Garden Patio Pots

Due to them not being surrounded by tonnes of soil, garden patio pots, tubs and containers tend to dry out much quicker than a traditional flower bed. Make sure that you check how dry the soil is each day and water accordingly. The best time to water your garden patio pots is before the sun gets on them, so either early morning, or in the evening. The reason for this is that each little drop of water sitting on the surface of the leaf acts as a tiny magnifying glass and concentrates the suns rays. This can cause burns on the leaf’s surface.

It’s always a good idea to mix in some water retaining mulch or gel crystals to help prevent the soil or compost from drying out too quickly. The rapid drying and soaking doesn’t really do the plants much good. Even so, the garden patio pots or containers will still need watering every day.

It is also a good idea to do any re-potting or pruning of your garden patio pots early in the morning or later in the day; out of the fiercest heat of the sun at any rate.

Also make sure that you follow the correct instructions as to how each plant needs to be watered. This information is usually found attached to the plant when you buy it.

The beauty of having plenty of garden patio pots is their versatility. It makes sense to group them according to perhaps watering needs, and/or shade requirements. It’s very easy to underestimate the importance of giving the right garden patio pots access to the right degree of sun or shade. They can also be rearranged to fit certain colour schemes when you’ve got visitors coming.

Garden patio pots can be used very successfully to bring the idea of a theme into a garden. There may not be the facilities to provide a full blown tropical scheme, but tropical garden plants can do very well in pots.

The benefit of using garden patio pots is that fairly immediately, you can have a wonderful display of colour, scent and shape. I always find that two or three of my newly planted garden patio pots catch my eye much more than the others, and I like to give them pride of place. I move my pots around a lot. This not only gives them access to an even rotation of daylight and prevents them going one-sided, but as the season progresses, and newly planted garden patio pots develop and then they also look good, it’s easy to shuffle them around and get the best of what you’ve got when you want it.

I’m afraid that I usually plant far too many and end up with some garden patio pots not getting much of a look in at all. This is the ideal opportunity to give them all a showing off and is much more flexible than having a flower bed chock full of lovely plants than often get overlooked.

One thing I particularly enjoy about garden patio pots or containers is that the weed issue is so much more easily handled. The odd weed may well take hold, but it’s so much easier to get rid off, and young plants have a much greater chance of being able to cope with the situation in a garden pot. Weeding in a garden bed can be a bit of a nightmare if not kept on top of. It’s so much easier to enjoy the garden when you’re not feeling guilty about the triffid like weeds creeping out from behind the shed!

Starting your garden patio pot seedlings off is always much more successful when done in a container as opposed to directly into the flower bed. For me at least, I get a much greater feeling of satisfaction knowing that my garden patio pots are full of plants that I’ve started from seed.

Garden patio pots are just fantastic for adding interest and variety to any spot in the garden. They can be placed in a location that’s going trough a bit of a seasonal quiet spell, or grouped together round an area to be used for entertaining.

When it comes to good ideas for small gardens, garden pots have to be near the top of the list.

If you find you've got some empty garden pots, you could always creat a different type of growing sculpture. A backyard bog garden is a very good way of incoprporating some water into your scheme, but keeping safety in mind.

The traditional garden patio pot is made from Terra Cotta and has been used for centuries. It’s a porous material which allows excess moisture to drain out and helps ensure optimum growing conditions.

Due to the generally good quality compost used in garden patio pots, and the depth of the compost, it is usually possible to plant the tubs up more densely than you would in a flower bed. This helps achieve that ‘stuffed with colour’ effect that looks so luxurious. Mind you, this fact means that it’s even more important to be vigilant of the feeding and watering needs of your garden patio pots.

It’s very easy to think that the garden patio pot itself is not really the issue and that the important thing is what’s growing in it. Whilst the plant is still small, the pot will very much be a focal point so it’s important to get something appropriate.

It's wise to follow some kid of theme when it comes to choosing your pots and always a good idea for small gardens to avoid things looking overly cluttered.

As the plant gets bigger and bigger; if that’s the kind of plant you’ve chosen, it may be necessary to remove the plant from the garden pot and plant it in a flower or shrub bed. Upon which, you will again have an empty garden patio pot that needs filling!

The range of styles and sizes of garden patio pots is vast to say the least, but there are some limitations depending on where you live and the climate that is usually prevalent. For example; if you live in a very hot and dry location, you will find that moss baskets just cannot cope with the heat.

Garden patio pots provide the gardener with a great opportunity to experiment. You can try any number of combinations or shapes, sizes and colours of plants knowing that it can all be changed next time if necessary.

In the spring, you’ll find the garden centres choc full of new plants just begging to be taken home.
There’s always room for another one!