Potted plants are a great addition to your outside space. The choice available is vast from colour, size, material, shape and cost – there is something available for everyone to enjoy potted planting.

Benefits Of Potted Plants

Using potted plants has many benefits, including:

• Moveable plants, for example if you have something which needs moving into more shade in the summer or indoors in winter
• Ability to change displays throughout the year
• Transportable, ideal for if you were to move house.
• Landlord friendly. If you rent your property and aren’t allowed to dig beds or build borders, potted plants are a great alternative
• Suitable for patios. If you lack access to a garden, you can still enjoy plants or flowers potted on a patio or balcony.
• Great for beginners, contained planting is a great introduction for someone starting out in growing.

There are some considerations to factor when it comes to managing potted plants, particularly in summer. We have outlined a few here to ensure you have an enjoyable experience with your potted planting.

Container type

Terracotta and clay pots look nice and are traditional when potted planting comes to mind. However, as the RHS points out, unglazed pots are porous and so in summer can dry out quickly. This may not be ideal if you need to maintain the soil moisture at a higher level for that particular plant in summer. However, clay pots absorb less heat from the sun than synthetic materials, too much heat can damage the roots.

Plastic pots don’t dry out like terracotta and can be a cheaper option. However, coloured plastic pots can fade from the intensity of sunlight. Considerations should also be made as to whether the pots are made from re-cycled plastic or if they are easily recyclable.   

Watering

Potted plants need watering more often than those growing in the ground. Frogheath’s garden designer Tina Vallis recommends watering first thing in the morning or later in the evening when the light is low and less intense. She is also an advocate of sitting the pots in saucers of water so the roots have a steady but constant supply of water in the hotter summer spells.

Positioning

One of the benefits of potted plants means they can be moved around. So if you think your plant may be getting too much direct sunlight, you can move it to another area of your outside space so that the leaves don’t become scorched.

As well as moving into shade, you can also rotate the pots within their position, to allow all parts of the plant a share of the best light.

Feeding

Summer is the time for growth, so adding plant food to your pots will really help them thrive. Plant food can help with a bumper crop of fruits or vegetables. The Little Botanical suggests feeding nitrogen rich fertiliser once a fortnight. Make sure the soil is moist before adding fertilizer as adding it to dry soil can be harmful to the plant.

Enjoy potted planting

Managing your potted plants over the summer needn’t be a time consuming or stressful activity. With a little planning and short but regular spells of your attention you can easily achieve thriving blooms, successful crops of vegetables and foliage rich plants. If you aren’t an experienced gardener or don’t have a lot of space, managing potted plants can be a thoroughly mindful and enjoyable experience.

If you liked this article, why not subscribe to receive our newsletter so you get more pieces like this sent straight to your inbox.