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- Time to round up all those old pots in the shed and clean a few to make a winter
display. Staged on a veranda or even at the front door, they just need sun in the morning
right through winter to thrive. Even plants that may struggle in the ground will flower
well in pots due to the warmer media.
- I’d recommend the premium potting mixtures because they generally have more sharp
sand in their mix, rather than fine pine bark and they have wetting agents, so that if the
pots dry out, they also re-wet easily. Potting media made from mostly pine bark
notoriously repel water if they are allowed to dry. The $2 extra per 25 litre bag is good
value.
- As for potted colour try the new Voilletta cultivars like ‘Tiny Tots oranges &
lemons’, or for a warmer colour mix try ‘Tiny Tots Fruit Salad’ with slices
of mango and sorbet to whet your appetite. For a more traditional effect try ‘Johnny
Jump-ups’ or their new cvs, like ‘Alpine Summer’ in a hanging basket or
‘Tinkerbell’ for tiny pots.
- Time to plant Sweet Peas over the next three weeks or you’ve missed the boat this
year. They can of course be planted in terra cotta pots right through winter up to
September, because they mature so quickly in the warmer media of a clay pot, not ceramic!
A lovely new range available in punnets to crib two weeks and cheat the sparrows of a feed
is ‘Your Highness™’ and ‘Bijou’ from seed or punnets is a very
compact pot plant.
- If planting bulbs in pots try to interplant with trailing Lobellias or Primula
malacoides, so that you get a succession when the Daffodils or Tulips have finished.
- All potted bedding plants more fertilizer than you would dare to give the same cultivars
in the ground, so don’t be shy with nutrient, organic and slow release. I feed with
water-soluble fertilizers every fortnight and then when it gets colder, with a seaweed
extract as a foliar spray mixed in.
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