HTA-0636: Henry's Garden — Container Gardening

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Summary

Henry explores container gardening techniques for small spaces and patios.

Full Transcript

Speaker 1
00:00
In an earlier segment, we talked about the secret to a beautiful container garden.

Speaker 1
00:05
And, Buck, before you say a word, no, don't say a word.

Speaker 1
00:08
Before you say a word, ladies and gentlemen, look at this lily.

Speaker 1
00:11
I can rarely get him to stop.

Speaker 1
00:12
Look at this beautiful-- now, look at the photo that I took of this gorgeous lily.

Speaker 1
00:16
Okay, I'm showing off, I admit it, but there are more photos at henry10.com.

Speaker 1
00:22
Henry10.com for more beautiful photos.

Speaker 2
00:25
I don't have any photos on dirtgardener.com, but that's a different story.

Speaker 1
00:28
Okay, we both plugged our websites.

Speaker 1
00:30
Now let's talk about the secret to a beautiful container garden.

Speaker 2
00:32
Water and nutrients basically is the issue.

Speaker 2
00:34
And it is no secret, Henry.

Speaker 2
00:36
It's elementary.

Speaker 2
00:37
So we are going to ignore both water and nutrients

Speaker 1
00:40
and go straight to something else, which is soil.

Speaker 1
00:42
Soil.

Speaker 2
00:43
Because what happens with a lot of container plants,

Speaker 2
00:44
especially those that have been in there for two or three years,

Speaker 2
00:47
is the soil tends to seep out the bottom,

Speaker 2
00:50
so they end up being a lot deeper in the container

Speaker 2
00:52
than they originally were intended to be.

Speaker 1
00:55
Ideally, you want the soil about an inch or two.

Speaker 1
00:58
- Maybe two inches, maybe three inches,

Speaker 2
00:59
depending on the size of the container.

Speaker 2
01:00
This one definitely is too far down.

Speaker 1
01:02
- What should people do when the soil sinks?

Speaker 2
01:05
- Well, the natural tendency is to throw soil in

Speaker 2
01:07
and raise your soil level,

Speaker 2
01:08
but that is not what you wanna do

Speaker 2
01:10
because we don't wanna sit there and plant these too deep.

Speaker 2
01:13
So the next thing to do is to take them out of the container.

Speaker 2
01:16
- You did that very well.

Speaker 2
01:18
- Like we did. - Okay.

Speaker 2
01:19
- And we're gonna sit there and add soil to the bottom.

Speaker 1
01:21
- Okay, but can we brush off some of this?

Speaker 1
01:23
- Yeah. - Well, let's put it in here.

Speaker 1
01:25
We don't wanna waste it.

Speaker 1
01:26
So we're gonna take a--

Speaker 1
01:28
- Hi, Henry.

Speaker 1
01:29
- We're gonna take off, Henry.

Speaker 2
01:31
Easy, easy.

Speaker 2
01:32
This is a very prized clevia.

Speaker 2
01:34
- Did I just wreck it?

Speaker 2
01:34
- It's one of the yellow ones.

Speaker 2
01:36
It's not--

Speaker 2
01:37
- Did I just wreck it?

Speaker 2
01:38
- No.

Speaker 2
01:38
- Is that gonna live?

Speaker 2
01:40
- It's a tube, or?

Speaker 2
01:40
You did break it off.

Speaker 2
01:42
Maybe you did drain it, but it's yours.

Speaker 2
01:44
- Oh, I love it.

Speaker 1
01:45
Can you go get that other yellow clevia

Speaker 1
01:46
to show people what it will look like

Speaker 1
01:48
if it survives this experience?

Speaker 2
01:50
- Most of the clevias out there are orange color.

Speaker 2
01:53
This is the yellow one.

Speaker 2
01:53
It was developed locally,

Speaker 2
01:55
so it has some history from a local standpoint.

Speaker 2
01:59
- It's beautiful.

Speaker 2
02:00
- And I'm giving this one away.

Speaker 1
02:00
- It's a shady area.

Speaker 1
02:02
- Okay, so now what we're gonna do

Speaker 1
02:04
is we're going to add new soil.

Speaker 2
02:05
- Exactly.

Speaker 2
02:06
- No, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 2
02:08
We have to sit there and cover the drainage holes

Speaker 2
02:10
to help slow down the reduction of soil

Speaker 2
02:14
at the bottom when we water.

Speaker 1
02:15
- That is one of the reasons,

Speaker 1
02:17
that is one of the reasons that you lose soil,

Speaker 1
02:20
why it drops, because two things are happening,

Speaker 1
02:23
three things probably.

Speaker 1
02:24
One, is some of the soil is just sneaking out, right?

Speaker 1
02:27
Number two, Buzz claims that because soil is somewhat organic--

Speaker 2
02:31
It is mostly organic.

Speaker 2
02:33
The microbes will sit there and consume it for nutrients

Speaker 2
02:36
for the plants, so there's a reduction in that way.

Speaker 1
02:37
I maintain that there's also a compaction of the soil.

Speaker 2
02:40
Yeah, and he expects to find diamonds in here

Speaker 2
02:42
by the end of the week, too, but that's another story.

Speaker 2
02:44
OK, now let's go ahead and--

Speaker 2
02:46
We're using a little piece of landscape fabric.

Speaker 2
02:48
You can use pantyhose, old screen, anything along that line.

Speaker 2
02:52
There we go.

Speaker 1
02:52
OK, so now we put this in.

Speaker 1
02:54
And we're gonna add a little more of this.

Speaker 1
02:56
This is new soil.

Speaker 1
02:57
- New soil.

Speaker 1
02:57
- Now, what are we gonna add to this, Buzz?

Speaker 1
03:00
Before we even put this new plant in.

Speaker 1
03:02
No, what are we gonna add to this?

Speaker 2
03:04
- Oh, the soil moist.

Speaker 2
03:06
- Soil moist is a granular material that,

Speaker 2
03:09
actually it's a crystal that hydrates

Speaker 2
03:12
when you add water to it.

Speaker 2
03:13
- Before and after.

Speaker 2
03:15
- And it acts as a backup reservoir.

Speaker 2
03:17
Only a tablespoon, I should say,

Speaker 2
03:20
for this size container.

Speaker 2
03:21
- A teaspoon, Henry.

Speaker 2
03:22
- Okay, put a teaspoon in, mix that in.

Speaker 2
03:24
Now what else are we gonna add?

Speaker 2
03:25
A little bit of fertilizer.

Speaker 1
03:27
Yes, and I happen to have some time release fertilizer.

Speaker 2
03:30
Ah, this is a four month formula?

Speaker 2
03:32
Yes.

Speaker 2
03:32
You can follow the instructions,

Speaker 1
03:33
but my way of doing it is just like that.

Speaker 1
03:35
And this is good for like four months.

Speaker 1
03:37
You can top dress it, or when you're first planting,

Speaker 1
03:39
you can put it right in here.

Speaker 2
03:40
Is that it?

Speaker 2
03:41
That's it, we'll put a little bit on top.

Speaker 2
03:43
Okay, take this.

Speaker 2
03:45
You can see some of the Osmocote from a previous era.

Speaker 2
03:49
Every four months, pretty easy to do.

Speaker 2
03:51
It depends on which kind, which formulation.

Speaker 2
03:53
You know, there are other ways of fertilizing.

Speaker 2
03:54
Can you see us over there?

Speaker 2
03:56
There's other ways of fertilizing that work really well,

Speaker 2
03:59
but because we're lazy and can't remember,

Speaker 2
04:01
every four months works really well for Henry and me.

Speaker 2
04:03
And leave about, what, an inch or two?

Speaker 2
04:06
Two inches?

Speaker 2
04:06
Inch and a half.

Speaker 1
04:07
Inch and a half, okay.

Speaker 1
04:09
Uh-oh.

Speaker 1
04:09
What, what?

Speaker 1
04:11
Oh, put that baby in and pray for it, okay?

Speaker 1
04:14
Water well, stand back.

Speaker 1
04:15
Water well.

Speaker 1
04:16
Okay.

Speaker 1
04:17
There's going to be some...

Speaker 1
04:18
I do this with every pot that's been sitting in your garden

Speaker 1
04:21
and had a plant in it for like over a year or two.

Speaker 1
04:25
- Yeah. - Ay yi yi.

Speaker 1
04:26
You got some work ahead of you, Buzz.

Speaker 1
04:28
Look at all of them.

Speaker 1
04:29
- We mean, I have a lot of work in front of me.