The Pot Plot

Gardeners may all dream of having acres to landscape in the style of Capability Brown, or a large town garden to give the Chelsea show garden treatment to, but for most of us that’s all it is – a dream.

Fortunately, gardening doesn’t always need a lot of space.  In fact, if all you have room for is a few pots it’s still perfectly possible to create something beautiful, inspiring, calming, exciting or even edible.  Where pots are concerned there need be no limits whatsoever on creativity.

As always there are a few rules to follow.  Pots should always have adequate drainage.  Pots with no drainage holes in the bottom are a no no for almost all plants except aquatics.  Pots will need watering regularly, and feeding two or three times a year at least.  Sad looking plants in cracked and faded pots are, I’m afraid, no one’s fault but the gardener! 

However, the most important rule is there are no rules.  Anything goes.  A pair of permanently planted box balls flanking a doorway looks impressive, but for sheer fun try seasonal planting in your pots.  Mix any combination of annuals, perennials, grasses, bulbs, ferns, shrubs, conifers etc.  All that matters is to find an interesting combination of colour, texture, height and shape.  Don’t worry if you haven’t left growing space because it’s all temporary anyway. In fact, the more you pack in, often the better the look.  At the end of the season you simply take it all apart and replant for the next one.