How To Plant Seasonal Colour

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How To Plant Seasonal Colour
Potted colour is the perfect blend of old and new. Familiar names like Petunias, Impatiens, Pansies, and Marigolds, all grown, flowering and ready to instantly transform your garden ...
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How To Plant Seasonal Colour

Potted colour is the perfect blend of old and new. Familiar names like Petunias, Impatiens, Pansies, and Marigolds, all grown, flowering and ready to instantly transform your garden. It’s almost too easy, but what garden doesn’t deserve a good splash of colour?

CREATE YOUR OWN LOOK

Potted colour (or seasonal colour as it’s sometimes called), are the semi-mature flowering plants in the garden centre that create instant colour in your garden. Potted colour comes in a wide range of varieties and can be a very economical way to transform the look of your garden. Generally these plants are flowering annuals so they’ll only last one season, but that’s what’s great about potted colour – once they’re finished flowering you can change them out for a new look. They can be planted en masse in a multitude of colours or in single colour blocks – whatever takes your fancy because after all, its not permanent.

What to plant and where to plant

With such a huge range of potted colour available, deciding what to plant really comes down to personal choice. Take a little time to browse the Mitre 10 garden department to see what you like the look of, think about where in

your garden you’re planning to plant, read the labels to see what flowers like what conditions – sun, shade, sheltered – and talk to staff about what grows well in your area. You’ll be able to find potted colour that will be at home in any garden bed, hanging basket, window box or wine barrel. With potted colour you can’t go too far wrong.

PREPARATION

Garden or container

Standard garden rules apply – start by getting the foundation right. With a garden bed, make sure it is good healthy soil by preparing the bed with compost, sheep pellets and blood and bone. If you’re planting in a container, add some material like scoria, gravel, broken pots to the bottom of the container to ensure adequate drainage thenfill with a growing mix like Tui Flower Power.

Handy Hints

“Growing media” such as mulch, compost and garden mixes contain micro organisms. Avoid breathing dusts or mists. Keep the product moist, wear gloves and wash hands immediately after use. There are detailed warnings on all bags.

PLANTING

Dig a hole in your growing mix approximately twice the width of the root ball. Gently place the plant in, top it up with more mix, press lightly and water well.

CARING FOR YOUR COLOUR

Fertilising, feeding, watering, dead heading, weeding, pruning.

Potted colour performs best when well fed. For bigger, brighter blooms use fertilisers like Maxfeed All Purpose Liquid Fertiliser, or Novatec Premium Fertiliser regularly. The high potash content enhances flower bud development, flower colour and quality. Keep your plants watered but don’t overwater. Put your finger in the soil to assess how dry it is. In dry Summer months your garden bed and containers will need a deep watering every few days rather than a quick water every day. Apply Saturaid Re-wetting Granules to help your plants and soil absorb water better and reduce the amount of water you use in your garden. When your flowering plants are passing their best take some time to ‘dead head’ which means taking off the old blooms. This can often stir the plants into life for another round of flowering and it also keeps your garden nice and tidy. Sharp flower snips are a must to avoid damaging plant stems. Keep your garden free of weeds as these compete with your plants for nutrients in the soil.


	Handy Hints In Autumn you can plant potted colour on top of your bulbs while you wait for them to come through in early spring. Adding a layer of mulch helps protect your flowering plants from extremes in temperature and helps your garden look nice and tidy.