Yes, indeed. It's a very good idea to spray them with a clear sealer after you have added your color, inside down to the soil line and outside all over. (Be sure they are perfectly clean and dry before you apply any paint.) They don't last forever, but they last several years. Then, you can clean them up, give them a good wire brushing, and paint them again.

To make your paint job last longer, use an enamel spray paint and follow this process: Spray your pot with the enamel paint and let it dry and cure for about 48 to 96 hours. After paint has dried thoroughly, place the pot in a cold oven. Turn it on and set the heat to 350, letting the pot heat up slowly as the oven warms up. After 30 minutes, turn the heat off and leave the oven closed until the heat has completely dissipated, about two hours. This process will bond the enamel to the terra cotta and it should last many years.

To add your own personal touch to your enameled pots, you can purchase acrylic enamel paints at the craft store and using a pattern or just your imagination add embellishments to your painted pot. Make sure the acrylic paints you buy say "Enamel" on the bottle or your painted pattern will not last. While painting, you can clean up mistakes with a damp paper towel and since your original sprayed on color is fully cured it won't smudge.

I love the idea of painted pots in the potager. I hope these pointers will be helpful. I use enamel paints on metal and glass with pretty good results. I might try some of those painted pots for myself this year. Thanks for the suggestion!

Cheryl

I like to mix in pots and yard art into the vege garden, but I find that they often get knocked over from the hose being dragged around.
I keep my herbs in pots in an area near the vege garden, but not in the hose area, and usually have pots along the fence line where they won't get knocked over. Basically the pots are on the north and south edges of the garden and the garden is in the middle. Wish I could do pictures. I hope you kinda get what I'm saying. Nancy