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Posted by thevodkarose (U13048111) on Sunday, 11th September 2011
I have one of those terracotta strawberry planters with small planting holes all around the outside and a large hole at the top. It turned out woefully inadequate for strawberries (just keeping them watered was a battle) and has sat unused in the outhouse for two years.
I have a small diamond shaped gravel area at the centre of my garden, and this is missing a centrepiece. So, to save money, I thought it might be a good idea to use this strawberry planter for alpines and use that as the centrepiece.
I'm unsure exactly as what to plant though, because it'd create true alpine conditions as I'd want to essentially leave it to nature with only occasional watering. It'll get very cold in the winter and very sunny and dry in the summer. All bar the top planting hole are tiny so I'd need plants that are happy to spend their entire lives small and restricted. Drainage isn't an issue - I've already got plentiful sharp sand and grit to use when potting it up.
My garden centre lumps true alpines with plants that can adapt to rockery conditions, so isn't helpful for what is essentially going to be a vertical alpine trough.
Many thanks for your help.
Link to this forum: Converting strawberry planter for alpines - suggestions please
I also have a strawberry tower, though made of plastic, which is, IMO, completely useless for growing strawberries.
I thought that the well-drained conditions might be good for trailing nasturtians. But, for some reason, they really didn't like it, and refused to grow.
Alpines, such as sedums, do sound like quite an interesting idea.
Link to this forum: Converting strawberry planter for alpines - suggestions please
, in reply to message 1.
Posted by Kleftiwallah (U13700999) on Sunday, 11th September 2011
Could you paint the inside of the terracotta pot to reduce the water loss from the sides and keep the look? Cheers, Tony.
Link to this forum: Converting strawberry planter for alpines - suggestions please
, in reply to message 3.
Posted by thevodkarose (U13048111) on Sunday, 11th September 2011
I'm not interested in it for strawberries at all any more.
Link to this forum: Converting strawberry planter for alpines - suggestions please
Even so, painting it inside and out with a coat or two of clear acrylic varnish will help reduce moisture loss and also cracking and flaking in winter.
When dry, fill with some gravel at the bottom for drainage then a good quality compost such as John Innes no 3 with some added perlite and then plant up. The RHS has a plant selector feature which will allow you to entire things like plant size, type, location, soil and drainage - Just tell it things like rockery, alpine, well-drained, full sun or part shade as applicable and see what it suggests.
Link to this forum: Converting strawberry planter for alpines - suggestions please
I have one of these- mine is glazed on the inside, tho. I placed two tall paper towel rolls in it , filled with pea gravel, then planted and filled with compost. This year the strawberries were fine, as the water gets to each plant. I have used it for alpines in the past, tho, which were also successful. I put a tall dracena in the top, it looked good.
Link to this forum: Converting strawberry planter for alpines - suggestions please
, in reply to message 5.
Posted by thevodkarose (U13048111) on Sunday, 11th September 2011
Thanks Obelixx, unfortunately when I was specific to what I wanted it returned 0 results.
Link to this forum: Converting strawberry planter for alpines - suggestions please
These darned things quickly become a bugbear don't they, no matter what you do with them!
You could try things such as small campanulas, there are several tiny ones which may well suit. Sedums, saxifrages or even oxalis, though it might be a bit chilly for some of those. A few tiny bulbs can be atractive, crocus, scilla biflora, maybe small daffs in the top area? The specie tulips which are tiny and lovely might do there too. Small creeping, hardy geraniums might work, they are pretty and very undemanding. A tube through the middle for watering is a good idea, fill with gravel or vermiculite to get water to the roots of whatever you grow in it.
Link to this forum: Converting strawberry planter for alpines - suggestions please
Vodkarose - Try being a bit more general.
I entered sunny, rockery, alpines, good drainage and hardy and got 85 results including small campanulas, crocuses, thrift, arabis, aubretia and so on..
Link to this forum: Converting strawberry planter for alpines - suggestions please
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