I'm in fairly new construction in hot dry zone 8 with only sand in my yard. So I'm thinking of doing my yard in just pots so that at least everything has good soil, etc.

I'm set up one area with some begonias, walking irises, and a rose bush all in pots plus a few odds and ends. Any tips or advice on this?

I'm expecting to water daily if not twice daily and I'm trying to keep tabs on sun exposure around my yard.

Michelle

If containers are grouped together it helps control evaporation as well as making it easier to water. Before watering check the weight of the container as well as sticking your finger in the soil to see if it actually needs watering. Some containers may need less watering than others based on the type of pot used and the type of plant in the pot.

Choose pots that are made of resin or plastic. They are light weight, can be moved easily and retain water better. Glazed pots are better than terracotta pots when it comes to water loss. The larger the pot the less you will have to water, and of course they all need proper drainage holes in the bottom. The pot should also be large enough to allow proper root growth. Roses will require a larger pot than say annuals or shallow rooted perennials.

And finally, you can always put in raised beds. I prefer making all my raised beds by using the lasgana gardening method. Basically, you are gardening on top of the soil. First you lay wet newspaper down to smother the weeds and grass, then add layers of compost, grass clippings, leaves, topsoil, whatever organic matter you have. I usually make mine in the Fall to plant in the Spring, but I have planted immediately with much success. I will attach a link that will better explain it. Another good method is Weedless Gardening by Lee Reich, PhD...basically a modified version of Patricia Lanza's Lasagna Gardening.

Good Luck!

Here's how it looked last year-

And in 2003 -

And 2002... the 1st year I went "all out"

Al

Any plant you want can pretty much go in the container. In many cases, we addicts go to a nursery and the plant jumps into the cart and comes home with us and we can make suggestions to fill up your whole space too. LOL

Some current pics of my container space:

OoS - anything new that you're trying this year? Inquiring pots want to know! :-P

Now if the weather will break, dry up & WARM up... maybe I'll actually get something done!

You know it's partially your fault that I'm trying sunflowers this year. :-p I love how yours turned out. One of my sisters was considering getting a solar water feature but now that you mention the raccoons, I may recommend against that idea.... I can see them now - getting into the veggies, "washing" them in the fountain, and then lounging on the deck. :\

Jenny -
Consider the sunflowers as payback for the blueberries! LOL!
Last year I actually ate about 30 berries before the birds got what was left.
The reason I had blueberries in the first place is all YOUR fault!

Sunflowers are SOOOOOOOO nice. The bonus for growing them was this:

Up to that point, I had never seen a goldfinch in my yard before!

I'd love to see a goldfinch up here. It's bad enough that I had that hummer visit late last summer and now I have all these hummer plants and feeders. LOL My little sunflower seedlings are outside hardening off in their summer container. Gotta move them into the sun this weekend.

Hopefully this year you'll get more blueberries! I still have some in the freezer from last year's harvest. I just hope the bees got to them okay because the temps were pretty cool during the time some of the later bloomers were blooming and when it's cool, the bees lay low.

As for this year's yard....
Here ya go-

What you can't see in that yard shot because it's out of the frame is my "Coleus Corner". It would be in the lower right of the pic - you can just see a piece of it.
Here's a shot of the corner itself.

Let me say up front that I don't container gardden myself. I have a huge yard so have no need to. But I've given growing in pots a lot of thought, to see if I could come up with helpful suggestions for those that do.
Plants "transpire" water, their version of sweating. And just like us, the hotter they get, the more they'll "sweat." So anything you can do to keep your potted plants cooler will help.
A. If you have a choice of sites, putting them where they'll get only morning sun, but afternoon shade, will help a lot. Plants really do very little growing after the temps reach the 90s anyway.
B. If such a location isn't possible, then just leaning something against or wrapping something around the pots to keep them cooler will help. Remember, only the plants themselves need sun, not the pots.
C. If they're available, a nice layer of grass clippings on top of the soil will keep it a lot cooler and moister between waterings. The clippngs will also prevent weeds and provide all the nutrients your plants need. Don't let them touch the stems of the plants, though, cause they could rot them. You could make small "collars" from yogurt cups to prevent that.

I'd also like to make some comments on your saying that you are growing things in pots because you are "in (a) hot dry zone 8 with only sand in my yard."
I've been gardening since 1972, and like all True Gardeners, I often share things with others. And several times people would say they just loved what I gave them, which would prompt me to ask why they didn't garden themselves. And more than once the response was, "Oh, we would love to, but we have such terrible soil." (Sometimes very sandy, other times heavy clay.) It took several years- I am a bit slow sometimes, lol- but I finally came to realize that many people seem to think that soil is a permanent thing. If you're lucky, you have good soil and always will. If you're unlucky, you have bad soil, and there's nothing you can do about it. Nothing of course could be futher from the truth. If you do the right thing, which is bascially Add Organic Matter to the soil continually, you can transform the worst soil in the world into the best. (I started out with HORRIBLE red clay, great raw material for making bricks or pottery. I now have the most beautiful, black, crumbly, fertile soil you could find anywhere.)
And if you started out with the best soil, but didn't add organic matter year after year, it soon would become just as bad as the soil you have. I know a gardener in Michigan who has very sandy soil. He started putting his grass clippings in his garden just this year, and he can't beLEIVE how much better everthng is growing than ever before! He has more tomatoes, peppers, greenbeans, watermelon and other things than he knows what to do with.

So, if you did want to grow things in good old Mom Earth, and you can get grass clippings, all you would have to do is add a good 3-inch layer on top of the soil. You don't even have to dig out any weeds that might be present first. Just trample them flat and cover them. I've turned even sections of lawn, both in my yard and in friends', to garden or flower bed simply by covering them with grass clippings.
I have not the slightest doubt that you could very successfully grow anything that does well in your area in your soil, and maybe even a few things that are not supposed to do well there?
If you have questions on mulching, either post them here or e-mail me. This practice has soooo many benefits that it's a shame many people don't know about it.

Tyrell

I love those little wheel cart thingys you have on the bottom of your pots...when my lemon tree gets too heavy for me to comfortably move, i'll have to invest in one of those...where did you get them?

Also, how do you post your pics directly in your posts (this is for everyone). I have some pictures of my plants, but I haven't a clue on how to post them.

Thanks,

Jessica