Posts Tagged: potting soil
Contaminated Soil and Growing Media Are Primary Sources of Root Pathogens and Must Be Managed
The previous post described the importance of inspecting incoming plants and keeping a...
Color Bowl
Recently I was walking through one of the home improvement warehouse stores and I noticed that color bowl’s are back in season. A color bowl is a container of almost any size or shape filled to the brim with many different kinds of flowers. These container displays are perfect on a front porch, in a courtyard, or virtually anywhere you want to spruce up and add color instantly around your home. I thought to myself that I could probably create myself a few color bowl’s relatively inexpensively by piecing them together instead of purchasing the pre-fabricated version the store was selling. I decided to do just that. I already had 4 matching 5 gallon containers at home earmarked that would be perfect to fill with colorful plant life. All I needed was to get some good quality potting soil and choose some foliage and flowers that I enjoy. I meandered back to the bagged potting soil and found several choices that could offer a fertile home for the roots of my selections and supply them with needed nutrients in order to thrive all summer. I decided on a potting soil specific to container gardening that already contained about 2 months worth of organic fertilizer in the mix. Then I was off to the outdoor garden department for some six packs of flowers and some 4 inch “center piece” flowers. Out the door, I spent about $15 and I had all the ingredients for 4 full color bowls. The color bowls the store was selling were priced at $13 each so I figured that I will save about $35 in total with my project. I took my purchases of three 6 packs, four 4 inch flowers and the soil home, sunk my hands into some gloves and got to work. I filled the containers slightly more than half-full with the soil mix and I arranged an outer circle of 4 smaller flowers with a 4 inch flower in the middle as a risen center piece. I placed the flowers into the container the way I liked, leaving some space in between all of them to be able to fill in as they grow. Next, I gently filled in the container with more soil so that all the flowers were firmly planted. I watered each bowl lightly and placed the containers on my porch to get full sun. A key to success with this project is to make certain you get the right flowers for the location you intend to place your color bowl (sun versus shade). I find that I am watering my color bowl only twice a week and after 2 weeks they have really taken off.
My color bowls. (photo by Ed Walbolt)