If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Margee, what is it exactly that "they" say you are doing wrong ?

Hi Castro: Everything from how one should NEVER use bagged potting soil, not to use any type of product in the bottom of your pots to improve drainage, and pages on what is considered a decent fertilizer. I have attempted to be a somewhat educated container gardener, and have multiple books on container gardening. I have, in the past, always had a lot of containers on my huge deck. I was just shocked on how "wrong" I have been in my way of doing my containers. Oh well.

I am thinking your plants did not get the message of how "wrong" you are doing things. Just beautiful !!!!

Fertilizing Containers. According to some accounts on the Container Forum I do it all 'wrong' too, but plants in my containers flourish. Maybe they could do better. But at this late date in my gardening 'career' I don't have the energy to search for the recommended soiless ingredients , mix them, empty the pots, and start over. Perhaps the next generation of container gardeners will start off using the 'right' potting medium and fertilizers that tapla advocates. What he says sounds good. Plants in his containers flourish as well . It would be nice if the soiless mix suggested was sold in bags. Maybe someday it will be. Maybe it is. I haven't read much on that forum recently. Whateva' ... change comes slowly.

Margee, I think most of us do well to get by with the way we do things. It's lovely when we all learn something from others, but who is to say what is right for everyone? Your plants look happy the way they are growing, so I see nothing wrong with what you're doing. I rarely fertilize because I just never get around to it. I often buy cheapo bagged potting soil, which is HORRIBLE, but it's a nice base to start with. I'll add some of my own compost, bagged peat moss and some perlite and I'll have something which most of my plants are happy with. The only "rules" I will apply are for the different types of plants which want something a little different....like more sand, or more perlite, or a little granite. I think your containers look great!

They look so healthy and gorgeous! Wow!

I tried those Holy Grail of mixes everyone raves over and defends like it’s their mother — didn’t work for me at all, except to lighten my bank account. No thanks. I was probably doing something wrong, but that’s exactly it ... what I’ve always done works fine, and I just don’t feel like going through all that trouble and obsessing over plants like they’re newborn babies.

It clearly works for some and that’s great, but I’d say your plants are very happy however you’re doing it. :)

I like what you've done with your containers and they all look healthy and happy to my eyes. Like others have said, just don't let your plants in on the purported abuse :-)

I was checking amazon prices and I " think" I could get all of the ingredients for around $750.00. Then I would have to have my helper ( more$$$) to help mix it all. I don't have a green house or a good place to over winter my containers. So usually before the first freeze, I am emptying my containers for the compost or trash. So I throw away money every year. At least I learned not to pay $18.00 for a bag of potting soil last year. What a duh moment that was!!!!! My Ivy always survives. My go-to fertilizer is fish emulsion, and I use the Osmocote pellets when I pot up.

I went to the site, hoping to learn something new, and I did.

thanks to all who allowed me to rant a little...... margee

margee: I have nothing new to add, but must join the chorus: keep doing what you're doing, as your 'garden' is beautiful.

Completely OT, but where do you purchase your fun umbrellas, and how long do they last before you need to replace them? It could be our unusually cool (Houston area) spring is having me set unrealistic expectations, but I might spend a little bit more time (in the morning!) in my backyard this summer if I had a little bit of shade -- I'll set up a portable outdoor fan, too. I've seen the standard HD/Lowes patio umbrellas for ~ $100-$125, but fear I'll need to replace them every couple of years. Thanks for any advice.

Hi there, Javi..... we have a total of 6 umbrellas on the large deck and I love them. We had one umbrella that had a wooden pole, it lasted 8 years, until the squirrels decided it was dessert. The rest have been purchased at lowes, Home Depot, target, and one at big lots. One year, I ordered a couple off amazon that were horrible and didn't last one summer...and I paid more for them. One thing we do....when we are having windy days, we put them down. And I store them all during winter. I did make an 'invention' last year and will try to find a picture. I took plastic pots, cut a hole in the middle, and you have the regular umbrella holder...then the pot... which I plant up, and then the pole. I fill the pot about half full with rocks before I plant in them. This makes them much more sturdy.

hope this helps,.....when I am in my mini garden of Eden, I pretend I am far away in a rain forest or something!! I practically live on the deck. We also bought 2 heavy duty fans which help when our temps get so dangled hot. My poor husband now knows that 75% of our meals are partaken on the deck!!! Your original question: we get about 4-5 years from them. Thanks for asking!!

Margee, the escape is why we garden like we do! You must be way south of me, my caladiums are still dormant. I hope that they survived the winter storage.

Oh God Margee, you must have run into Al and all his worshipful minions preaching the wonders of Gritty mix.

Thanks for all the information, margee. Absolutely ingenius, your idea to use an actual potted plant to weigh down your umbrella; however, doesn't the constant moisture speed up the pole/metal rusting?

I may need to rethink all of this. Yesterday was actually (still) a decent day, though warming up into the low 80s. It was fine being out with the nice breeze; but, boy, did it ever feel oppressive when the wind died...the air just felt dead (all my slathered sunscreen and bug spray, I'm sure, didn't help). One of the local weather guys said Friday, "This'll probably be the last nice weekend until October, so enjoy!" :/

PK- the photo was from last year. So far,no problem with the poles rusting. Most of the umbrella stands have a plastic sleave in the middle so I think that helps. BTW, I am in Euless.

And, yes, the minions did their best to shame me.but I am beginning to think Like another poster..... why hasn't be bagged and sold this fabulous stuff if it reaLLY is all we are supposed to use??? Maybe he should present it to SHARK ṬANK ??!?

The gritty soils container mix works well in the frozen North but really does not do too well down here in the heat and dry. People in Inland and southern California have problems with it too.. Man, when Al comes on the cactus forum with his minions, people really get on his @ss hard. He just doesn't get the message that different things work in different places and there is more than oneway to skin a cat. They can't stand him and are vocal about it. He does not take the hint that Gods are not welcome, only gardeners.

Does Al go on the Cactus forum? I got some blooming cactus and succulents I’d like to show him and his minions

You will get better advice from the guys on the cactus form. You can go there and google soil mixes. Just google Al's gritty mix and you will get your earful. He makes an easy thing very complicated. He hangs on the Container gardening , or that is where he used to go. Your cactus and aloes look great as is.

About 5 years ago I planted 2 Sunshine Blue Blueberries (4 inch Pots) into two 20 gallon containers filled with MG potting mix. They are still growing and producing well. The soil has not collapsed.

I do make a better mix now (3:1:1) with pine bark, perlite, and peat moss. Sometimes I use expanded shale as well. But I think it is funny that people will spend time and money on screening out the big pieces of pine bark. Over time they will get smaller.

And people up north trying to tell us what works best in the south without ever living here. Yes, I have learned things from the site but it does get preachy, that you are somehow inferior if you do not do things their way.

I find it just as easy and much cheaper to just add grit (mineral or bark) to a potting soil. I do keep on hand things like expanded shale, pumice crushed granite, perlite, bark mulch from Lowes and granite sand to make up my xeric and cactus soil. I buy most of them by bulk if I can . Obviously , not the pumice. I do find 50LB bags of that for $25. I stay away from things like high $ iguana bark from a pet store.The big bag of perlite lasts for three years. I mix that in the potting soil to make seeding mix. I add the bark and pumice to the potting mix to make soil for epyphilums. I start with potting soil and warp it this way and that for different types of plants. I act like I am in the kitchen whipping something up. Nothing is tied down to a specific weighed out or measured quantity. To rigid for this girl. I like to think of things like what would get stuck in a tree for a Epi or what would a desert look like?Hell today is lazy day so it is straight out of the bag day because I don't feel like driving 30 miles for grit.

This bloomed today and all I did was add bark to my Cactus soil to make epi soil. Monastery Garden for those who are curious

Another beautiful garden of lovelies. Clearly you are doing something RIGHT, Margee.

If you repot every two years then the advice on prebagged soils from the container forum doesn't really matter.

To margeetx, wantonamara and anyone else who successfully grows potted plants, what brand-name potting mixes do you begin with, even if you then amend (as wantonamara does)? What Lowes or HD carry are so regional, I'm often not able to find some of the items folks use (except perlite, which I have leftover from potting orchids).

I recently picked up a bag of Kellogg's Patio Plus, and ingredients are listed as: aged recycled forest products, aged rice hulls, composted poultry manure, peat moss, perlite, bat guano -- I'm going off memory and what's listed online. Is this a good starting point? Overkill?

Wantonamara: Is granite sand the same as sharp sand or builder's sand? I'm trying to figure out what else it may be called so I can add grit to my purchased mix. I see a multi-purpose sand, a "graded, coarse sand". Wonder if that'll do, understanding that all things are relative (i.e., 'coarse').

"For landscaping, custom cement mixes and traction" -- I like the sound of 'traction', but 'cement mixes' kinda scares me. :)

I'm not planning on going large-scale with this (hahaha...famous last words); for now, lotsa dill, parsley, rue for my butterflies. It's gotten too hot lately to work the yard and find new spots to plant, so pots may be it for the summer. TIA.

Granite sand is a sharp sand made from washing decomposed granite. I buy it in bulk.

My container garden is content with Soil Mender Potting Mix 109. Unlike nationwide brands available at big box stores, it is formulated to hold up longer in our climate. Another bonus is the absence of synthetic fertilizer. This feature lets you add fertilizer specific to the plants you're growing, or no fertilizer at all if that's the species' preference. If you do a lot of container gardening and/or if you grow monsters in large tubs, replacing the potting soil every year or two would wreck the average gardener's budget. Replenishing the depleted organic matter with a top-dressing of quality compost keeps the plants and earthworms happy.