I never use any top soil in my pots. I also put a layer of packing peanuts on the bottom. It gives the water a place to collect before it drains out.

Seil, I put a layer of peanuts in too. It didn't help. They just rose to the top in the watery mud. What do you use? Doesn't all potting mix have top soil in it?

Lift the pot up off of the hardscape. You don't have to buy pot feet or anything special. If it is sitting on a concrete patio, just lifting it half an inch will improve the drainage. Use anything to create a space for the water to drain out of the pot easier. If it is sitting on soil, the same concept applies.

You may have to unplug your drainage holes to make this work, but I don't even bother with the peanuts because lifting the pot is sufficient to allow the water to drain more freely.

Smiles,
Lyn

I do not use Peat in my potted roses as it tends to hold water and not drain well. I use a mix touted on the container gardening forum and my roses are all doing exceedingly well.

Well I took all of the soil out and filled it with Walmart's brand of potting soil which I have had success with before. I put some bricks under it and it drained, yeah. It messes up my plans. I'd hoped that since I can't plant anything in the ground there that I could bury the barrel some to help it blend in with the landscape, but plans have a tendency to change.
Jerri, you are so right about the thorns. My very wonderful hubby helped me transplant Scepter'd Isle into this barrel. She is a thorny bugger. But I've had this rose for quite a while and know it won't get huge, but big enough to peg. Thanks everyone.

You can still bury the pot. Dig the hole deeper, put some gravel at the bottom and lift the pot up above the gravel with your bricks. You'll still have good drainage and you can hide the fake looking barrel. You just need space between the pot and the surface it is sitting on to have more effective drainage.

Smiles,
Lyn

I just disguised the pot a bit. The ties for the pegging look a bit odd but other than that it turned out pretty good. What do you think?

{{gwi:310299}}

Yep, potting soil! If you read the contents of most potting soils they contain little or no real dirt! I think it came out lovely and those ties will disappear as the rose grows and fills out.

Teka, that's a beautiful bed, and your pegging method is very instructional. I love it! Thanks so much for posting the photo.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

Thanks Sherry. I just recently took the longest canes off. But they grow back quickly.

Good idea to discard the muck, but let me explain a couple of things that have come up.

"Topsoil" properly means the upper level of natural mineral soil that normally contains some organic matter and may have developed a crumb texture.

Bagged material labeled "topsoil" at the garden center is not topsoil at all. It can be any kind of waste organic material or a mixture--municipal compost, feedlot manure, composted paper, spent mushroom compost. When you wet it, it turns to muck. In most cases it is a suitable soil amendment. I wouldn't use it as a base for potting soil unless the label says clearly what it contains.

Drainage of pots depends almost entirely on the soil mixture. There is always a non-draining layer at the bottom that you can't get rid of. It is caused by the physical properties of the soil and is made deeper when organic soil mixtures break down into finer muck. "Drainage layers" only make things worse by moving the non-draining layer higher in the pot. You can find a technical explanation of this at the Container Forum, or I can explain further if anybody wants it.

Plant roots and evaporation will draw the excess water out of the non draining layer, but not if you water every day.

Pine bark is a good additive to potting soil, up to 50%, the cheap grade that contains fines. Screen out the bigger pieces by shaking it through hardware cloth.

Thanks Michael, that's good info.