Fixing My Sunken Soil Levels – An Excuse To Buy Plants?
As you read in a previous post, I didn’t finish all my Garden Chores, so I needed to get out there and refresh sunken soil levels in my hypertufa pot. Over the years, most container’s soil level will sink down and this is what has happened to my hypertufa pot.
As I said before, I guess the plants and worms have “eaten” a lot of the soil. Probably a better way of looking at it is “using” the soil. It gets depleted and digested by the worms in it. I really do have a lot of earthworms in my pots and the soil around them. Gradually over the years, the roots grow and fill the pot and the worms crawl in and out, and my container needs to be refreshed.
Settling occurs as the pot is repeatedly watered and the soil does get compressed, so it is necessary to add some soil or replace it if one is doing a major renewal of a container. That’s what I am doing with this hypertufa pot.
The way I look at it, this calls for a Plant Haul, right? I need new plants to give the container a new look as I refresh its soil!
So off to Lowe’s we go because that is where I can always find my Erodium. I love this plant and like to plant some each year. I wrote about it in this post: Choosing Plants for Hypertufa.
Erodium is a spreading plant, snaking through the other plants gently. It is not a garden thug. And it blooms all season long in Ohio. Even though the tags say it is hardy for this area, I have never found that to be true. So I need to buy more each year. Worth every penny! (They are not expensive. $3.98) This little plant gives me so much pleasure each year and it can be taken inside and grown through the winter too.
I am mixing fresh potting soil using a succulent/cactus mix so that I know the soil will drain freely. I want to plant up this hypertufa pot up differently. It has mostly reverted to John Creech sedum and sexagulare, it seems. But it previously had a bit of Dianthus “Tiny Rubies” but it seems they have all died out. This area where I have the planter is facing south, so there is quite a bit of sun and heat, which is slightly filtered by surrounding trees. It does get watered frequently via the irrigation system, and I can supplement that when it is necessary.
These are so tiny and I know they will survive the winter. I had previously planted the Lemon Cypress in the Rock Gardens in Bellbrook where I used to live and I know they have survived the last 3 winters there and only grew slightly larger. Check out the size of these. I found them at Lowe’s for only $5.98 each. Can you beat that?
These will be darling in my troughs. Of course, I will save these shrubs for the larger pots since I do want them as a representation of a forest and my succulents and sedum with be the “understory” for the trees/shrubs. Here is another photo so that you can judge the sizes. That is a regular Pepsi can sitting with them.
Now here is the video for you to watch as I plant it up. Sometimes these videos get long, so I am trying to either speed up or cut out parts that are not necessary. This one is not a moveable trough, too heavy, so I will be either on the ground or on a short bench to work it. Pray for my knees.
Didn’t it turn out pretty? I hope you like it. Please comment here or on the video and let me know what you think. And Pin it too! thanks! I did it in a hurry because a storm is rolling in this afternoon, and I knew I wanted to get it done. Hopefully no hail to damage my delicate new shade garden. ( The filming was a fiasco as you can see on the video.)
