Soil in pots for before winter
Garden Clippings for November 12, 2022
Cheryl and I love gardening in containers. At last count we had more than 30. By now, most have been emptied, save for the 5 or 6 at the front door that have recently been given bright yellow mums. In a few weeks I will switch them up with festive Christmas greens.
Growing flowers in pots has always been a thing, but it is only in the last few decades that container gardening has really taken off. Growers are now producing plants, both vegetable and flowers, that are geared specifically to container gardening. The entire line of Proven Winners annuals are plants that have been chosen to thrive in containers.
The bothersome side of growing flowers in containers is their constant need for water. It’s about a 10-minute job that I usually acquiesce to Cheryl because she gets home from work before me.
Cleaning up the containers before winter is no party. The small tapered shaped pots are a cinch, but the larger round pots pose a challenge.
Gardeners often wonder if it is necessary to remove all the soil from pots prior to winter. By late summer, most nutrients in potting soil have been depleted and replacing with new soil next spring makes good sense. But if the pots are more than 12 inches deep, leaving old soil on the bottom of the pot will save a few dollars.
What to do with soil that comes out of the pot? Small pots are usually so full of roots that it is nearly impossible to salvage any soil from the root bound container. I toss these in the compost heap and by springtime they are easy to break up and are added to the mix with other organic material to slowly create nutrient rich compost.
When cleaning up containers of flowers, I will often gain a wheelbarrow or two of loose, light potting mix which can be put to good use. I look for weak spots in the lawn that will benefit from a layer of peat-based soil and a handful of grass seed. Alternatively the sandy soil vegetable garden will appreciate the addition of peat based soil which will give a little water holding capacity.
The best place to store pots through the winter months is in a dry garden shed. For us, that’s fine for the smaller pots, but the bigger pots are emptied and flipped up-side-down against the east side of the house which rarely gets rain or snow. To prevent frost damage to cement, ceramic or clay pots, I put the empty containers on pieces of wood to ensure the pots are not in contact with wet soil underneath.
Next spring I will get a few bags of soilless growing medium to replenish the containers, getting them ready for new plants in May.
I am often asked if it is okay to use topsoil in containers rather than the more expensive growing medium. Peat based growing medium such as Pro-Mix potting soil is blended so it holds nutrients and drains easily. Topsoil, loam and triple mix are best used in veggie gardens and landscape beds.
