EVER BEMOAN HOW MUCH POTTING SOIL it takes to fill a really big pot, and how much it all adds up to at the nursery checkout counter? If I’m going to grow something big, or something in there longterm, I’m happy to fill a container up with fresh, high-quality potting soil. But some plants don’t stay in the pot long enough or have big enough root systems to warrant the wasted medium, and money. I employ a bit of trickery in the form of a false bottom for the pot, and here’s how:
Simply bundle some used six-packs or nursery pots, or even packing “peanuts,” inside a discarded plastic bag. Secure it closed with a twist-tie, and insert the new plastic “pillow” in the bottom of the pot, preferably on top of a few upside-down plastic 6-packs or small nursery pots, so the plastic bag doesn’t seal the drainage hole shut. Then top up with your medium. You can also just stack a layer or two of upside-down empty small pots or cellpacks on the bottom of the pot.
This is also a great way to “plunge” a young shrub or tree (in its plastic nursery pot, using it for “annual color” before it gets a permanent garden spot in fall) or a houseplant you may wish to use outdoors in a pot bigger than it needs. Just make the pillow platform, balance the potted plant on it, and backfill around with potting soil or even mulch (my preference, for that use). You can even put several houseplants, pots and all, together in a big outdoor container this way for temporary summer duty.
If I still worked where I used to, I’d call this a “good thing.” :)
Love your gardening tip – keep them coming! Is that the compostible plastic that you use for a bag?
Laura (London)
I’ve done this with more solid but not heavy trash items, but putting it into a bag makes more sense — you save even more dirt — makes the pot lighter, too.
I have a huge half barrel sized pot, and I filled the bottom with upside down solo cups leftover from a party. It’s still heavy but it’s not *as* heavy!
I put plastic nursery pots upside down in my big pots. I’ve learned which plants don’t need the depth and which ones do so I’ve gotten more selective with this after having some totally crushed nursery pots come out at the end of the growing seaons.
Welcome Laura (from London). It’s tricky here who among muicipalities will and won’t recycle plastic bags. So I buy very few bagged items (get most mulch etc. in bulk delivery). But there is one small spot where I get a few bags of a shredded bark…and then I re-use the empties until they’re no good. Like this! Nice to see you; come again soon.
Welcome, Adreinne. Good point..I forgot to say it reduces the weight of a large container substantially. (Mine are so big, and terra cotta, that I can’t even more them empty without a hand truck.) Please don’t be a stranger — bring on the tips!
I did this with packing peanuts once but skipped the plastic bag part. Oh what a mess! the roots wrapped all around those things and cleaning out that pot in fall was a disaster.
One thing I do in my very large pot is take another pot, usually a large, plastic nursery pot, turn it upside down and stick it in the bottom of the large container as a space filler. It certainly does the job it taking up space so I don’t waste soil, but is there anything wrong with this method?
It’s my preferred method. Easy, neat, you don’t need a bag & the interior pots stack in less space when not in use.
Love this tip and your blog! Thanks.
This is so smack-my-head obvious I can’t believe I never thought of it. Thanks for the tip!
Hi – The one think I would be careful of is to make sure your plastic bag doesn’t clog your drainage holes. I would make sure that the water can still get out before you plant.
I usually fill my pots mostly with soil because i’m lazy, and the more soil you use, the better water retention you have and the less you have to water. That said, I’m also cheap, so in huge pots I often put old gallon milk jugs.
I’ve also used the styrofoam blocks cut to size that somethings are packed in. Punch a couple of holes in for drainage and I can spend the money I saved on more plants!!
That’s brilliant. I’ve seen bricks used, but it never occurred to me that anything will work really.
Welcome, Beth, and thank you for the kind words. I forget to capture all these little things in my haste here, but the other day I managed to stop myself and go inside for the camera. Will try to remember to do that more often! See you soon.
How sensible to encase the “trash” in a plastic bag. As I dumped a big pot this past weekend, I discovered I’d filled the bottom third with plastic peanuts…but loose. It took a while to separate them from the soil and gather them all up again! And the roots of the flax had infiltrated the peanuts: could that have contributed to its demise if the roots were too exposed to air?
This is such a great idea and I love that it saves money on the potting soil too. I’m definitely going to give this a try.
I love your blog and all the tips. I went out and bought a half-moon edger after reading about it here on your blog and it is now my favorite gardening tool. I showed it to my mother-in-law this weekend and now she wants to get one too. :-)
Thanks again for all the info and tips!!
I love this idea! I’ve used packing peanuts before (as I hate the thought of them spending eternity in a landfill), but I’ve never used the pots/bags. Great idea. I find it keeps the pots lighter so I can move them around better also. I imagine the weather in your neck of the woods is just about perfect this month. I really enjoy looking at all your slideshows. Your home and garden are lovely. The word “haven” always comes to mind when I look at it. Enjoy a beautiful day!
Great ideas! I use plastic water bottles. I stand them upside down in the bottom of a pot and pack them in quite tightly. I then top them with a layer of old newspapers to keep the soil from falling in beween the bottles. Then, top with my favorite potting mix. This method takes up a good 6-8″ of larger pots that do not need to be filled!
I like to put packing peanuts in a mesh onion bag and put the bag in the bottom of my big pots. At the end of the season when I’m emptying the pots, I pull out the bags and store them in the shed for using again the next year. I also use damaged plastic six-packs and other small plastic pots in the bottom of my big containers.
Just an additional note — I use big empty plastic pots to take up space in my large garden pots, but packing peanuts can be recycled almost indefinitely in another way– in my area, there are a number of mailing places where one can take used cardboard boxes, packing peanuts, popcorn plastic (I am too old to recall what it is called!) and they are delighted to have this stuff.
I am confused:
My Botany teacher at Longwood Gardens demonstrated that putting something foreign – say rocks – below the soil in a pot would inhibit drainage despite the common belief that it will do the opposite. It seems to me that the same should hold true with peanuts, empty pots etc. I would like to be wrong. Can you explain?
p.s. I gave “A Way to Garden” a glowing review in the Philadelphia Inquirer when it came out. Lost the clip unfortunately. Am really looking forward to your new book.
We use wads of old newspaper to accomplish this also.
And yes, it’s a “good thing” even if you don’t work where you used to. Good things are found everywhere. Yes?
Aha! I picked up that peanut tip somewhere along the line and it’s saved me soil and backache, if not the dirt/plastic separation. But putting the plastic “nuts” in mesh fruit bags is pure genius! I just KNEW a good use would show up for all those meshies I couldn’t bear to throw out. Can’t wait to tell my ever-patient, non-packrat husband!
Welcome, Betsey. Thank you for the kind words, and the nice Inquirer review (not sure I saw it). Sweet of you.
As for drainage, yes, it’s critical of course. When I water, I want to see the water coming out the bottom of the pot or else.
My “pillow” (or upside-down nursery pots, etc.) don’t seem to interfere (or at least in the years I have done this I haven’t seen plants languish. I would day that since I am using this for a few months of enjoyment (“plunging” things for a season before they go in the ground, or showing off houseplants in their pots in an arrangement, or for violas and the like) that I’m not asking the plants to live like this forever, so maybe that” why I get away with it?
My neighbors and partners in horticultural crime workshop-wise, the owners of nearby Loomis Creek Nursery, either graduated from or worked at Longwood, and both of them do this naughty deed, too, with regularity. :) Again, it’s a staging device for short-term use; not sure I’d do it with one of my Japanese maples that live in giant pots here year after year and winter in the garage, for instance.
But…I have no proof to guarantee anything, as gardening seems to me to be part art, part science, and part total improvisation. See you soon!
My mother taught me to do this. She’d have liked you.
What a fantastic idea!
I had used up all of our packing peanuts for three planters on our deck, and was looking for another solution for future projects that do not involve actually *buying* those peanuts…
PS, my three hens are thrilled with the results of the “rural/farming blog” ;-)
My mother always used broken pieces of old pots in the bottom of her potted plants.
I just blogged about this! I took some cheap plastic saucers, drilled some holes in them, and used that as a false bottom. Seems to have worked great!
http://jennahsgarden.wordpress.com/2010/05/08/do-it-yourself-ups-a-daisy/
I actually hang on to the formed styrofoam that comes in electronics packaging (my husband’s obsession) to use for my window boxes and container plantings. You can even cover it with mulch and stick evergreen branches into it in for winter windowboxes. Love your website, Margaret! I garden (or YARDen, as I prefer to call it) a half-zone or so north of you in Cherry Valley, NY, where our lilacs are just beginning to come out, and it snowed a little while ago…..but my inlaws live in your zone, and I wish I did too!
Such a good idea! I’ve read to put a plastic pot upside down in the big one and fill with soil, and today as I emptied quite a few plastic 4 inchers, I wished they were bigger. So put them all together silly! Great idear!
I, too, used to use the popcorn but since I discard my plants into the woods at the back of my property, the popcorn idea was not the best for me. Now, I collect pinecones in early spring and use those instead. Now, I can just dump the whole thing in the woods to go back to the earth!
To save space in my clay pots I put an upside down plastic pot over the hole and then fill the container with soil. Your method would fill more wasted space. Last summer I also tried putting a plastic supermarket bag with a hole punched in the bottom in a pot that dries out quickly. It was a great help in containing moisture in a hot spot. .
Some nurseries also use empty soda cans, as I discovered when I was transplanting. I found myself wondering whether the aluminum could affect the soil (as it affects hydrangeas).
Welcome, Nancy. Not sure the chemistry of that! That’s pretty odd that you found cans inside a nursery pot. I have to say I would have been offended that for the price they couldn’t spare the soil. :) See you soon!
Does anyone have a favorite brand of potting soil?
I always use a bark-based mix (not one that’s mostly peat moss). In the Northeast, the brand I love (and you have to ask for it, but many nurseries use it themselves for potting) is Fafard 52. Again, ask…and be insistent that you wants a coarser, bark-based mix (especially for bigger pots) not a “pro mix” that’s mostly lightweight ingredients.
I definitely do that too. I turn one of the plant pots upside down in my containers. Works every time. Great info Margaret at always. Hope your spring is beautiful.~~Dee
What a great idea! I plant my tomatoes and peppers in five gallon buckets and I spend a fortune on soil and they really don’t need all that. I am using your idea this year.
@Patsy: I think with big plants like tomatoes, the root systems are big enough that you won’t want to skimp on soil. Ditto even the peppers in the 5-gallon buckets. When you pot up “annuals” like pansies, impatiens, or many herbs etc. in pots, they probably don’t make enough root system to warrant a giant pot filled all the way with soil. So think about the root system of the plant (again, with tomatoes they’re like vines so it wants to get big) when planning what to put a “fake” bottom in or not. Sorry to confuse. :)
I often us Styrofoam, helps keep the pots light – and where I have in the past it has been easy for me to come by (it is also a great way to recycle as styrofoam isn’t too biodegradable).
Hi, Jessica, and yes, “peanuts” are good (or other styrofoam) but I like to enclose it in discarded plastic bags so the bits don’t get mixed into the soil and impossible to sort out at some future date. But a good reminder: styrofoam is a great choice. See you soon!
Just came in from doing the unending garden chores , went to the computer and checked in on your site as I usually do. Loved your ideas on recycling to help in filling large pots. I have a very large chimney tile and I filled it halfway to the top with crushed soda cans and then added some broken up clay pots then soil. It will be planted with mint and hopefully contained. Should look pretty in the corner of my herb garden. Just finished with this before i came inside so felt I would add this idea to all the others. Now to take a hot bath and hope I can still move in the morning!
Catching up on my reading and found this good tip. Brings up a question. If I can do this why are these large pots recommended in the first place. Why can’t I just use a smaller pot??
To Tricia… my favorite, has been for years, is Black Gold!
Hi, Patricia, and you can use a smaller pot, yes. Sometimes for aesthetic reasons, though, I like an oversized pot in a grouping, or to contrast against a certain form of plant for “drama” so that’s when this really becomes a useful tactic. For instance, I love growing succulents in big (3-foot-wide) low bowls, but they don’t have deep roots at all.
I have a container gardening business and when I fill really large pots I mash empty, half-gallon milk jugs, and add to the bottom of the pot. I don’t want any water sitting in the bottles so after I mash them, I put the cap back on. I also find Fafard to be my favorite growing mix. If the container isn’t huge, I go ahead and fill it with soil; it retains water longer, holds nutrients and allows roots plenty of room.
Hi, Nancy. Not container-growing time here yet…but you are making me eager for April just at the thought of it! :)
I have very large pots and want to grow perrenials in them without filling with topsoil what do you suggest so I don’t have to tear down every year and replace ?
Hi, Sonny. Not sure what you mean about not using soil? Potting soil (not topsoil) would be required…
oh wow. I wish I’d thought of this before I filled two giant pots yesterday with more soil than I thought possible! Thanks so much for the amazing information you share – I’ve learned so much here!
It’s probably over twenty years that my son bought a new house and had three enormous wooden planters made for the pool deck. The builder made them about four feet deeps. It would have taken a truck load of soil. My son had a business which used those packing peanuts at that time. I used huge bags of them to fill up most of the space. It was the best thing to do.
I use tons of compost from the top of my compost bin and throw in egg carton type of already recycled card board because it holds the moisture so well.