Home | Home | Gardening

Potting Plants

By: Mark Bartley

Read More About Gardening

Whether it be potting up new plants or caring for to established pots, all the effort put in now will pay dividends once summer comes. Here's what to do to ensure you that will have healthy, blooming containers.

When planting up a new pot select a container that's at least large enough to hold the plants roots comfortably, and has plenty of drainage holes. Next, add a layer of broken crocks, gravel or polystyrene chunks (which are especially good for large containers as they don't add to the weight) to provide a good drainage area. Now add a growing medium. Garden soil is not good enough, a proprietary potting compost should be used, for example, Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Compost, which is very efficient at retaining moisture and also slowly releases nutrients that will act for six months. Note that if you're planting an acid loving plant like an azalea, you'll need an ericaceous medium like Miracle-Gro camellia, azalea and rhododendron Compost.

If you're using regular compost, it makes sense to mix in a water retaining gel such as Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Gel. Not only will a container bound plant require three times more water than if grown directly in the soil, but it will also be more susceptible to drying out. The gel will therefore provide an extra layer of protection against water loss. Now, dig a hole and put in the plant. To finish off, add a mulch. Anything that will reduce evaporation will do, from bark chips, to brightly coloured glass gravel. Be brave, be creative, there really is a wealth of choice.

Repotting and potting on can help plants that have become pot bound. That is, their roots have become squashed in the pot, meaning that little moisture is withheld, and nutrients in the compost will be seriously dimished. If this isn't sorted out quickly, the plants leaves will turn yellow, it will become sickly and eventually die. The first thing to decide is whether to move the plant to a bigger pot (potting on) or, repot back into the same container. This is really a personal choice, but where containers are concerned, bigger is always better.

If potting on, then first remove the plant from it's current pot and tease out compacted roots. Next take the old container, place it in the new one and fill up the extra space around it with potting compost. Remove the old container, and place the plant in the hole. Press down the compost, adding more if need be. When done add some mulch.

If repotting firstly remove the plant from the pot and carefully get rid of the old compost and tease out roots. Next add compost to the bottome and put the plant back in the container, adding more compost as needed. Again add some mulch to finish off.

Topdressing and feeding is always required. Even well cared for, healthy pots that don't need any drastic action will still need to have nutrients replenished. Top dressing is simply the replacement of the top layer of old compost with fresh compost at the beginning of the growing season. Having topdressed, it's important to establish a good feeding regime. Use a slow release plant food such as Miracle-Gro Controlled Release Plant Food which is only required twice per year, also feed every two weeks or so as you wate using Miracle-Gro All Purpose Soluble Plant Food.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Simple steps like which weed killer to apply or how to replant growing specimens will always help the novice gardener. This guide on potting plants and caring for them can be used all year round.

Please Rate this Article

 

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Gardening Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Home | Gardening
Sign Up for a free account.
Our other websites
All about SEO
Beauty Tips Forum
Submit Articles
Member Login
Link Us
Submission Guidelines
Ezine Notifications
Article RSS Feeds
Sitemap
New Stuff
About Us
Developer
Good shopping portal
Link to Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

counter easy hit

Powered by Article Dashboard