Winter in a pot

Lots of people in Brighton don't have a garden. If they do, it's likely to be a small patio often with limited sunlight. For example, I was telling a friend the other day about this journal of the lazy Brighton gardener.  She said there was no point reading it because she had nowhere to grow anything. "What?" I exclaimed, possibly not in such a literary manner. "Everyone has somewhere to grow something.."  So, to prove a point to my horticulturally disinterested friend, I am setting an Autumn project for everyone. The challenge, to create a Winter display in a pot. 

There are plenty of very cheap bedding plants for sale in the nursery at the moment. Primroses, Cyclamen Coum, Solanum Capsicastrum, Cineraria, Gaultheria to name but a few. Select a couple of perennial plants (something with all year round foliage that preferaby has some colour) to give the design some structure and you have a garden in minature. 

Just to prove that I am not always lazy, I popped down to Swains Farm Shop near Henfield today and bought some plants just to demonstrate how easy it is. 

So, step one, choose some plants. Be brave, go for contrast. Grasses are wonderful against a flatter leaved plant. Put two colours together that clash..   It'll be dark and dreary soon, you'll need cheering up.

I went for:

2 x Gaulteria Procumbens

A ruby red flowered Cyclamen

1 x Thymus 'Lorna Doone'

6 x Primroses

1 minature conifer

1 Carex comans 'bronze'

Step two, make sure you have a decent looking pot to put your plants in. The pot is as important as the plants.


Buy some Multi-purpose compost. If you care about the planet, make it peat free. If you don't, then just buy ordinary. 

Step three, drainage...  What?  Make sure the pot has good drainage ie. the water is able to drain away freely. Put some old broken crocks in the bottom or better still break up the polystyrene tray your  bedding multipack came in and put it in the bottom of the pot. 

Step four.  Put compost in the pot. Don't fill it to the top. You've got to get the plants in yet.

You can add some slow release fertiliser if you desire but the wonderful fact about Autumn/Winter plants are that they are slow growing and won't need as much food. (bit like us really. )

Step five.  Put your plants into the soil after having removed them from the plastic pots that they came in (well, there's always one...)  Move them around until you're ecstatically happy with your original design and then top up the pot with soil and level. As Bridgette would say though, don't over fill your pots with soil. 

Step six. Add some grit to the top of the soil. It looks good and keeps some of the moisture in

Step seven.... WATER!

Now go and put the pot somewhere where your neighbours (and you) will see it. It's very important to keep up appearances. You don't want them thinking you're a horticultural ignoramus.. now do you?

ps. What I didn't tell you is that this pot also has some daffodil bulbs in it...  SPRING!!!!!!