Using broken-up polystyrene is a good substitute for rocks or broken pots to provide drainage at the bottom of your planters. (The key feature of polystyrene is that, unlike rocks, it floats, so if your planter is flooded with rain, the polystyrene floats to the top)
That's a new one on me....I've used it for years in big pots [particularly as it keeps the weight down for moving] and the compost/soil keeps it at the bottom. We get plenty of rain here and it's certainly never been a problem
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I agree Hosta, also turning it about, as well as letting in air, deters rats from nesting in it as they don’t like disturbance. Ours is turned regularly and is ready to use in two months.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Polystyrene cannot rise to the top of a pot filled with soil, so it is not a myth that polystyrene is good for providing drainage.
Also agree about the compost, a well turned heap will pbe ready quicker.
On the other hand a thin layer of old, tired MPC that has turned to dust can wash down between chunks of polystyrene ... I've seen it in containers that have been planted up and expected to last almost indefinitely
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I think that if your planters are 'flooding' you have a problem. They need proper drainage holes that are large enough and remain clear. I can't see a scenario where a planter could ever have enough standing water in it for chunks of polystyrene to float with a good whack of earth and plants on top.
Prompted by a regular question coming up again on the Forum: Wildflowers are fragile, delicate things that should be cossetted and cherished by everyone everywhere. AND Weeds are indestructible thugs against which all self respecting gardeners must wage a continual war of chemical attrition.
They are usually the same plant.
Sub-myth - plants sold in garden centres are not weeds
The only real 'weeds' we have to try to get rid of are a small number of non-native 'garden species' (i.e. ones that were once sold for extortionate sums in garden centres and their Victorian equivalents) that have gone feral and are out-competing the native weeds/wildflowers and reducing bio-diversity in hedgerows and the like.
Dandelions, stinging nettles and buttercups are wildflowers too; red campion, bluebells and primroses are tough as old boots and just as intractable in a garden (especially bluebells) if you happen not to want them in a particular place.
Oh and while I have the soapbox out, native wildflowers do not have intrinsically greater value to pollinators than imported garden species. In these days of climate change, many of our insect species are only able to survive because garden flowers have earlier, longer and later flowering times than the indigenous and native plants. Not all garden plants are good for insects, but there is no less benefit in a carefully chosen South African daisy than in a common one.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Posts
We get plenty of rain here and it's certainly never been a problem
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Also agree about the compost, a well turned heap will pbe ready quicker.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Wildflowers are fragile, delicate things that should be cossetted and cherished by everyone everywhere.
AND
Weeds are indestructible thugs against which all self respecting gardeners must wage a continual war of chemical attrition.
They are usually the same plant.
Sub-myth - plants sold in garden centres are not weeds
The only real 'weeds' we have to try to get rid of are a small number of non-native 'garden species' (i.e. ones that were once sold for extortionate sums in garden centres and their Victorian equivalents) that have gone feral and are out-competing the native weeds/wildflowers and reducing bio-diversity in hedgerows and the like.
Dandelions, stinging nettles and buttercups are wildflowers too; red campion, bluebells and primroses are tough as old boots and just as intractable in a garden (especially bluebells) if you happen not to want them in a particular place.
Oh and while I have the soapbox out, native wildflowers do not have intrinsically greater value to pollinators than imported garden species. In these days of climate change, many of our insect species are only able to survive because garden flowers have earlier, longer and later flowering times than the indigenous and native plants. Not all garden plants are good for insects, but there is no less benefit in a carefully chosen South African daisy than in a common one.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”