I'm still rescuing poor defenseless root-bound plants stuck in 4" pots and trying to find them homes, but my pot ghetto is much more civilized looking now. I've lost a few due to alternate flooding and baking, but all things considered, I'm lucky to have anything in my garden! I think my wall-mount system is going to make a big difference next year!

Me Too

I have completely blocked in the patio now. I love my patio pot ghetto. It has shade spots for the hydrangeas and just enough sun to root cuttings too. LOL.

My pot Ghetto has gotten crazy, I was watering constantly too. I have crammed everything under the trees. The plants are all happy and I don't have to water so much, actually it has been four days and these are still moist. How is that for a happy Pot Ghetto?


clint
Don't quit your day job!

That's one nice group of plants!

It Works

Thanks!

Looking good, Susan! I sure wish we could get some of that pine needle mulch, love it.

And here I am with so many pine needles constantly falling off trees wishing I didn't have to clean them up. Guess I'll start saving for mulch.

The lady across the street told us we could have all we want, so I sent my husband over with the wheel barrow and got four loads.

I tried pine needle mulch this year for the first time, don't like it that much. It's certainly easier to lug around, but takes me longer to spread. Doesn't prevent weeds or conserve moisture nearly as well as the shredded wood I usually use. If it were free I'd use it, but since I have to buy it, I like the shredded wood.

My favorite mulch is fall leaves. The only problem with them is that they blow away in these violent storms we get so often .

Karen

I prefer the wood chips, too. We used to live where the pine needles were free (we had LOTS of pine trees on the place). The one drawback to having a free supply of pine needles is that you generally get a free supply of pine beetles along with them. Mere words cannot convey just how much I loathe pine beetles! I do NOT miss the pine trees!

I only throw some around the Hosta. The slugs seem to not like it.

That's the only reason I wanted it, just to keep the slugs off the Hostas. They cannot slime through it. It has worked great this year because I did buy some that were not slug resistant and I just put the pine needles around them and so far so good.

Hmm, interesting about the hostas. Do you put them tight up against the plant then? I have lost an entire hosta in my new shade bed due to (I think) the slugs, and I have pine needles! Of course, I left a few inches bare around the base of the plant so... I also have a lot of roly polys (not sure what they're actually called)... have been wondering if they eat hostas?

They are Pill Bugs. They normally eat vegetation that is already rotting. I have also heard them called potato bugs.I put the pine needles right up to the plant. Watch for snails , the needles do not bother them.

At least I'm not the only one that calls them roly polys!

Pillbugs are also called Sow bugs, which I do not understand! I mean, Pillbug makes sense, and so does roly poly but I don't think they look like pigs!

We call the roly polys sow bugs here too, never thought of pigs when someone would mention them, but that is changing now. I'm forever picking pine needles out of my plants too. If the pine trees were on my property they wouldn't last long, but don't know how to explain to the owners of the mini mall behind our house how much I hate them even though I think they are pretty.

OK, I'll confess - I have several pot ghettos. Nearly all sempervivum.