Don’t forget to water your containers in wet weather!
Posted on | July 15, 2011 | 6 Comments
Colocasia esculenta with Hosta 'Fire and Ice'
I feel a bit sluggish this week as I had an angiogram on Monday which made me seriously depleted for a couple of days, so two of my good friends kindly took on the daily chore of watering all the pots and containers in the garden, a relatively easy and quite pleasurable job, though it does take well over an hour to do seven days a week! I shouldn’t say it’s a chore really as it gives me a chance to see how every pot and container is progressing as I have to look at every one individually rather than seeing them as a group, where things can often be missed, especially if a pot is hidden away behind larger ones and some of my pots are very hidden indeed!
Far to many pots!
Visitors to the garden often think that if it has been raining that plants in containers don’t need watering. Unfortunately this is not the case as many plants (especially if they have a wide canopy of leaves hanging over the sides of the containers) funnel the rain away from the soil and onto the ground around the pots, hence whatever the weather come rain or shine you should always check that your containers are moist.
Large leaves drain rain away from pots and containers, often leaving the compost dry...
Of course arid loving plants take drought periods well and don’t require daily watering. If the weather is damp and cool with no wind, you may get away without watering, but if your cherished plants start to dry out and the foliage withers, it is often difficult to get them back to life and looking as good as they did before. This is especially true with thin leaved plants like coleus that hate having a shock.
Having such thin leave Coleus (Solenostemon) dry out really easily if not watered regularly or the leaves will go crispy!
Visitors to the garden often ask me why my plants are so darn big, especially those in containers! I always ask them if they feed their plants and a good number think there is enough food for potted plants in the compost thinking that water is all they need to keep them healthy and even, though even that is not always consistently done! I always tell them that plants are like us – if they don’t get fed they don’t grow! Feeding is so important if you want your plants to perform at their best and this is especially so when they are constricted to the growing medium in a pot. Most of the composts that are commercially available whether organic or not have about six weeks feed added to get plants going and no more, hence after that they need feeding. Some gardeners use a regular liquid feed which is fine if you only have a few containers but if like me you have a large number of containers other methods must be employed. The easiest to use are slow release pellets that usually last up to six months thus feeding the plants during the whole summer, slowly releasing feed into the potting mix every time they are watered.
Slow release fertilise...
As many of my containers are large or are established, using pellets in not possible, so instead I use a generous sprinkling of my favourite feed, blood fish and bone or if you are not organically minded you can use growmore which is chemical based. In the larger containers, those over 1½-2ft across I also sprinkle a generous handful of pelleted chicken manure – lovely stuff full of wonderful nutrients. Some find it a bit smelly when watered, but at least it tells you that you are doing your plants a power of good!
Totally organic Blood Fish and Bone…
Blood Fish and Bone and Dweezal!
Do this plus watering regularly and your plants will become enormous, especially if you apply some more feed at this time of year to really give them a boost. If your plants are grown for flowers rather than foliage you should rigorously dead head fading blooms to encourage more throughout the summer month and into the autumn.
Removing faded flowers from summer flowering plants is important if you want them to flower to the end of the season rather than go to seed which is their preference…
So what’s looking good at the moment in the Exotic Garden? One plant that I am exceedingly pleased with, which not only came through a really cold winter but is now looking absolutely stunning, is my specimen Schefflera macrophylla. I bought this hopeful monster with only four leaves on it from Crug plants in Wales a few years ago.
Schefflera macrophylla bought from Crug Farm in Wales two years ago…
It was planted out in a permanent position in front of my house last spring with several generous handfuls of blood fish and bone added to the soil at planting time. During our now historic winter, it only had a covering of thin plastic that was open to the elements on one side. Despite a frigid -11C the foliage only became slightly burnt at the edges though thankfully the growing tip was unaffected with only a handful of straw around it for protection. Now that high summer is here it has produced an incredible new canopy of foliage that is much larger than last years, with huge dark green leaves over 2ft wide and still growing, composed of paddle-shaped leaflets on long petioles (leaf stalks). One of the most spectacular parts of this plant is the new emerging growth which is smothered in a ginger indumentum (a velvety covering that washes off as the leaves mature). The whole plant is now just short of 9ft tall by 7ft wide and is an amazing specimen. According to Crug farms website Schefflera macrophylla can grow up to 7m tall in the wild so should be passing my gutters in a few years time!
Schefflera macrophylla two years on – how big is it going to get!!
Schefflera macrophylla leaf detail...
I’m sure this delectable plant will become a rival to Tetrapanax papiferus (the Rice paper plant) in years to come.
Tetrapanax papiferus (the Rice paper plant)
Close by to this giant is part of my collection of Bromeliads. One in particular is drawing much interest at the moment Neophytum ‘Galactic Warrior‘ an apt name for such an ‘in your face plant’, as at this time of year the entire plant transforms from pale pinkish-green to vivid red, standing out above all the other bromeliads as it swaggers with intensity even on the dullest of days!
Bromeliad - Neophytum 'Galactic Warrior' with Lady Bird!
During the winter all the Bromeliads are kept at a rather chilly 5C where most tend to loose their colour becoming pale reflections of the intensity they sport in high summer. I haven’t counted them all, though I imagine there must be around seventy Bromeliads dotted around the garden, with some having become very large specimens indeed and very heavy!
One of my many bromeliads – this one is Neoregelia ‘Pink Fingernails’ grown from a small pup hived off a larger plant two years ago and is now just over 2ft across!
Another week has past and with all the rain of late everything in the garden now looks blooming wonderful!
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6 Responses to “Don’t forget to water your containers in wet weather!”
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July 15th, 2011 @ 6:50 pm
Always so interesting to read. May I ask do you leave your bromeliads dry over winter? If so when do you start watering and also do you feed them too?
July 15th, 2011 @ 11:21 pm
Hi WIll garden looks great! did your musa banana plants survive? cant see any pics?
pete
July 21st, 2011 @ 11:31 am
Hello Will,
I’ve had a couple of angiograms in the past, not the most pleasant of experiences. I hope the results were favorable.
I am interested in the ‘Fish Blood & Bone’ approach to feeding pots, How often do you feed them?. Looking forward to a visit when I come to Norfolk in the next month or so.
Regards John Smith
July 21st, 2011 @ 1:08 pm
Libby – Yes I do. I empty them out as I store them in late October, then overwinter at around 5C (40F) bone dry until late Feb early March. As the days warm up, I give them a spray of water, slowly building up to full vases by the end of March. This works really well for me as I usually loose one or two each winter which is not bad seeing as I have over seventy now! I’m always amazed how they seem to grow really well with little or no food, though a foliar feed a few times during the summer does give them a boost…
Pete – My Musa basjoo did come through the winter as I wrapped them with straw and horticultural fleece and are now about 10ft tall…
John – Unfortunately I do have a blockage in one of my arteries and the powers that be have put me on Beta Blockers to see how I get on with them! All my pots have BFB mixed in with the compost when potting though for established plants I sprinkle a good a handful around each pot in early May then again about now, which really makes everything grow well.
July 22nd, 2011 @ 1:55 pm
Sorry to hear of the blockage in your artery.
Not long now till the grand visit!
I don’t know about you but my bananas are definitely going bananas!!
I have three lovely flower buds on my brugmansia, which is a first for me as the snails have usually ruined the plant by this time! I bet they’ll flower while I’m away!!
August 15th, 2011 @ 5:01 pm
Tania –