Organized Living

STRETCH YOUR GARDEN BUDGET: USING AND REUSING PLANT CONTAINERS

Adding container plantings to your outdoor setting is like accessorizing a room. Container plants offer splashes of color and texture, and allow you to try new looks without spending a fortune.

Attractive containers with a more substantial look are often worth the investment. They needn't be expensive ceramic or clay. In fact, manufacturing advances have resulted in some handsome plastic and resin reproductions that are easy to move and store in the off-season. Buy several pots of varying sizes that can be placed in attractive groupings or staggered among bare spots in the perennial garden.

Consider the unconventional, too. Plantings that range from the whimsical to the sophisticated have been achieved by the use of items serving duty in the garden: large bowls and baskets, watering cans and little red wagons, washtubs and wheelbarrows, milk boxes with their lids propped open, antique dresser drawers whose appearance is no longer suitable for indoors.

Worn-out caning can be removed from the seat of a chair and replaced with a deep pocket of window screening that is then lined with moss or straw, filled with soil and planted with annuals. For added dazzle, paint the chair in a color that compliments or contrasts with the plants.

Thick-sided Styrofoam shipping containers look like cast stone when painted and planted with flowers. You can even plant annuals in an opened umbrella and hang it by the handle from a tree! Include a few trailing vines for a romantic effect.

For best results with container plantings, follow these tips:

• If you use good soil that's been enriched with humus, you can re-use the containers a few years in a row without totally replacing the soil as long as you had no issues with bugs or disease. If you are re-using the soil, work in a few inches of fresh top dressing and fertilize well.
  
  
• If you are starting over with new soil, and especially if you had pest problems, scrub the pots with a mild solution of environmentally safe detergent and let them dry thoroughly before planting.
  
  
• If you are using a container that is not typically used for plants, it must be adapted for plant use. All plants need drainage, so use a medium sized drill bit to make three holes in the bottom of any solid-bottomed container. Then line the bottom with an inch of gravel or shells before adding soil mix.
  
  
• If you are planting a container that is subject to rot or mold, such as a wooden box or drawer, it's best to line it with heavy duty plastic or landscape lining. Don't forget to poke holes in the lining so water can drain out through the holes you have drilled in the container.