Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => General Gardening => Topic started by: TheOnlyGothInTheVillage on April 18, 2012, 09:45
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Hi all, I just bought a job lot of 300 terracotta 5 inch pots on ebay, would love to have them dotted around the garden with flowers in, am not gonna spend a fortune on 300 plug plants so need to get some quick growing seeds going, what would you recomend? have got a bit of a pink, white and red theme going so am mainly looking for those colour flowers....
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what about cosmos?
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Another vote for cosmos...we sowed loads in pots last year and they flowered for a heck of a long time.
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Excellent, will give them a try....
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Are there any dwarf varitys? just double checked the 300 pots and I think there only 5 inches high, so there not really big enough for all the cosmos seeds I was just looking at...
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There are dwarf cosmos but the ones I've seen grow up to 2 foot still. I grew some dwarf asters from seed last year which gave me some late summer/ early autumn colour. What about poppies? Nasturtiums are easy to grow but sprawl quite a bit. I also love cornflowers and nigella but have never tried them in pots. I agree with the others that cosmos are brilliant though. :)
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You can get annual lavatera in pink & white,silver cup is one not sure of the other.pansies/viola.
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Bear in mind that terracotta pots will dry out far quicker than equivalent plastic pots, and pots also dry out quicker than ground plants, so you'll need to have a watering plan ...
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Godetia are lovely, and only about 12-15 ins tall
Cornflowers and love-in-the-mist make a good mix
and another vote for lavatera too
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http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COSMOS-BIPINNATUS-SEASHELLS-MIX-3000-FLOWER-SEEDS-/280854608287?pt=UK_HomeGarden_Garden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN&hash=item41643d399f (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COSMOS-BIPINNATUS-SEASHELLS-MIX-3000-FLOWER-SEEDS-/280854608287?pt=UK_HomeGarden_Garden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN&hash=item41643d399f)
3,000 seeds for £7.60, not bad
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Bear in mind that terracotta pots will dry out far quicker than equivalent plastic pots, and pots also dry out quicker than ground plants, so you'll need to have a watering plan ...
I'm planning to fill them with some compost and some sived soil from the garden, we're on heavy clay, nothing ever seems to dry out in here, most of the time its extremely soggy, I've never had to water my spuds, the lawns a total squishy mess, (would like to get rid of it because you daren't walk on it, not one blade of grass can cope with it)...any flowers I grow will get watered with bath/washing up water, clean water is strictly for fruit and veg only here...thanks for all the suggestions, think i'll get some of everything, that lavatera & godetia is so beautiful!
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If you like flowers so "in your face" and brightly coloured you really need sunglasses to protect your eyes I recommend Zinnias (easy to grow even though they probably give up earlier than Cosmos, which I would also recommend.)
(Zinnias are low-growing, not literally in your face!) :lol:
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French Marigolds try Suttons Jolly Japes. There are some very red ones about. Like red cherry.
Violas and if you are lucky they will keep coming back each year, you should be able to find the colours you want maybe online.
Cornflowers, you can get dwarf ones 12" high but will have to search.
Ageratum it does come in pink and white I believe but can only see them in mixed packets.
Alyssum
Aubrieta
Brachyscome but mostly come as mixed packets with blue in them, also known as swan river daisy. I love these smell nice an' all. Had trouble finding in the garden centres so got online. Wilkins had them last year. This is a white one but trailing, maybe set up some trellis with the pots hanging on the trellis.
Antirrhinum
Aster Trimix from fothergills these look good and asters are easy from seed I do them every year.
Arabis only flowers may to july though
Those tiny waxy begonias (don't know how difficult they are from seed though. Like these http://www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk/seeds-plants-gardening/61910/begonia-plants-lotto-mixed-f1-x28
Candytuft
Mesembranthemum you will have to search for a single colour though that you want.
Mimulus again a search for single colours.
Phlox
Portulaca
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Wow...theres so many flowers to choose from!
My fella collected the pots this morning and there only 4 inch high, 3 inch diameter at the top but there is 395 of them!!! they all badly need washing, will be very busy over the next few days!
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Have a look at rockery plants.
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Wow...theres so many flowers to choose from!
My fella collected the pots this morning and there only 4 inch high, 3 inch diameter at the top but there is 395 of them!!! they all badly need washing, will be very busy over the next few days!
Good luck with that,that's what I've been doing for the last 3 days. nearly done now,just got to find storage space then :D
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I've managed to wash 40 so far....forgot to buy rubber gloves, my poor hands....there not as soft as my face anymore!
Remembering old fairy liquid ads...showing my age now!
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5" terracotta pots will certainly require a good deal of attention in terms of moisture control and nutrients. I would incorporate moisture retaining gel and a fairly heavy soil/compost mix to help cope with these issues, and sit the pots in wide shallow dishes with gravel in so that moisture is always available to some degree but without the roots sitting in water.
Maybe slow release fertilser as well as some foliar feed.
As for plants, first of all some things that are not too demanding but give a good show, even in dry conditions such as anagallis, bushy semi trailing type such as the Gentian Blue strain.
Nasturtiums, dwarf type, lots of colours to choose from.
For a bit of height, try Brachycombe, Swan River.
Bushy plants would be better because they will shade the pots, stop the roots overheating and act as a self mulch too.
For this I would use Bacopa, nemesia, mimulus,verbena, lobelia, allysum,violas, and so on.
One of each type per pot, cluster the pots for mixed effect 5 in a circle with one upside down in the centre with another planted one on top of it.
I would even plant nicotianas in some............No doubt the first reponse to that is that they would grow too tall. Fair point. But.. I have grown them for years and if you plant some in a restricted container they will grow to match......I have some in flower now in the greenhouse in 40mm of compost, compact and bushy and in bloom.
Try lots of things, see what works!
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Thanks for all the advice everyone, however, i will be putting asda cheap compost in them with sived soil, I have ordered some cheap seeds, the pots will be sat on woodchip, as much as i'd love to have saucers and retaining crystals and gravel, I have 395 pots to fill on a budget of a fiver. I'm not going to find 395 terracotta saucers for that!
As far as I can tell a lot of people on these forums live in a very diffrent financial world to me, the whole reason I'm growing my own is because we don't have the money for fresh fruit, veg and flowers ...
Thanks again everyone for all the help and suggestions.