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How close to the rim do you fill your containers?

StrettonFoxStrettonFox Posts: 8
in Plants
I've spent the afternoon planting up my terracotta pots with winter/spring bedding plants and I've had the usual discussion with my wife about how much compost to put in them. I've always filled them to within 1 or 2 inches of the rim (I think someone must have taught me this when I started gardening and I've never questioned it)  but she insists the level should be a lot higher...   right up to the rim in fact!

What do other GW folk do?

Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Not right to the rim or the compost floods out when you water. ;)
    About an inch or so is right, or even slightly more if you want to add a mulch of some kind.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I leave space at the top so I can water enough to let it soak in at its own rate without making compost float and dribble messily down the sides.   If it's a long term planting I also add a mulch of chipped bark or shells or gravel outside or expanded clay pellets for indoor plants.   Keeps weeds down and holds in moisture too.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    As the others have said, you need to leave 1-2 inches at the top to aid watering.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
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