DIY Upcycled Broken Pot Ideas

What do you do with a Broken Pot?

I don’t know how these accidents happen, but I’m left to pick up the pieces (literally). I’m ‘shattered’ by the number of broken pots around this place! I hope my dilemma and discoveries will help inspire what you too can do with broken pots.

DIY Upcycled Broken Pot Ideas. Image top right: http://flic.kr/p/H5SNr | The Micro Gardener

To put you in the picture, there have been multiple casualties here lately. I’m not talking about my bruised hubby falling off the ladder – his ego not his body! … No, these accidents have happened to my precious pot collections.

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15 Benefits of a Herb Spiral in Your Garden

Herb Spiral Design

Do you have limited sun, space or time to garden? Want a highly productive, energy efficient way to grow food?  Then consider a herb spiral design in your garden. Creating a Herb Spiral close to your kitchen might be your perfect solution.

 The Herb Spiral design is easily accessible from all sides: to plant, water, fertilise and harvest. This large long herb spiral has a dry microclimate at the top and a moist zone at the bottom. | The Micro Gardener

The Herb Spiral design is easily accessible from all sides: to plant, water, fertilise and harvest. This large long herb spiral has a dry microclimate at the top and a moist zone at the bottom.

What is a Herb Spiral?

The Herb Spiral is a highly productive and energy efficient, vertical garden design. You can stack plants horizontally AND vertically to maximise space. It’s a practical and attractive solution for urban gardeners. A herb spiral design is typically 1.5 – 2m (5 – 6.5ft) wide in diameter at the base and rises to 1.0 – 1.3m (3.2 – 4.2ft). The centre of the spiral is at the highest point. The spiral ramp provides a planting area large enough to fit in all your common culinary herbs.
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Top Tips for Wet Weather Gardening

Don’t you love it when it rains?

… and hate it when it rains TOO MUCH!

Top Tips for Wet Weather Gardening

All gardens need adequate moisture but periods of heavy rainfall, storms and runoff can bring you a truckload of challenges. These include:

  • waterlogged plants;
  • leaching of soil nutrients;
  • erosion; and
  • pest and disease problems.

11 Wet Weather Gardening Tips

Want to minimise these common issues? Dig into these wet weather gardening tips to learn how.

I’m into ‘designing out’ problems whenever I can – both in my own garden and for my clients.

Good observation, a bit of thought and planning can help reduce the impact of water-based problems.  These are some of the strategies I use to help avoid these issues. (more…)

How to Restore Waterlogged Pot Plants

Are your plants or soil waterlogged? There are many ways this can happen, but you CAN avoid losing your precious plants!

How to restore waterlogged pot plants + Solutions to save your plants from drowning, disease and contamination

Solutions to save your plants from drowning, disease and contamination

 

What is waterlogging and why does it occur?

Waterlogging occurs when the soil and root zone around plants becomes saturated. Basically, the water can’t drain away fast enough. This happens when more rain falls than the soil can absorb or evaporate into the air.

This can happen with an intense period of rainfall such as summer storms. You may live in a heavy rainfall area and have a seasonal problem. If you live on a slope with neighbouring properties above you, you literally may have water flowing through your garden.

Gardens and plants don’t only suffer from waterlogging as a result of extreme weather events. Overwatering especially in pots, poor drainage and heavy clay soils can also contribute to this problem.

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Three Key Factors to Consider When Choosing Plant Pots

Faced with a sea of choices, if you select the wrong pot, you can waste money, time and even damage your plants. There are three main features to consider when choosing containers.

1. Drainage 2. Porosity 3. Weight. These and other important factors, can help you avoid making costly mistakes like waterlogged or dry soil that kills your plants or broken pots in windy spots.

3 Key Factors to Consider when Choosing Plant Pots to Buy

Do your homework first before buying pots or repurposing items for your plants

It may save you a lot of heartache later, by taking into consideration how porous and heavy a pot is, as well as its drainage characteristics.

Three Key Factors to Consider When Choosing Plant Pots

1. Drainage

Whichever container you select, it must have adequate drainage holes.  Healthy plants not only need room to grow, but also adequate oxygen for the roots.  Excess water must be able to escape or plants will drown. If your potting mix smells sour, this could be the problem!

2. Porosity

Porous containers such as those made from unglazed terracotta or clay, timber, paper pulp and other natural materials allow moisture and air to move through them.

What are the benefits of materials that ‘breathe’?

  • They allow air to circulate around plant roots.
  • As the moisture evaporates out the side of the pot, it cools the soil and helps draw excess water, preventing root rot.

What are the disadvantages?

  • These containers dry out more quickly (especially in full sun) and so does the potting mix.
  • This can lead to plant stress or death if not watered regularly.
  • These pots need watering more frequently than non-porous materials like ceramic and plastic.

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