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Hi!..i am planning to fill my garden beds with plenty of annual flowers , and i wonder if it would be better to plant them in soil with their pots , as it will be easier to clear my beds when finished their life circle..or no?...what do you think?
Remove the plants from the pot's ALWAYS unless they are perennials (they regrow every year) some of these can be taken indoors in their pots where people live in very cold areas.
The reason to remove the pots from your bedding out plants is,
The plants can dry out too quickly,
The plants will not be able to spread their roots enough to take up enough food, water, ect to allow good growth.
The plants will look much better set in the soil where they will respond to the growing conditions better than sitting in a very small pot for maybe 6 months,
It would be like putting a sponge cake in the oven with a lid on the tin and wondering why the cake didn't raise up or spread out in the tin.
All Annual plants are very shallow rooted and at the end of the season, all you need do is take a bucket, a hand fork and tug the plants put from the soil easy as that, fork over the soil and that's it, weed as you go also.
I would suggest you dont plant your annuals outside till night frost is past as these plants are very tender and the sudden cold at night can either kill them off or set them back, however you will see other annuals being set out in your local neighbourhood and that may be a clue to the best planting time.
Remember to always go over your plants as they grow and flower, remove ALL the dead / dying flower heads to make the plant form new flower buds, if you don't, they will flower and die, thats what plants are intended to do, make flowers, then seed-heads then die, you, by removing the flowers when dying tricks the plants into thinking it has not made seeds therefore it makes more flowers.
Good luck. enjoy your new gardening summer and most of all have fun as you watch the wonderful garden you have made.
WeeNel.
WeeNel said it best, but that is not to say annuals cannot be in pots. Do not leave them in the pots from the grower. They can be transplanted into larger containers that will permit their roots to spread. It might also be that the plants are not annuals and can stay inground through the cold weather once they have developed strorng root systems.
If you are planting them in a really bad soil area, and there is no way to make the soil better, then I could see planting in containers.
Choose the largest possible containers that will fit the situation, and use a quality soil to fill these pots.
Most summer annuals that are no more than a foot high or wide might be just fine in a 6" pot. If the plants grow larger, you should use larger containers.
Example: If your property has very rocky soil, or is all rocks, large boulders... Your plants might do better if you use the containers and dig them in the best you can.
If you have anything like reasonable soil I would work with that soil to make it better every year, and plant directly in it.
As pointed out above, the roots will grow much larger and support a much healthier plant if they can spread out in good soil. If all you can give them is a container (above ground or buried) make it the largest container you can.
Probably the most important reason: The water will not move through the container. When you water you have to make absolutely certain that EVERY container gets its own water. It is all too easy to miss watering some, and they die very quickly when they go dry.
Some places sell plants in a fiber pot that is designed to be planted in the soil, simply break down the top of the container so it does not stick up into the air. I do not have good luck with this sort of pot. It seems to take the roots too long to force their way out, and the plants do not establish very well. I remove the plants from these containers, too.
Diana_K wrote:If you are planting them in a really bad soil area, and there is no way to make the soil better, then I could see planting in containers.
Couldn't agree more. The first thing you must consider is the type of soil that you have in your area.
We hve good quality soil that we compost with organic matter, yet I never put anything into a container without using fresh, packaged soil, amended with perlite or vermiculite. Any containers without drainage are promptly drilled out to provide proper conditions.
The questioner asked that as she was planning to Fill her garden BEDS!!! with Annual flowers, she never mentioned she was planting into other containers, or larger pots etc, therefore I assumed she new the difference between annuals and other plants, Greece, especially mainland Athens gets parched dry in Spring / Summer therefore I cant really see many / any, annuals being able to survive this type of hot parched environment if left in the small pots and placed outside in the garden soil, I'm not even sure IF they have water shortages in this area.
Several years ago when my DH worked in Athens, he was amazed to find people passing out in the street with heat stroke/ dehydration and also many other people splashing in the beautiful fountains they have in public places, this was just to cool the body temp down.
Wish I had some of that for just a little spell ha, ha, ha.
I think we can safely say that we covered all / most situations for bedding out and all info is correct for the different situations and plants.
Have a great gardening year.
WeeNel.
Think your correct again purpleinopp, looks like vTr has gone gardening and like many of us, got lost in her own little world of creating beauty ha, ha, ha.
Best regards WeeNel.
