Caring for Outdoor Potted Plants – My Secrets

One of the most frequent questions I get asked is ‘how do you go about caring for your outdoor potted plants?’

I don’t pretend to have all the answers. But there are things I do which seem to work. I’ve almost 100 containers and by and large, even in the very unforgiving dry weather we’ve had, the pots have stayed looking pretty good.

So I thought I’d share how I do it, in case there’s an odd nugget of advice that’s useful to you.

1.Caring for Your Outdoors Potted Plants – Planting

Containers

In addition to pots bought at a garden centre, you can use so many things as containers. I’ve planted up wheelbarrows, disused dressing up baskets, metal dishes, trays and buckets, old sinks, chimney pots – you name it!

As long as I’ve put drainage holes in them, all have been successful.

I will only say that if you use a small pot you will find it dries out really quickly. Also your outdoor potted plants will too rapidly run out of nutrients and space! So top of my list when it comes to caring for outdoor potted plants is to always go for a larger container rather than a small one.

A large container also gives me scope to plant up combinations of plants in one container, so that they look like ‘mini-gardens’ all on their own. I think this is a really good idea if you’ve only a small patio area and want to create maximum impact and interest.

What About Small Pots?

Sometimes you have a container which is smaller. Perhaps you find an old rustic bucket or are given one. In such cases I obviously won’t want to waste it and so will certainly plant it up. But I will be prepared to closely watch them and water them more frequently. I’ll also be ready to move the plants if/when they outgrow the space.

For instance I planted up some metal buckets a year ago. They looked lovely, but the containers are small. So all of the plants have since been fully refreshed by being moved to other pots, or planting out into the garden.

I also use my smaller containers to bring on cuttings such as heucheras, fuchsias and ferns. The cuttings grow merrily, gradually filling the posts and while they do the pots look lovely.

I slot these smaller pots in amongst my others of containers. This helps prevent them from drying out too quickly.

Compost

Caring for outdoor potted plants means the right compost. Whatever the size of container, I use standard, 100% peat-free (of course) compost bought from a garden centre. I check it says on the bag says ‘for containers.’ I usually mix it with some grit to provide better drainage. That said, if I don’t have any to hand I don’t bother!

If it’s a really big container I will supplement this with my own compost I’ve created, or some home-made leaf mould. Otherwise it will cost a bomb to fill the container. with bought in composts!

Crocks – Don’t Bother

This may be a bit contentious of me, but I don’t bother putting crocks – old bits of broken pot – in the bottom of my containers to help with drainage. I just don’t think they make any difference. Apparently I’m not alone in feeling this way. A study by the consumer magazine Which? found the same thing.

I know adding crocks is a bit of a tradition. And it’s a great way to use up old smashed bits of pot, which feels nice and thrifty. Also it reduces the amount of compost you have to put in huge pots, as the crocks take up some of the space. So by all means continue to add them if you have them to hand – but if you don’t, I really wouldn’t worry! I don’t think crocks are essential to caring for outdoor potted plants.

2. Group Therapy

I do have certain pots standing on their own, such as my pittosporum or my dramatic (well that’s the theory) arc of clematis

However, I mostly huddle my containers together in groups. There are two reasons for this. First up, I like playing with the look of different combinations. But more importantly, the plants seem to flourish better if they’re in a grouping. It seems to me that they create a mini micro-climate. They don’t dry out so quickly and they shelter one another.

This doesn’t mean you can ignore them. With such grouping you obviously need to be careful that one of the outdoor potted plants isn’t being completely sheltered from the rain. That’s why as part of my caring for outdoor potted plants regime, I still carefully check them for water during the hot/dry weather probably every day. But I still find plants grown in such groups look lush despite the heat and dryness.

To see the benefit of such protection I only need to look at the sad state of one of my salvias. It’s in a container on its own and looks very dry and sorry for itself, compared to my other pots. (I’m going to put it out in the garden to see if I can rejuvinate the poor plant!)

3. Light or Shade?

Clearly certain plants favour different light conditions. Some love and can cope with full sun and others favour partial or even full shade. However, in my experience, if you have outdoor potted plants, all of them benefit from having a little shade periodically.

For instance, none of my containers in full sun at the front of my cottage, look as good as the containers around the back on my patio.

I think this is because plants in containers are inevitably slightly under stress. Their roots can’t spread and look for new sources of water and nutrients. If you addd to this mix of pressures, full sun – which further takes energy out of the plants – you can see how even sun worshippers might get very stressed.

So while I certainly am careful to put my outdoor potted plants in the light conditions they favour, I again try to group my containers at the front of our cottage so that they find it easier to conserve their water and get a little respite from the full glare of the sun.

4. Feeding Outdoor Potted Plants

The compost used to first plant up your plants will lose its nutrients in 6 or so weeks. So, as your outdoor potted plants can’t search for additional food in the ground, they are completely reliant on you to feed them. While I’m slap dash about a lot of things in life, I obsessively feed by containers.

From Spring until Autumn, I feed the plants once a week if I can, and certainly no less than once every two weeks. Here’s what I use…

• Vast bulk of my plants in pots – Tomorite or any kind of tomato feed
• Ericaceous plants such as azaleas and camellias I use a special ericaceous feed
• Tree fern (and other ferns while I’m at it) special tree fern feed
• Fuschia – fuschia feed
• Roses – Uncle Tom’s rose tonic

I appreciate that this is a complete faff – I know! With almost 100 pots, feeding them all with a watering can take hours. But it is incredibly satisfying to do. I put a lovely audiobook on and while away a few hours getting the plants all pepped up!

5. Watering Outdoor Potted Plants

Beyond feeding, I’m also very disciplined about watering the plants but that means I’m careful not to over water too. If you the roots of your plant are in very wet compost all the time, they can’t access the air which they also need to grow.

It’s very difficult to provide a hard and fast rule about watering. But in my experience in hot dry weather, my containers need watering daily. Also note that windy weather will also dry plants out. So if it hasn’t been blisteringly hot but it’s been very windy, also check your containers.

To check my containers I first look at my plants, if they are looking ‘droopy’ they definitely need a water, but ideally I want to catch them before this point. So as part of my check, I prod a finger a few inches down in the surface soil and see if it feels very dry. If it does I will water. It’s better in my experience to give one generous water, than to do lots of little waters.

Also don’t be fooled by light showers, – these are of little use to plants in pots as the water simply evaporates or only reaches the top surface of the soil (and not many roots are near that surface).

6. Mulch & Spring Freshen Up

One way I help my outdoor potted plants maintain their moisture is by mulching them. I put a layer of mulch on them as part of their Spring freshen up.

Very early in the Spring, just before the plants get going, I remove the top two inches of compost in my established containers. I do this very gently with my hands. That way if they have roots very close to the surface I won’t damage them. I then add to the pots a handful of slow release fertiliser granules and replace the removed soil with fresh compost. I then put the layer of mulch on top of the new compost. This sets them up for the growing season to come.

7. Deadheading Outdoor Potted Plants

As part of the ongoing maintenance of my pots I deadhead my plants and remove other dead bits regularly. I find this not only encourages flowering, but it makes the containers look fresher, and prevents the spread of disease. The act of deadheading also gives me an opportunity to get up close to the plants and check their general well-being. I can spot if they need watering etc.

8. Keep Them Close

My last tip is around proximity. There’s a famous saying ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’ I think this is true for your outdoor potted plants too! It’s no coincidence that the plants in containers which are at the bottom of the garden, aren’t looking as good as those on our patio. That’s because the containers I’m nearer to every day are much more likely to be noticed by me. I’m more likely to casually go past them, deadhead them, check them for water etc.

So, as a rule I keep my outdoor potted plants nice and close to hand. And why not – after all I do love them. Happy gardening x