[snowdrops]

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

[TheOnlyGothInTheVillage]

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!

[Stree]

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!

[TheOnlyGothInTheVillage]

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.