to go.

Mini gardens allow for everyone who wants to give 'it' a go the chance to raise plants from seed sown directly into a manageable area. The heavy wok such as digging, hoeing, and vast seasonal turn over is minimised to suit their mini gardens and the gardeners abilities, time and budget.

Refilling the soil in the containers - or just hanging it anyway- allows for the nutrients to be replenished yearly as many soil products come with fertilisers appropriate to what is wanted to be grown in that mini garden.  For instance purchased packaged soil for bulbs has the appropriate fertilisers added to the package.

Make a plastic bag green house.

• Check that the plant is in good order.
• free of bugs ,moulds and decaying leaves,
• Place cane into the soil at the base of the plant.
• This props the plastic bag up so that it does not fall down or sag on the plant.

• Invert a clear plastic bag over the cane.
• Gather the open ends og the bag together.
• Seal the bag onto the base of the pot.
• A rubber band will usually do the job.

•  Place the plant where it will not be in danger of heat extremes and wind factors.

• .

Is a sunny window good place?

Different plants are uited to different temepatures and hydration levels.  Violets dislike being sunburnt while cacti hate there feet getting being saturated. Ferns like it cool to temperate, moist and dim.

A s you see supplying as close to the ideal conditions is important.



Plants that need moisture while you are away may benefit from having a large plastc bag enclosing them.  The plastic bag idealy does not touch the plant as this defets the purpose since the plastic sweats. Resulting in the leaves dying and rot setting in.

While away - house plants watering

Watering houseplants presents different problems according to your situation. using this idea saves you unnecessary worry......, especially if your plants are in good condition and free of pests before you start this idea.

• Water and soak the roots of the plant.
• Let any excess water drain away.
• Gather all the plants together out of the suns direct light. In a cool room is best.
• I have used the bath or kitchen sink for this reason.
• Add about 2 cm [1 inch] of water to the base of the bath or kitchen sink. This added moisture helps sustain the plant while your away.. without drowning the poor things root system.

Seedlings in polystrine cups

use something to put some drainage [small] holes on the bottom near the rim.

Place in a piece of newspaper then add a little clean cat litter.

• The newspaper stops the potting mix falling out, The cat litter holds the moisture so hopefully the roots will not dry out.

Top up the cup with some potting mix.

Plant a seed in the mix.

 Add a little water to a saucer and place both cup and saucer on  a sunny windowsill. 

 Write the name of the seed on the container and the relevant dates

Get you hands dirty

This is an example of what happens when you put a picture on your blog!

Get your hands dirty