Help a newbie out container gardening!

[ItsNotForYouJen]

I want to fill the pots on my patio. I’m limited on species as my cat tends to see the world outside as one big buffet bar, so I’ve picked up a few cat-safe varieties that I’ve researched.

Yesterday I got some small ready grown flowering plants (saxifrage, campanula, Arabis) and some mini plug plants (viola, fuchsia, petunia, bacopa, Biden, diascia, calibrachoa).

Now what do I do?

My plan was to repot the plugs into 3” pots today and keep them inside until the weather stops dipping down to 5 degrees, then get them in the plastic greenhouse. Would that be right?

Can the small flowering plants I bought go straight outside now or do they need to stay indoors or in greenhouse too? The label doesn’t give an idea of when to plant out and I’d assumed if they were established and flowering, it was ready but I just wanted to check.

Grateful for any info!

well I would just plant them all outside and see how they get on. Unless you are in a very exposed location, they will probably do fine. Put some plastic cloches on top of new things to give protection from both the cat and the weather.

Yes I would keep the plug plants inside for a bit longer. The others should be ok outside.

The key thing with container gardening imo is proper watering - not just an inch or two at the top in hot weather, and also make sure you feed them. I use a liquid feed once a week, after watering.

Great tips, thank you.

@HumphreyCobblers What brand of fees do you use?

I’ll plant out the established ones today so we can get the benefit of the blooms!