Tuesday 9th October - Quinta da Figueirinha, Silves
Talk and Workshop on Container Gardening by Harriet Rycroft
Tamsin Varley opened the meeting for Clube dos Bons Jardins by welcoming Harriet Rycroft and reminded everyone that many people live in apartments and can only garden on terraces and balconies, containers are essential for such situations. Harriet is a well known, UK based gardener who specialises in Container Gardening. Harriet has worked in the garden at Whichford Pottery for nearly fourteen years, in sole charge for the last 10 or 11 planning, planting and maintaining large displays of planted pots all year round and providing text and photographs for two Whichford Pottery books.
Now looking after her own garden (including several hundred pots…), visiting and photographing gardens and gardeners and learning more about this wonderful, infinitely interesting world of horticulture. She teaches container gardening at LearningWithExperts.com and thoroughly enjoys helping people from many parts of the world to make the most of their container collection.
The busy morning started with an illustrated talk by Harriet “Potty Time – around the year in umpteen pots”. The gardening year starts in autumn, with removal of summer colour, trimming, replanting and resting plants. Propagation is a great way to have continuity for good plants and save the expense of buying new each season. If pots look a bit bare after this, try and use some ´props´ to add interest, they can be removed later when plants grow back. Prepare pots for the winter months by dividing and splitting plants into smaller pots and place them under protection if you have bad weather coming.
Winter in the Mediterranean can be the main growing season so Harriet advised hand watering by hosepipe as this helps ´observing´ containers and any problems can be seen and dealt with early. Spring is peak time for bulbs, especially tulips, small narcissi and mid season snowdrops. Summer is show time for lilies, begonias, fuchsias. In late summer dahlias and salvias take over. Foliage plants such as cordyline, grasses and some herbs can provide colour, movement and contrast.
Use stone mulches or place smaller pots onto larger pots to avoid moisture loss – Harriet does not use saucers under most of her pots so that drainage is not impeded.
When starting a new pot, she advises using a slow release fertiliser which can be added to the compost and will last a whole season. Bulbs are a great addition to any container and can be planted deep, especially in warm dry conditions. Crocks can be placed over the drainage holes in the base but not too many, enough to keep the hole clear is enough. Harriet recommended using a nitrogen rich compost and a potassium rich feed such as tomato food to promote flowers.
The busy morning started with an illustrated talk by Harriet “Potty Time – around the year in umpteen pots”. The gardening year starts in autumn, with removal of summer colour, trimming, replanting and resting plants. Propagation is a great way to have continuity for good plants and save the expense of buying new each season. If pots look a bit bare after this, try and use some ´props´ to add interest, they can be removed later when plants grow back. Prepare pots for the winter months by dividing and splitting plants into smaller pots and place them under protection if you have bad weather coming.
Winter in the Mediterranean can be the main growing season so Harriet advised hand watering by hosepipe as this helps ´observing´ containers and any problems can be seen and dealt with early. Spring is peak time for bulbs, especially tulips, small narcissi and mid season snowdrops. Summer is show time for lilies, begonias, fuchsias. In late summer dahlias and salvias take over. Foliage plants such as cordyline, grasses and some herbs can provide colour, movement and contrast.
Use stone mulches or place smaller pots onto larger pots to avoid moisture loss – Harriet does not use saucers under most of her pots so that drainage is not impeded.
When starting a new pot, she advises using a slow release fertiliser which can be added to the compost and will last a whole season. Bulbs are a great addition to any container and can be planted deep, especially in warm dry conditions. Crocks can be placed over the drainage holes in the base but not too many, enough to keep the hole clear is enough. Harriet recommended using a nitrogen rich compost and a potassium rich feed such as tomato food to promote flowers.
Always water after planting except in the case of cacti and succulents, they need a couple of days to acclimatise and there is also the risk of rotting. It is possible to grow vegetables and salad leaves in containers, feed and water can be better controlled than in the ground.
Harriet recommended everyone to think about ´Right pot, Right plant and Right place´ when considering a container garden. Colour contrasts work well, for instance, deep red with silver foliage and fresh greens with white flowers. Dead head regularly and check for dryness by digging into the compost with a finger, dry soil on the top might not mean dry soil further down. A good ratio of plant to pot is about 1 to 1 ½ times foliage to pot. Do not overpot but move on gradually. Pots placed together closely can help to protect from bright sun and provide a humid atmosphere. Try to build natural communities so that the pots might disappear altogether and you get an impression of a garden flower bed. Everyone then moved outside for the workshop, during the workshop Harriet planted up four pots which were later raffled.
· Always plant the pot in situ to save heavy lifting
· If possible, bang down the pots to remove air pockets
· Keep the compost fluffed, not compacted, and add pearlite or grit for drainage
· Use larger plants within the pot to shade smaller plants
· Put in a layer of bulbs
· Wear sturdy shoes, not open sandals
· Always lift with a straight back
· Use more drainage for cacti and succulents
· Add broken pot shards to give crevice garden effect
· Use broken pots for small plants on surface of larger pots
· Put compost around all rootballs, even those on the edge of pots
Harriet was an enthusiastic and inspiring speaker, obviously very experienced but aware of how different conditions are here on the Algarve to those in her own UK garden. The lucky new owners of the planted containers were very happy with the additions to their own gardens.
Harriet recommended everyone to think about ´Right pot, Right plant and Right place´ when considering a container garden. Colour contrasts work well, for instance, deep red with silver foliage and fresh greens with white flowers. Dead head regularly and check for dryness by digging into the compost with a finger, dry soil on the top might not mean dry soil further down. A good ratio of plant to pot is about 1 to 1 ½ times foliage to pot. Do not overpot but move on gradually. Pots placed together closely can help to protect from bright sun and provide a humid atmosphere. Try to build natural communities so that the pots might disappear altogether and you get an impression of a garden flower bed. Everyone then moved outside for the workshop, during the workshop Harriet planted up four pots which were later raffled.
When planting, always put pre-watered rootballs at the same level in a mixed pot, and keep clear 2 – 5cm below the rim to allow for future watering. Some safety hints were included together with more general advice,
· Always plant the pot in situ to save heavy lifting
· If possible, bang down the pots to remove air pockets
· Keep the compost fluffed, not compacted, and add pearlite or grit for drainage
· Use larger plants within the pot to shade smaller plants
· Put in a layer of bulbs
· Wear sturdy shoes, not open sandals
· Always lift with a straight back
· Use more drainage for cacti and succulents
· Add broken pot shards to give crevice garden effect
· Use broken pots for small plants on surface of larger pots
· Put compost around all rootballs, even those on the edge of pots
Harriet was an enthusiastic and inspiring speaker, obviously very experienced but aware of how different conditions are here on the Algarve to those in her own UK garden. The lucky new owners of the planted containers were very happy with the additions to their own gardens.
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