Project Season

You will need: a planter, trowel, soil, gloves, flowers, and about 30 minutes

Heading into the second week of February, we're just past winter's halfway mark. Here in Southern California, spring is peeking through. When the sun comes out, it's time to revive the garden. Ornate candle holders and old birdhouses make beautiful planters with minimal effort. For this project, I used the lovely box above.

Uniform drainage. Made with a drill press.

First, make a few evenly-spaced holes in the bottom of the box. Without proper drainage, the planter will become a swampy, smelly mess very quickly.

 

Next, select your plant. When potting store-bought flowers, be sure to loosen the root bundle (gently pull roots into a less-tightly packed clump) before potting. Fill the planter with about 2 inches of potting soil, place your flower, and then add soil up around the plant until it is level with the stem base. Do not press down or compact the soil.

It's important to give transplants a big drink of water as soon as they're in new soil. After planting, thoroughly douse the planter and then let the water completely drain. Repeat once more. To keep annual flowers blooming throughout the season, be sure to keep the soil moist (usually water daily for potted varieties). I find that water-soluble fertilizers work best for potted plants, but should be applied sparingly.

Here's hoping for an early spring, and a lovely end to winter.