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Containing your garden in Winter

With the ground so wet underfoot, it's not an ideal time to be digging, or even walking over the garden too much. Constantly tredding over sodden ground compacts the soil, reducing the air spaces around plant roots, practically drowning the poor things! However, if you're feeling miffed about not being able to get out in the garden, you can always turn your hand to a spot of container gardening to sate your appetite.

Light up your life

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I love the stylish new Elho range with its soft, moody, built-in lighting. They don’t come cheap, but they’re a fantastic investment to enhance your interior or exterior, while adding a completely new dimension in container gardening. An energy-saving light bulb sits inside the pot, which is connected to a standard power source via a 5m cable. The smallest in the range even has coloured filters and they all come with a five-year guarantee.

Eco-friendly

Bamboo is the latest and greatest environmentally friendly material, responsible for the creation of all sorts of things from flooring to kitchen utensils and even clothing. For gardening enthusiasts there are also bio-pots made from sustainably produced, reconstituted bamboo fibre.

Small (9.5cm diameter) pots are ideal for potting up seedlings. Pot and all can be planted in the garden, resulting in no transplanting shock for the seedling and the pots rot down after about six months. Larger pots can be used as indoor plant-pot covers.

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These last for two to three years and can be composted once they start to break down.

Less watering

Containers can be a pain in the butt over summer – they take a lot of watering. Luckily, there are some great self-watering options around, such as Yates Tuscan Edge Pots. Simply fill the water reservoir up every few days and allow the plant to take up the amount of water it requires.

You’ll need to keep a close eye on watering in really hot, dry and windy weather, but you’ll be surprised how much less work these pots require. The fact that they don’t even need saucers is also encouraging!

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Space savers

Taking it vertical and stacking ’em high is the way to go where space is an issue in small gardens or on apartment balconies. Stack-a-pots are available as wall pots, hanging planters and free- standing clusters – all piled together in an attractive bundle.

Plant them with flowers, veges, herbs, strawberries, indoor plants or your favourite selection of small, colourful perennials for a welcoming entrance display.

Wheelin’ and dealin’

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These clever Ducal troughs come with a set of wheels, which can be inserted into moulded attachment points underneath the saucer. Wheel them around to catch the sun or move out of sight when they’re past their best and ready for replanting. Plant them up with bulbs and seasonal flowers to adorn decks and balconies, or veges and herbs for outside the kitchen.

Dress the drain!

The quirky “drainpipe clickers” are for serious container gardeners. Plant them up with flowering annuals, herbs, lettuces, succulents or small-growing, cascading perennials, and click them in place. The weight of the base of the pot sitting against the pipe will hold it in place.

Straddle the fence

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Want to add extra colour to a fence line or adorn your handrails? These cute “flower bridge” pots are just the ticket! Plant them up with flowering annuals and perennials or indoor plants for interior positions. A row of red cyclamen would be my pick for winter!

This week:

  1. Fertilise winter veges including cabbages, broccoli and cauli.
  1. Feed polyanthus with dried blood – they love it!
  1. Plant windowsill herbs: parsley, winter savoury and coriander.
  1. Sow peas, snow peas and broad beans.
  1. Plant daphne for the most exquisitely scented, late-winter flowers.

Handy ideas:

  1. Protect the deck (or carpet) with Down Under Plant Stands. Simply break off the arms to suit the size of the pot.
  1. Seal porous terracotta pots with varnish before planting, to prevent excessive drying out in hot weather.
  1. Feed your container plants with Nutrigel, which also contains water crystals to help keep pots moist over summer.
  1. Wheel pots around with a handy plant caddy – perfect for changing displays of large containers.
  1. Invest in the best quality potting or container mix – the extra cost will pay off.
  1. A bamboo tepee is excellent for growing climbers and peas or beans in a large container.
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