Planters and baskets solve problems

There are often situations in the garden that require creative solutions.   For instance: There is only a narrow distance between the tree on the corner of my lot and the rail of my deck.  Because I  value every inch of garden space, I have fought for the survival of the garden around that tree.  There were a couple of problems that I kept running into:

1.  The ground was thick with thirsty willow tree roots.
2.  The neighbor children thought the garden between the house and the tree was a shortcut home.  It must have cut off at least 7 steps, and it was much more fun going that way.

I love the kids, but I also love my garden.  The solution was to partially block the passage with pots of flowers.  It would make the shortcut difficult to use, and the flowers would not have to compete with tree roots.

I did up some hanging baskets of pansies in early spring to have a pretty barrier between us and the world around us, but by mid summer the pansies were drooping and in need of a lift.  A store near by always gives away the last of their annuals and I always try to be on hand just at the right time.




The inpatients were just what I wanted to give the baskets some color.

 We recently redid the wall of our carport and decided not to bother with windows.  The wall looked terribly blank and boring from the street.  It's not boring any more.  In fact, it gets a lot of compliments.



The garden bed surrounding the birdbath has become overcrowded with campanula and creeping jenny but I like it that way.  The only problem is, I really want more color. So I took a few more of my free annuals and created a couple of colorful baskets.  The thick vegetation  hides the baskets, but the flowers are still able to peek through without getting choked.



Occasionally, I like to start shrubs and roses from slips.  If I try to start them in the ground they usually die on me, but when I put them this big planter box with its rich composty soil, they seem to fair much better, even when surrounded by more of my free annuals.


Pots and planters need to be watered more often, but sometimes I really do believe they are worth the extra effort.