Filling Planters

[DAVEF]

I have some large planters to fill. Can anybody advise me on a good economical mixture for filling.

I will be growing climbers like Golden Hop, Honey suckle, Winter Jasmine ect. Maybe some herbs and Topiary.

Thanks.

 

[David_Janet]

Here's my recipe which seems to work well.

Roughly half garden soil (we're lucky in that our soil is loamy, good stuff), half cheap terreau universel and a good few spadefuls of cheap gravel to aid drainage.  I also buy some foodsticks and pop 4 or 5 into each large container just to keep everything well nourished.

Bon jardinage!

Janet

 

[Roz]

If they are really big containers you could put some chunky pieces of polystyrene (from electrical goods packaging, etc) in the bottom first. They will create some spaces for drainage,like broken pottery does, but without adding weight to the pots.  This is especially useful for large containers of summer bedding which don't need really deep soil, you can fill a good third to a half of the pot with polystyrene. But for perennials you would use much less, as they'll need the space later. I don't buy expensive compost, so I do make sure to give mine regular feeds from May to September. Good luck!

[DAVEF]

Thanks for that Janet.

I live on the west coast, the soil is almost pure sand. Should I buy bags of top soil for the bulk?  What brand of french foodsticks do you use?

Dave   

[David_Janet]

Try 2/3 terreau to 1/3 sandy soil with some gravel and the end result should be just as good.  Your sandy soil will make for good drainage.  I keep my summer containers sitting in big saucers to help retain water but remove these as soon as the autumn rains arrive.  Don't know if this is practical for you?

I always try and put something interesting in the pots when the summer bedding's finished, just to have something to brighten things up over winter.  This is the time I take the saucers away and stand the pots on stout wooden blocks to prevent waterlogging.

As for the make of foodsticks ..... it's raining so hard at the moment so please don't ask me to go out to my shed to check!  I'll let you know tomorrow!

Janet

[David_Janet]

Sun is shining so I wandered down to the shed to have a look at my packet of foodsticks .... Algoflash.  They do a whole range of sticks for various uses and the ones I bought are specifically for flowers.

The alternative, if you can't find these, is to water every couple of weeks or so with a solution of tomato feed.  Alan Titchmarsh (my gardening God!) reckons this is pretty good for everything.  My trouble is, if I need to measure something out, put it in a watering can etc it all becomes too much bother so the sticks are great for lazy gardeners like me! 

Janet

[Russethouse]

 I used to follow that particular piece of gardening advice (tomato food) but have found that alternating it with liquid growmore is working better for me at present......

I guess it depends what you are growing.