Un-killable garden pots - suggestion please!

[LittleScottish]

I've got about 10 pots, hanging baskets that I filled last year, and then shamefully neglected, as I do with all plants!

However, I do like to have a colourful garden in the summer, so if I go out to the garden centre today, what should I buy that will look great over summer but that can withstand my pathetically lazy gardening skillz :-)

*and hanging baskets

Geraniums ( pelargoniums) are tough and cope with neglect.

Watching as I am the same.

Watching too as I can kill a dandelion at 10 paces

Trailing geraniums in hanging baskets are tolerant of a bit of neglect (of course if you look after them properly they are better, but life is too short)

I have planted Choisiya , lemon verbena,salvia hot lips,rosemary, various mints,olives, bilbergia nutans -supposed to be greenhouse plants but mine has survived outside for years, sarcococca thyme, and other stuff in pots for years, all doing well, the only thing I have ever had an issue with is a miniature agapanthus but I think that is because the pot is too small.

Get bigger pots than you think you will need, put plenty of drainage in the bottom and if you can support them off the ground, use a good compost like a John Innes and top up every year with chicken pellets.

Shorter wider mouthed pots look lovely with sempervivums in, you can get different sorts, mix the compost with plenty of grit as they like a freer drainage.

I'm the same.. I'm terrible because I feel so guilty after my plants have failed thinking I've deprived the bees!

What do you mean by supporting them off the ground?

Um think you are lost brightly... wrong thread.

Hanging baskets dry out while you are looking at them, in hot weather like this we have watered them twice a day. Patio pots in terracotta are the most forgiving, our wooden troughs are also forgiving. Pelargoniums, geraniums, livingstone daisies are more forgiving.

It's too early to put out tender summer bedding, I.e. anything that can be killed by frost, like pelargoniums for example. Mid May onwards you are usually safe. Pots need a good growing medium, feed and loads of water (last summer I was having to water ours twice a day in the heat). You can buy moisture retaining gel to mix in with the compost, which helps. You also need to deadhead regularly to keep the flowers coming. The best feed I have found are slow release granules which you also mix in with your fresh compost in each pot. Don't reuse last year's compost. If it's a large pot you can get away with just removing the first 8 Inches or so.
Hanging baskets I think are a total pain and I don't really bother now. They need so much water and food to keep them looking good. However, if you use the same method as above, plus even more watering, they will be okay. I occasionally buy the ready planted ones, usually trailing petunias, as they look so pretty. Flowers that really last all season are few and far between, although annual begonias are good value in this department, also lobelia isn't too bad.
But, the real secret is water and food. If you go away, even just for a couple of days, you will need to get them watered for you. Once they've dried out, you've had it really. It stresses them so much.
If you are not sure whether a plant is tender, look it up. Garden centres have a vested interest in selling plants too early that then will need replacing after a frost.

Sorry will ask for it be moved!! Apologies

My friend who works at a garden centre loves it when folk buy early he says it dies and he gets a second bite at the cherry when they come back. So unless you have a greenhouse an spare time. Hold your horses.

I also think it too early fir summer bedding. Wait another 4-5 weeks, till the end of May then plant. Lobelias, marigolds, carnations (you can get small ones for pots), geraniums, those are the ones i use.

My butler sinks are ready for bedding plants but im resisting. I did buy some seeds yesterday for 2 of them so we’ll see what appears!

tanselle you can buy little feet things which you put under the pot, they raise it off the ground and help with drainage.

The secret to good watering for pots is not to water little and often, but to water very very thoroughly about twice a week. And water only in the evening, never in the morning or when the sun is on the plant.

If you group pots together it not only looks better but seems to create a little micro climate, also makes it easier to pick snails off the pots........