Container Gardening

ninnymary

ninnymary

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Annette, the back side of the rooftop rotted away and I told my husband not to replace it. Having it open gave the kids a lot more light in there. I like that it has lichen on it but some boards need to be repair before they break completely. It is about 20 yrs. old and was originally raised and was my son's fort with a sand box underneath. The whole thing has even been moved. It has sentimental value for me now.

Mary
 
thistlebloom

thistlebloom

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That's sweet. You have so many interesting things to look at in your yard.:)

Oh, and after seeing that you really do have a clematis I'm greatly reassured about your character. :p
 
ninnymary

ninnymary

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thistlebloom said:
That's sweet. You have so many interesting things to look at in your yard.:)

Oh, and after seeing that you really do have a clematis I'm greatly reassured about your character. :p
Click to expand...
Haha, that clematis is not very pretty. I really don't know why I got it when I prefer brighter colors. It's been in that pot a number of years and refuses to die!

Mary
 
ducks4you

ducks4you

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I had rotten success with allyssium planting from seed. I did much better buying the plants and letting them shed seeds. Mine reseed every year along the beds on each side of the front sidewalk towards the sidewalk and street. (We have no real sidewalk, just one that begins at my driveway and ends short of the fence on my north pasture, like a "sidewalk to nowhere!") All I do is sweep the shed seeds back Into the beds and let them do their thing.
Mint can really take over, EXCEPT, in My experience, only spearmint, peppermint and chocolate mint are the heartier mints. The other "flavored" mints are less hearty. Remember to use them for flavors, because they can really help. Plus, although I haven't had a real big and unmanageable problem with mint spreading--it isn't the problem that chickweed and creeping charlie are, because you can easily pull it out where you don't want it, and it takes a few months for it to grow back, and bindweed is a never ENDING struggle--it is best to pot mint, if you don't want to fight it, however.
PLEASE remember to pot horseradish and DON'T put it in a terra cotta pot with a hole at the bottom!!!! IL is the horseradish state and the horseradish roots can grow to 15 feet below ground!!!! I can't dig that out. It is impossible to get rid of it. I am AMAZED that catalogs still sell it withOUT telling their customers this.
If you are new to containers, you can have great success with wave petunias. Everybody sells them. A local pizzarria plants wave petunias in their 3 big window boxes every year. By August they are spilling out a few feet below the planters like a waterfall. Remember to pick PLASTIC if you want to put your pots on top of a porch edge, so that the wind doesn't break it if it falls.
Something else, if you fall in love with a beautiful planter, look at the end of the season. I bought a lovely 2 1/2 foot tall ceramic planter a few years ago for $16.00, normally $75.00, but Lowe's was dumping them to clean out. I have found some lovely small pots at Walgreens, twice now. Very pretty. I bought several that looked like wedgewood many years ago, and I found some that look like Chinese blue & white designs and shapes.
Stores that don't specialize in gardening see pots, etc. as "seasonal", so they don't want to store them for the next year and THEY will give you a great deal end of season. UNfortunately, some feed stores do NOT see them as seasonal, so you don't get the better deals There. Sorry I didn't buy 4 of those ceramic planters at Lowes!
Remember, if you live in the North, to empty out your outdoor pots in the Fall, and store them upside down for the winter, preferably inside a building, so that they don't fill with water, freeze and crack.
Tap on your ceramic and terra cotta pots every year before filling. They should ring like a bell. If they don't, they have a crack. I STILL don't throw them away! I have a cracked terra pot right now on top of a rose I planted last year because we have had some late freezes, and THIS rose only had a little bit of new growth, compared to my knockout yellow rose, 3 feet to the west of it, that thinks it's May and has totally leafed out.
Consider ALSO putting a plastic pot Inside of a cracked terra pot. Many times you don't see the plastic pot but then the cracked pot won't leak. (That's the "Amish" growing inside my gardening thumb.)
(Fill your plastic pots with water to test and watch for spritzing out the sides.)
Sorry, gotta get some pictures up, because I think @ninnymary wanted this to be a picture thread. :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]
 
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