April 3, 2012

Save Some Dirt (and your back)

Here's a little garden trick that my mother taught me, and a trick I will one day teach my own daughter. Many of you may already use this trick yourself. It's a simple idea, but it will save you some dirt (planting soil is expensive) and will also save your back (when you later decide to reposition the pot).

Here's the trick:
When planting in large planter pots, place plastic milk jugs inside the bottom portion of your pot before filling with soil.
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This reduces the amount of soil needed to fill the pot and your flowers will never know the difference! The roots of most flowering annuals only extend a few inches deep and will never even reach the recyclables in the bottom portion of your pot.

On other notes, check out my red snapdragon flowers. They are supposed to be annuals, but year was so mild that they actually survived the winter, and are already in full bloom again!



Until next time,
Mischele

Linking to, Sugar Bee Crafts, One Artsy MamaSugar and Spice, Sew Much Ado, Positively Splendid

10 comments:

  1. How ingenius is that??? What a great idea! So not having soil fill the whole pot doesn't hamper the growth or the roots of the plant? You are so smart!

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  2. That is brilliant! I am definitely pinning this.. Especially for all those shallow rooted plants like impatients and pansies!

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  3. Your mom is so clever. Gosh I wish I had seen this before I filled my planters completely with soil. Thank you for sharing this tip. I will be sure to remember it next time.

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  4. What a smartypants tip! Love it! Plus, when you do move the planters, your neighbors will think you've been working out, you know, just casually lifting a huge planter and walking across the yard :-)

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  5. Genius! So glad you shared this tip at Shine on Fridays {and before I did my planting!!}

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  6. I like the way you think! Thanks for this idea. I will be using this tip this year for sure! Come on back to this week's D2F and share some more of your great ideas. You have SO many good ones. I like the upcycling Upwords post and the 12 ways to reuse diaper boxes!

    http://www.amynjesse.com/2012/04/drab-to-fab-link-up-12-features.html

    Have a lovely weekend! :)

    Amy @ Sugar and Spice

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  7. How cool I will try this when I do my plants this year. I think you have a wonderful blog, I'm now following you. I would like to invite you to stop by my blog and share this at my Party the Sunday Round UP. @ http://www.arosiesweethome.com/
    Thanks
    Rose

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  8. Thanks for sharing at the Sunday Round UP.
    Rose @ http://www.arosiesweethome.com/

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  9. I used to use styrofoam peanuts in the bottom too. With a layer of plastic over it to keep the soil from slipping through.

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  10. I use the small soda and water bottles (20 oz) so the dirt can filter between them and you can use more of them and still have dirt for the roots.

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