Before we moved into our current house, we had very limited garden space. We had a bit of an awkward lawn that was very downhill, and was prone to flooding. The soil was really bad and stone, which made it hard to dig into, and it just wasn’t ideal. So the gardener-wannabe in me started looking into pot plants instead.
Now we’ve moved into our new house – new to us 2 years ago – we’ve inherited a much nicer outdoor space. It already came with a little side flower bed area. We’ve since widened the flower bed running around the whole garden and lined it with bricks. The soil was bad again, but this time more clay-like, rather than swamp and stones. So, we added some new compost to it, and this year we’ve been able to get some beautiful flowers growing.
But we still have a patio space, and I wanted to bring the pot appeal back. I’ve learned since our old house (even though there’s still a lot more to go). This year I’ve managed to get an almost completely separate garden going just in the pot section. So, as an update from the last time I shared my favourite pot plants, I’ve updated my list in my garden this year.
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Flowers
Pot plants can be grown by pretty much anyone, not matter how small your space. If you just have a small balcony or windowsill, there will be a plant pot out there that fits and looks fantastic. I love the look of mis-matched pots on a patio, they add a bit of layer to your garden. I’m always keeping an eye out wherever I go for random, pretty pots now to add to my collection.
Lavender
Lavender is a great choice if you want to add scent to your garden space as well. My goal is to take cuttings each year my current plants and eventually have a whole section of my garden just for lavender plants. For this year, mine are in pots, but they really do look lovely in a pretty planter. Plus, they’re really bee friendly, which is always a bonus.
Before you choose where your lavender pot is going to live, it’s worth double checking which variety you have. Pretty much all of them enjoy full sunshine, but there are a select few that want to be in more shady areas, so make sure you’ve got the right space for the right one. That does mean, however, that there’s a lavender out there for everyone.
Pansys
Pansys are so sweet – I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel like they have a sweet, cheeky look about them. When I think of pansys I always think of that scene in the animated Alice in Wonderland, where all the flowers are singing.In fact just writing this I’ve got the song in my head.
Pansys are perfect pots flowers for several reasons. Firstly they don’t need much room, so they can be used to fill your smaller pots. They’ll also stay quite bushy in the leaf areas, so they won’t look puny on their own in a tiny space. Because they’re only small, you can also use them to fill empty spaces in larger pots of other, taller flowers. I’ve paired a few of mine with my cornflower.
And they’re so bright. You’ll be able to find pansys in lovely colours. If you want to add colour to your garden, they’re perfect. These are a definite favorite on my list.
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Cornflowers
If you want to create a country cottage style garden, you should definitely add cornflowers to your list. They grow almost like they’re coming out of grass, and are perfect as flower bed fillers. The good news is they also thrive in containers. I was given some cornflower seeds late in the growing season, so I’d already filled up most of my growing space. So, I used mine to fill any spaces in the garden or empty pots.
I have tried some in hanging baskets – I wouldn’t particularly do this again next year, they’re a bit spindly. Plus everything else in my hanging basket didn’t thrive, so they looked a little bit lonesome on their own. But their so pretty if you can get them growing. The colour of them is stunning. You’ll struggle to find a more vibrant blue flower than these.
Bleeding Heart
These are beautiful as a hanging basket filler. They’re what I’d call a dangly plant, so they add a bit of shape to a pot. They’ll grow a leafy base, then a stem out the top which can go quite tall. But it’ll be held over as an arch by the flowers it grows – and the flowers are really beautiful.
It’s called bleeding heart for a reason, even if the bleeding part is a little graphic. The flowers it’ll grow are in the shape of perfect hearts, and bright pink. Then they have another petal growing out beneath them – giving the idea of a bleeding heart. They’re really beautiful flowers, and mine have come back every year, so a good investment.
Fruit and Veg
This year was the first time we’ve tried to grow our own produce. I’ve always wanted a vegetable patch, and while this garden still isn’t quite the one to do it in yet, we fell back on pot plants again. I’ve also applied for a local allotment, so maybe that’ll make the annual post next year…
The most important thing with planting fruit and veg as pot plants is to make sure you get the right one. Some plants need a lot of room to fully grow, and it’s worth checking up on things like how much drainage they need before you get buying. Once you’ve got them growing, you can pretty much treat them like they’re growing in the ground, so it is still possible to grow fruit and veg without a patch.
Strawberries
I love strawberry plants in the garden, and they are perfect produce pot plants. I remember every summer going to my Grampy’s garden, and he would have this big netted structure set up. Inside were all his strawberry plants, which he’d make into a no-bird zone.
Strawberries are so easy to grow as pot plants. You can use quite a small pot, and they really don’t seem to mind too much – as long as it’s about 15cm wide it should be fine. And they like pretty much any type of pot. I started last year with a few plants in a hanging basket. At the end of Summer, when strawberry season was over, the plant died back, and being lazy I just sort of left it where it was. But this year it’s come back again, even stronger, and we’ve already had a few strawberries from it. I’m tempted to treat it to a nicer hanging pot next year.
I also picked up some strawberry plants from B&Q at the start of the season, for really cheap. They look pretty weak, and so a pack of six plants ended up at about fifty pence. I bought a whole load for my family too – my mum has a tortoise who’s mad for strawberries. With a bit of love, they’ve really come on strong. I’ve even managed to get a few new plants from them, so they were definitely proof that you should take a chance on the bargain sections of garden centres.
Top Strawberry Tip
If you want to increase your strawberry production next year, you can create your own new plants. And it’s really easy to do. All you need is a new pot – a simple, small, plastic one will do for now -, some compost, and a paperclip. When you’re current strawberry plant has become established, you might notice it start to grow ‘legs’ out of it. These are the things the grow like a long stem, but don’t have strawberries or leaves on them.
You’ll start to notice they grow patches of leaves down them – this is a baby strawberry plant coming. Let it get a little bit stronger, then pot it on top of a pot of compost. Unshape the paperclip so it’s like a long, u-shaped peg, and push that over either side of the leg to hold it in place. Water it, then treat it like any other pot plant in your garden. If you look after it it’ll keep getting stronger, then eventually you can cut the stem so it’s not attached to the ‘mother plant’ anymore. And voila, you’ll have more strawberry plants for next year, ready to go.
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Raspberries
On my birthday (and I think as part of my madly-motivated pregnancy phase) I decided I wanted a pot plant orchard. In my head it would run along our shed, and we’d have all sorts of fruit-bearing plants. Then, when the time was right, I’d spend weekends making pies, crumbles, and jams. When I sat down and thought about it, that wasn’t going to work. The area by our shed is very shady for most of the day, and it also looked like it was going to get quite expensive quite quickly.
So I settled for three plants instead. An Apple Tree (later on the list), a blueberry plant (which didn’t make it through the Summer), and my raspberry plant. The raspberry plant is by far the most successful, and has really taken to life on our patio. Because it’s only its first year we haven’t had any harvest yet, but I’m hopefully for next year, if I can get it through Winter.
Courgettes
Now, courgettes will grow happily as pot plants – but it has to be a big pot. The advice when planting multiple courgettes in the garden is to give each one at least a square meter of space around it. So, you will need to invest in a large plant pot.
I started my courgettes on a bit of a wim, they weren’t at all on my list of plants to grow. But my husband came home from the shop with one of those little DIY plant kits with them, and I planted them expecting not at lot to happen. They grew so big on our windowsill that they knocked the plastic top off the pot overnight. I had to move the little greenhouse we have to a nice spot specifically for them to move into outside. We also had all twenty plants grow successfully, and it’s turned into a bit of a nightmare just trying to find room for them all.
Sadly, we’re learning that without a lot of space they’re really not happy – hence the application in the end for the allotment. But in a big pot, or a growbag, they’ve been perfectly pleased to grow us some tasty courgettes.
Apple Trees
As part of my ‘orchard in pots’ dream, I wanted an apple tree. I specifically went on a trip to the garden centre to look at apple trees on my birthday, but just came back with more pots. In the end I purchased mine online. I went for a ‘Katy’ apple tree, for obvious reasons. And it’s showing me that there’s no reason apple trees shouldn’t be suitable pot plants.
Like the courgettes, if you want to grow an apple tree in a pot, it will need to be a big pot, and deep too. If you get a pot about 50cm wide, and make sure the apple tree plant you buy is on a container rootstock, you’ll be just fine. You may still need to support it with a sturdy cane or stick, but if you allow it the room it needs it should grow anything up to two meters tall.
