Giant pots

[Ilovesoutherncomfort]

Couldn’t really think what to use as a heading so here goes..

Tempted by the middle aisle in Aldi ( or was it Lidl) I have ended up with a giant pot. ( will try and attach a photo). I don’t want to put a shrub in but rather some nice scented bedding plants to have at the back door.
so a) recommendations for highly scented bedding plants please
and b) I really don’t want to waste compost by filling a massive pot when there will only be a few shallow rooted bedding plants in it. What could I use to take up at least half the space taking into account water will still have to drain out of the bottom?
Suggestions welcome please .

Does it have drainage holes in the bottom? If not, you need to make some.

I always used to use broken-up polystyrene from the trays the bedding plants came in, but of course they don't sell them in that any more. Do you have any bricks or similar lying around handy? They'll take up room in the pot and make it stable so it doesn't get top-heavy.

Hany hint - with massive pots, move them into position before you fill them!

Handy hint

Yes polystyrene! My mum does this and it works a treat .

You can by bags of those packaging chips on Amazon if you can't get it anywhere else.

A lot of those are now made from expanded corn starch, and will disintegrate when wet. A bit like using Wotsits!!

If it's a plastic pot then you need to weigh it down if you're planning on putting a hefty shrub in it else it'll topple over on windy days.

A lovely fern or fatsia would look striking in that pot, but put a fair few pebbles in it or a couple of bricks. If only to reduce the huge volume of compost that you'd need to fill it.

A lot of those are now made from expanded corn starch, and will disintegrate when wet. A bit like using Wotsits!!

Oh dear not a good idea!😁 Good point! Only polystyrene ones.

Don't put that one in the sun. I had a very similar black pot once, and it got so hot in summertime that everything in it baked and died.

Nemesia Vanilla. I would probably put 3 in that pot.
Smells gorgeous and flowers well into autumn if you keep trimming the spent flowers.

However it also degrades, as I’ve recently discovered after getting around to repotting something after many years. The compost is now full of tiny balls of polystyrene so I can’t even put it in the compost bin & have had to send it to landfill instead.

OP I generally use an upturned large plant pot or several, or a bucket, these are light but take up room and still allow the water to drain.

As previous poster said, an upturned plastic plant pot jammed inside.

Holes are already there but you can drill a few more in it if necessary.

Put twigs in the bottom.

I used plastic bottles with the lid screwed on to fill redundant space in my planter. It took a surprisingly long time to gather enough as we try and use reuseable bottles!

I saw someone in a little video the other day load a big pot up with lots of twigs and then covered the twigs with a thick piece of cardboard that they had cut to size then put compost on top of that.

All the suggestions above for filling , but I'd def plant something tall in the centre, maybe a salvia, they smell gorgeous and can put bedding plants round edge

kitchen china you break works a treat. Cheers you up after smashing something you liked too.

N.B. I did try thick cardboard last year, but it disintegrated too much and caused the compost to slump.

Or a fuchsia? With bedding round the edge? Nemisia and calibrachoa?

We've got one of these. We've drilled holes as PP have suggested and then we have a dahlia in another pot that just fits inside the top half of the tall planter.

I've just filled a similar pot this week. In the bottom I put my plastic, glass and tin recycling - fizzy drink cans, yoghurt pots etc. I filled the old squash bottles with water and also had a couple of glass gin bottles that I filled too. This provided a bit of weight to stabilise the pot.

I put plastic milk cartons in my large planters to fill up space.

I'll second Nemesia, lovely scent and lots of colour combinations, some quite striking.

U many want to put soil the entire way through. The impatient Gardener showed her huge pot. Which she added pots at the bottom and then filled with soil.

Her thinking was the same. Annuals only and shallow roots. When she opened the bottom of the pot. It was waterlogged and the pots were covered in roots.

@JamMakingWannaBe what a great idea. So today I went out and bought a £2.99 smaller pot and did exactly what you advised.
Can’t wait until tomorrow to buy some nemesia. Saw some gorgeous ones at the local market the other day but the stall wasn’t there today. Will go back tomorrow and post a photo when done.
Thank you all so much.

How about Lavender if it’s in sun. Doesn’t mind getting a bit dry.

Perhaps some other herbs too round the outside, (lavender is technically a herb), whatever you like to use in the kitchen, you can buy the supermarket growing ones more cheaply than the ones in the garden centre.

Tumbling cherry tomatoes over the edges.