I'm curious...Do you use fill the bottom of your pots with?
meyermike_1micha
10 years ago
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oxboy555
10 years agogreenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
10 years agoRelated Discussions
What to fill the bottom of large pots with to take up some room
Comments (39)Thanks for the kind words. The best way to decrease the amount of medium it takes to fill a pot; and, to limit the volume of excess/ perched water a planting can hold is by using ballast. Note (fig D) how much less excess water a planting can hold when using an overturned pot as ballast. The figure on the right below illustrates how you can use brick or hollow plastic blocks as ballast. If you were to turn the bricks on edge and add 2 more, you would almost entirely eliminate this planting's ability to hold excess/ perched water. Make note though, that there must be at least 1 continuous/ unbroken soil column from the top of the soil column to the pot bottom. If the bricks were turned 90* and 2 more added such that the bricks or other material filled the pot bottom so that there was a 2"x2" gap between the bricks to provide the unbroken soil column I mentioned, the only grow medium in the entire planting capable of holding perched water would be the medium in the 2 x 2 space between the bricks. Al...See MoreCurious! do you mix colors in your beds?
Comments (50)Ostrich, I already trench edge my beds but I decided to dig them a little deeper and also dig on the bed side which I normally don't do. Always mulched heavily, too, until last fall. I had accumulated so much in the borders that the boxwood, which has shallow roots, was putting out roots near the top of the mulch instead of down into the soil. Not a whole lot, but in some areas it was noticeable. Then, a low stone wall seemed to be getting lower; ha, it was disappearing under mulch. Decided to remove all the old layers and did not put down any mulch at all that fall, over winter,this spring and summer. By the time I saw your flowerbed pic, the ground around mine was bone dry and I was spending time removing weeds every week. Instead of waiting for that elusive rain storm, I went ahead and laid down some hardwood mulch. Because of the way I re-dug the edges, the job went fast and looks great. I bet I dug at least eight 5gal.buckets of dirt out of those borders. I couldn't believe it. And I use a shovel with an 8" X 6" blade, the only thing I'm comfortable with and it makes a clean cut vertically or horizontally. Except now days instead of doing these jobs all in one day, I spread it out over two or three! ha. Gettin' old. I'm so glad it's done....See MoreDo you use holly-tone in your potting mix?
Comments (15)I have found some useful information on this topic on the container forum. I use a soil mix created by the a person that posts frequently on many of the forums - Al. The soil mix takes a little time to assemble the ingredients, but it works great for conifers. Al also has done some research on fertilizer and what plants really need. And it is really not as much as we like to believe. Al's 5-1-1 5 parts pine bark fines 1 part sphagnum peat (not reed or sedge peat please) 1-2 parts perlite garden lime (or gypsum in some cases) controlled release fertilizer (if preferred) micro-nutrient powder, other continued source of micro-nutrients, or fertilizer with all nutrients - including minors "Al's Gritty Mix" - Google search and you will find the ingredients for Al's other mix. Both mixes work great! Dyna-Gro Foliage-Pro 9-3-6. ALL the primary macro-nutrients, secondary macro-nutrients (Ca, Mg, S) and all the micro-nutrients. It performed very well for me. Very interesting reading -- Here is a link that might be useful: Fertilizer Link...See MoreWhat potting mix do you use on your house plant begonias .
Comments (42)Hi Russ, Duke is supposedly a Weimaraner mother (hence the Meth reference) and a chocolate lab father. Our vet put him down as German short hair pointer or something like that. He is just overzealous for the chase - rabbit, squirrel, or even other dogs. I thought he would calm down after a few years but he is 8 now with no sign of slowing down. That's great that you got your interest in plants from your grandfather. It seems like it is usually the women in the family - grandmother, mother, etc. My grandmother loved her flowers but my dad was a veggie grower primarily. I did get him interested in hostas later in his life though. I've heard the same thing about property values. One of the painters we had in to do our living room said he recently moved from FL (and he moved down there from GA) back home said he was able to get a much bigger house here than the one he had in FL. He was a talker though. Where in FL do you live? I am headed to Orlando the week of the 16th to buy begonias for our annual sale. I am thinking about adding an extra day and drive to Miami to go to PHOE once more and would love to go to Fairchild again but that is too much for one day (Orlando - Miami round-trip plus two visits). The biggest nelumbiifolia I ever saw was at Fairchild at the Miami Convention 2006 This was in the conservatory. But this huge begonia in the landscape was no slouch either. I think it was at the Hidden Grotto. (Back when my hands were thinner too). Another nelumbiifolia growing either on the wall, or creeping up or down (never could find where it started at. This was at the beginning of March too. Had been there the year before in May and was it ever HOT! Here is the plant I had my hand up to in the second photo. Here is another blooming begonia in the landscape - thinking Caribbean King? Chihuly was there that year (in Atlanta the year before and in Atlanta again this year)....See Moretommyr_gw Zone 6
10 years agofireduck
10 years agonil13
10 years agotommyr_gw Zone 6
10 years agogreenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
10 years agogreentoe357
10 years agooxboy555
10 years agomeyermike_1micha
10 years agogreenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
10 years agozeuspaul
10 years agofireduck
10 years agomeyermike_1micha
10 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
10 years agomeyermike_1micha
10 years agodavid52 Zone 6
10 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
10 years agodavid52 Zone 6
10 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
10 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
10 years agodavid52 Zone 6
10 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
10 years agoaseedisapromise
10 years agopetrushka (7b)
10 years agomeyermike_1micha
10 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
10 years agogaryfla_gw
10 years agoBillyoscar
10 years agojodik_gw
10 years agogreentoe357
10 years ago
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