How do you make your garden pots bloom

[Sunshineandrainbow]

Any secret tips on flowering Plants in pots mine never seem great.
Just been to buy some and would like to do better this year!

Should I change the compost every year?

Should I change the compost every year?

Yes!

Also feed them during the summer flowering season. And deadhead them regularly.

Water and feed them well.

If you don't fully change the compost in big pots, at least skim the top layer and turn over the rest of the soil.

To dead head is that just below the dead flower?

Will go and get new compost.

Two of my pretty large hebe in pots seem to be a bit worse for wear. Should I trim them back and hope it brings them back. Quite sad about those to be honest.

Deadheading is just picking off the spent flowers regularly.

Think about things like your hebes that spend their lives in a pot. The only nutrients they can get are the ones in the pot already (in the compost) or the ones you provide them (by feeding them).

If they use up all the nutrients in the original compost and you don’t give them more or change the compost, they’ll eventually starve.

Deadheading varies by plant. Sometimes there is a new bud waiting just below (cosmos, geum etc) so you remove just the dead flower and leave the buds, if not then it looks nicer to snip down at a leaf, or near the base so you don’t just have a load of green sticks.

One mistake I make with pots is thinking that in winter and spring I barely need to water the because the "April showers" will do it for me and that it's not warm enough to really dry the soil out. Obviously it depends where you are in the country and where your pots are located/which type of plant it is but where I am in the NW we haven't had much rain at all for weeks. I've been very busy lately so haven't done much pottering in the garden at all but can see some pots from my kitchen window and I keep thinking "oh they don't look so great, I'll have to go out and check the soil." I got a shock yesterday when I went out and the pots were BONE DRY. Water just running through when I watered them. So I've had to soak them in a bucket of water first before they'll even take any watering. I had to hold them under the water as they were so dry the soil was coming out in one big lump and floating above the pots.

I've obviously left it too late to check the soil and I think I might have lost a couple of plants through neglect. I have a newish hebe in a pot from last year and the leaves are going brown at the edges so hoping that will be ok.

Even the plants in the garden borders are dropping a bit and not looking so lush and green. I hate to say it, especially on a bank holiday weekend, but we really do need it to properly rain for a day or two. All we've had here is a half hour of lighgt drizzle once a week for a few weeks. It's not enough moisture.

When deadheading you don't leave an empty stem, you follow the head back and cut it above a joint. Or a new bud. Depending on the plant.

So for Geum and cosmos, when the head dies back, follow that small stem and cut it off above where it is attached to the next biggest stem. Otherwise you end up with loads of stems doing nothing.

In fact, now I think of it, pots are a pain the arse. You have to water daily in summer, sometimes twice a day for them to really look good. If you go on holiday you need to get someone to come and water them. This year I'm not going to bother with any hanging baskets in the front because they just look terrible when I come back if they're not watered daily. And becaues my back garden faces south I'm seriously thinking of just planting whatever I have in pots from last year in my borders because we are away for 3 weeks and with the dry summers we've been having there's only things like lavender and geraniums/pelargoniums that may survive us being away and only the rain watering them.

I picked those 2 examples as I have them in my garden, when the eg cosmos flowers started to go over they had buds right underneath. Snipping down to a joint would have taken off those flowers.

I just skim off the top of the compost every year as a lot of my pots keep the plants in. In fact, I am on a roll this year, as most of my geraniums have survived the winter and a couple are already flowering! My lavenders are sprouting well too. I also give them a feed once a monthish in the summer, but not the lavenders, they like to be abused!!

I have some annuals in pots and some pots with perennials. The perennial pots I just top up with new compost and feed well through spring and summer.

The annuals I do from scratch each year, new compost and new plants.

Feeding and watering well makes a big difference.

Every couple of years I remove plants from pots and then mix half of the old compost with new ( I'm cheap!) I add some blood, fish and bone and then repot. It doesn't take that long and I've even left for three years at a time
Completely replacing compost on my 30 odd pots sounds very extravagant

This is why I don’t do pots!

I grow a lot in pots, water erratically, feed even more so, not change compost and I am rewarded by luxurious plants. I know life's unfair but surprised to be on the winning side for once.

I meant luxuriant - sorry

I agree with some of the other posters - there's no real need to change the whole pot's worth of compost each year. I generally take the top third off and replace that. We do have a compost heap though and I do make sure to add in a good spadeful or two of that to my pots (helps with water retention and is really needed for the peat free composts I find), alongside a handful of slow release feed in early spring. Then from early summer I feed all my pots with tomato or seaweed feed weekly. I also shred and shove a handful of nettle and comfrey leaves into my pots every so often when I remember (or when the clumps get so big that I have to deal with them).

The trick is also to use drought tolerant plants that don't mind neglect too much - so yes pelargoniums do well, violas, erigeron, etc. This year I've drawn a line under the delphiniums and dahlias. Beautiful but too high maintenance.

This more or less what I do. I put all spent compost in a spare bag and use it as a mulch elsewhere in the autumn.

Thanks everyone for your help I am so grateful.
Going to wilko for blood and bone mix (never heard of it! )
Slow release plant food and something for my lawn.
And something to hopefully to kill the box tree caterpliiar that has overtaken a massive plant I have been growing for 15 years..

If you're going to wilko have a look out for their water gel crystals. You soak a small spoonful in lots of water and then add it into compost for pots. It helps the pot hold water for longer but they do need to be wet before you add them or they'll expand once you water (the first time I used them I did it dry and had compost overflowing from pots like lava!).

Bought them thanks starling!

My old Dad swore by blood, fish & bone mix, a handful went in every planting and his garden was a joy!
However, if you have dogs - beware! Mine love it... consequently, many a plant is dug up in search of this amazing smell

In my pots and baskets I cut up a few car wash 🧽 and mix them in with the soil it helps retain water . I also use moisture control soil . Works great .

I’ve got a container garden, probably 100 pots 😱. Water deadhead, re-pot and feed appropriately.

I love my garden, you can move pots into partial shade or sun and feed individually if necessary.

I use a micro irrigation system in the drier months, about £20 from Amazon for about 30 pots.