Help
Account
Basket
Look after your pots to make them last
• Create a scenery with pots
• Growing plants in unusual containers
• Make your potted plants more beautiful
• Choose the material of pots
• Look after your pots to make them last
• The right pot for the right plant
• Upright-growing plants in pot
• Growing a tree in a pot
• Hiding a cumbersome stump
• Hiding the compost heap
• Optimize Trees
• How to redesign a flowerbed ?
• Create a flowering border like a painter
• Harmonise foliage between them
• Succeed with your borders
• An attractive garden in winter
• Create a Mediterranean corner
• Create an exotic area
• Create a Japanese corner
• Create a green roof
• Create a rockery
• An Acer, for all gardens
If the content of planters and window boxes requires some looking after, the container itself also needs some attentions! With the right gestures you will make your flower-pots last longer and will ensure that they are part of the decor.
Terra cotta pots require more looking after than other materials.
A right action: clean the pots before re-using them.
A good spring cleaning
Before re-using pots which have been used previously, it is a good practice to rinse them thoroughly. Not only you avoid the accumulation of unsightly stains but you also eliminate disease’s germs which could have lodge into them. Using bleached water is sufficient.
Keep the shine
Over time, pots got a natural tendency to see their colour fade a little. This is mainly caused by the accumulation of a fine layer of lime scale brought in by watering. Soak the pots in a bowl filled with water and vinegar. Be careful, this method cannot be used for metal pots as vinegar would oxidise them. Brighten up your wooden and resin pots with some bicarbonate of soda or oxalic acid.
Plastic pots dyed in bulk last longer and are less subject to ageing. Bad weather conditions can nevertheless makes them look a little bit ‘worn out‘, especially on afternoon-sun’s exposed terraces. Apply a coat of uncoloured varnish to brighten them up and protect them.
Are you for or against greenery?
Green algae can develop on the outside of the pots if they are made up of porous material, such as non-glazed terracotta or conglomerate stone. Old fashioned patina for some or visual nuisance for others, the layer of algae is not everybody’s cup of tea.
To eliminate it, brush energetically the pots with a brush and liquid soap. Unfortunately, there isn’t any ‘not harmful to plants grown in pots’ treatment available on the market. To prevent algae coming back, the only solution is to apply a waterproofing product on the outside of the pot but this does not always work.
On the contrary, if you wish to encourage the presence of this green layer, distemper the pot with yogurt diluted in a little bit of water
Stripping down of a pot covered with algae.
To age a pot, apply some yogurt!
A pot protected from the risk of frost in winter.
In the autumn, protect from cold
Most of the pots are frost-resistant. However, enamelled terracotta does not withstand frost (contrary to stoneware). Bare terracotta (not enamelled) can suffer from frost in crumbling away. In this case; you must protect the pots not from frost but from humidity. Wrap them up in a layer of plastic or put them away in a dry spot.
