Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Patio Plants That Feel Like Cheating
76 Plays2 days ago
In this episode, the Hort Culture crew takes a winding (and hilarious) path from debating Post Malone playlists to one of the most relatable gardening topics of the season: patio plants. What begins as music chatter turns into a thoughtful conversation about how container plants soften hard outdoor spaces, blur the line between indoor and outdoor living, and create small pockets of joy just outside the door. The hosts swap favorite “can’t miss” patio performers like wave petunias, calibrachoa, begonias, marigolds, coleus (with some friendly disagreement), geraniums, lantana, ornamental grasses, lettuce mixes, cherry tomatoes, and even small evergreens and bonsai, emphasizing how containers are not only decorative but functional, flexible, and often easier than in-ground gardening.
Along the way, they talk through the realities of patio environments, from blazing afternoon sun to deep shade, and how those extremes affect watering routines, root temperatures, and plant selection—especially when using concrete or dark containers that hold heat. They share the simple pleasure of evening watering rounds, the appeal of window boxes, the joy of attracting butterflies and bees close to where you sit, and the unexpected success of letting annuals overwinter and return the following year. The episode’s big takeaway is that patio plants feel like “cheating” because they offer a low-risk, high-reward way to garden, serving as part hobby, part décor, part therapy, and a dependable way to bring life and beauty to your outdoor living space.
Creating Outdoor Rooms With Plants
Questions/Comments/Feedback/Suggestions for Topics: hortculturepodcast@gmail.com
Recommended
Transcript
Intro
Opening Chatter
00:00:16
Speaker
Can I ask you guys? Oh, no. Oh, I want both. let's Let's do both. No, no, you go first, Alexis. Okay. mine is just a light Something thoughtful that went into this episode. Yours is probably going be something.
00:00:30
Speaker
I like that. topic Oh, so is we're going to lead. Your guys is going to lead in. Yeah. So if we go with you first, you know,
Opinions on Post Malone
00:00:37
Speaker
okay. Um, how do you guys, how do you guys feel about post Malone?
00:00:44
Speaker
I want to hear about Premalone. I mean, what was he like before? I going to ask about Easter candy, what kind of candy you guys like, but Post Malone. Premalone apparently... But I wouldn't call myself a postie.
00:00:57
Speaker
You are a postie? Wait, say that again. What? Swifty, but not a postie? Yeah, like I'm pro... Pro. You're pro him, but you're not like postie. You're not rolling in the squad. You're not like a dame. I'll leave his music on the radio.
00:01:11
Speaker
Right. That's where I'm at. I don't well love rock storere i haven't downloaded any but i'll leave it on the radio i wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating crackers oh you like those face tattoos huh no did no that's not no i wouldn't kick him off my radio if his song came on i he's country now right yeah well you know they all get there eventually i just imagine tyler with face tattoos I go one way or other. It'd be perfect. Kyler, Alexis's husband. Under his beard. That'd be so good. That's be a trout. That's what's under his beard, guys.
00:01:47
Speaker
Maybe a bass. Yeah. you old Is there like one of his songs that that you like ah identify with? I bet you can never guess which one I would say. Well, I think of you as congratulations. The song Congratulations.
00:02:03
Speaker
Oh.
00:02:05
Speaker
My mama calls to see me on TV. they used to like They used to be hating him, but now they just say congratulations. that's yeah I like it. But what was what was your answer for yourself?
00:02:18
Speaker
i I don't know very many of his songs by name, so I was going to say Sunflowers. i was going to say that'd be a struggle. yeah That one popped in my head. if We were talking about Sunflowers a second ago. and Sunflowers and soil tests.
00:02:30
Speaker
Sunflowers. It's what may made me think. How do you feel about Post
Music Collaborations and Personal Stories
00:02:34
Speaker
Malone? how do we feel about Post Malone? Yeah, he had that he had that recent collaboration with Morgan Walden. Or Morgan... Wallen. Wallen. Morgan morgan Walden was an undergraduate student that I worked with in the Aggie Con department. Someone different.
00:02:51
Speaker
Co-published. Shout out to him. yeah No, she was Morgan Walden-er. So... Morgan Wallen. I'm not trying to get it too political. It's kind of a jam though, it it is. throw bro and got it's It's got a bubbly vibe. This is, um, okay I had some help is the name of this track.
00:03:11
Speaker
It is a certified banger, but I mean, yeah, mean the, the video is pretty good too. Um, If you haven't seen it, it opens with a postie in a phone booth, like a payphone phone booth, but it's supposed to be modern day.
00:03:29
Speaker
And I'm just like... No. Didn't sell Maybe it's in the desert somewhere where in the words it's a Tom Dimension thing or something. Yeah, that's true. It's like well it's like a it's like a a tavern of sorts. People are line dancing. you know it's It's a fun time. but they and He had some help.
00:03:50
Speaker
It's not like he could make this kind of mess all by himself. But he's talking about the mess, not the success. so yeah There's a little bit of shade we can throw. The mess, not the success. What about you, Ray? and that that bad You took it. That's the one. Oh, yeah, that's your one? Because it's a positive vibe. It's a positive vibe. I can't remember the video, though.
00:04:08
Speaker
And it is a catchy tune. Oh, my gosh. He really is. Mm-hmm. i gosh he really is It's not like, he yeah, okay. a this yeah Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I've had to come make some late night calls for some help. So I understand. I get it. i appreciate that when you're in a mess, you need a buddy, you phone a friend. So I didn't get that bottle off the shelf. I had some. Yeah. Or you did. And I don't know. You did. go side'd say Whatever. Yeah.
00:04:35
Speaker
Okay. Jessica's like, what are we doing? What's happening? can't honestly think of a song that he sings right now. Earlier one. We have different... Early, early stuff. I really like... We list in my car.
00:04:47
Speaker
I identify with that like ah seasons change, but I'm running in circles, you know? Yeah, that's a smooth jam. That's um one of his early ones. no It's seasons change, and I do feel like I'm running in circles. No cap. No cap on that. maybe he and it's maybe Maybe he just discusses his philosophical underpinnings in his songs. Maybe he's one of those artists. Time is a flat circle. Is there that big of a difference between Rust Cole, True Detective Season 1, and Post Malone?
00:05:15
Speaker
Who can say? Crossovers. The connections are being made. Maybe I need to introduce some Post Malone. ah But we're, yeah. Maybe. he's Yeah, he's kind of gone country
From Music to Patio Plants
00:05:26
Speaker
now. So I don't know if that's a positive or a negative for anybody. He's kind of horticulture themed. mean, he talks about seasons and needing some help from time to time. Sunflowers. not Sunflowers. Thank you. So maybe he's really ah underground horticulture. kind of Side note, he is a huge Magic the Gathering guy.
00:05:43
Speaker
Okay. No joke. You guys really dived on him, haven't you? Yeah, that's why wanted to know what you guys thought. He's on the wiki right now. What are you talking about doing the deep dive?
00:05:54
Speaker
One thing about Brett is if he knows man of one thing about one thing, he knows all the things about that. He just doesn't know one thing about one thing. One of the things that endeared me about Post Malone was when i that I found out in middle school, he regularly wore like a full suit to school.
00:06:14
Speaker
Public school, typical public school, and he wore a full suit. He was projecting success at an early age. Yeah, he was just different. He did shower for a while. yeah Yeah.
00:06:28
Speaker
i knew I knew you wouldn't understand me in postie, Jessica. I knew it. I'm sorry. We, i'm our car, our constant too, that are on repeat currently right now. Keep in mind, I have a five and a three-year-old. They love Queen, Don't Stop Me Now. And yeah Mr. Blue Skies. I can't think of... No, wait a minute. Blue Skies? Skies the thing and brought us or mr blue sky from EOE, right?
00:06:55
Speaker
What are they called? i don't know that song. forget the name. Electronic Orchestra. Yeah, think they do that they do the... Yellow? free ge electric g light or like Yes. yes that's him They like those on repeat on their way to preschool in the morning.
00:07:09
Speaker
Not to be confused with LFO. No, right completely different. That's more of a summer jam. so yeah That love girls that wear Abercrombie Fitch. Pick here if I had one wish. Yeah. Reed was a 70s fan too, Jessica. He was a queen and credence. And yeah, but maybe that's Jennifer's influence on him. But yeah kids, there's no accounting for them. Well, part of why I asked about Post Malone, you know, I'm starting.
00:07:35
Speaker
It's not too early to be thinking about your patio playlist for something. Right. Okay. but alexis steve Alexis, you had something you wanted to share about leading into our topic here.
00:07:49
Speaker
i I think I have since forgotten that i would ah you you said something about getting dirty and I was like, getting well, you know how I like to get dirty? By potting up my plants on my patio and on my porch. You will be breathing the ultrafons of the sphagnum-based peatmalls for days. While not kicking Post Malone out of the radio for eating crackers. yeah Correct.
00:08:15
Speaker
Yeah. Nailed it. Mouth noises notwithstanding, Post Malone is allowed to stay. ah Yeah. So as you're sitting on that patio, you might you might be thinking, I'd like to have a little softness, a little natural softness that can only be provided by my photosynthetic friends in their little temporary homes, AKA the patio plant.
Deep Dive into Patio Gardening
00:08:36
Speaker
That's what we want to talk about today. Patio plants. Patio, porch, wherever you have space for a pot. Living space. Veranda. Veranda. Intermezzo.
00:08:50
Speaker
Bugliaterra. Mine are just sitting outside my greenhouse. I did a provide all year round entertainment.
00:09:01
Speaker
For those of you who have small children, my flower pots on my porch, I've currently have nice ruts in them because there are little toy excavators digging out the potting soil, which is fine and dandy until you like fill them up and you're like, Hey, quit throwing all that soil out of there.
00:09:19
Speaker
Sean. Yeah. Yes, Sean. um And then you kind of ruin the fun when you finally actually plant things in there. And I'm just like, sorry. But then it becomes like a little jungle and they can like hide little fake animals and dinosaurs and, you know. about can you can you paint a picture Can you paint a picture of these pots for me? What do they look like? What about what size are they?
00:09:40
Speaker
Orientation. The ones I have were actually left by the previous owners. So they're like the classic ah rectangular, like concrete, hyper-tiple looking pots, right? That's why they lift them. They were concrete They were, yeah, very heavy. Nobody's going to move those. Nobody. Yeah. About how big did you say?
00:10:01
Speaker
I don't know. Good volume. Could you hug around it? Compared to a five-gallon bucket, how big? Compared five-gallon bucket. Yeah, you could almost hug. Yeah, you could probably hug around it, I would say.
00:10:13
Speaker
measuring hugs. Strange, strange unit measurement, but let's go Right, yeah. But just simple things to put in it to enjoy through the summer, like wave petunias or something that, you know, that's going to. Hot wheels, whichever. Or hot wheels.
00:10:31
Speaker
You mentioned a summer class. Way petunias. I bet you the petunias, them being what they are, bet you they don't mind the concrete, do then kind of they? They don't. they do love it They just love it. They actually come back year after year if you don't dump the soil out. um And then I just translate them around other plants. love it.
00:10:49
Speaker
You just let them get overly mature. You just let them get mature and just stay in place in the winter, and you're going get those back. and i And I think I've told you guys this. This one is my Cali started doing that and they're not supposed to really do that. I don't think Caliber Coas. And so I've had three Caliber Coas the last two years, which is weird. I've grown Calis before and never got them to come back, but they're my favorite free flowers. And now I'm already out there very gently looking around. I let them mature now.
00:11:18
Speaker
And hopefully they'll come back. But now my Callie's did just like your petunions. just imagine you dressed like Tupac talking about Callie's. Yeah, it's California. You know the song? California. Kind of the Thunderdome of the video. Yeah. We are a music. We're so getting flagged on this episode. I don't think that me singing California is going to trigger the algorithms because there's no connection between the tune I'm singing and the actual tune. So no worries.
00:11:44
Speaker
But you do know how to party, much like California. Yeah. Uh, you know, we do. we were rather So caliper, coa, petunias. What are some other, some other hot ones before we jump into more logistics?
00:11:55
Speaker
Well, we all know our club coleus. Yeah. Coleus and all the colors and forms that comes in. Goodness. Yeah. lots of Have you guys come across coleus haters at all? Um, they do exist. Yeah. Really? Because it's overused or they think, or? yeah i might be one. I might be one. Oh man. You garden clubs. Yeah.
00:12:16
Speaker
over it's it's not so for me it's not so much that it's overused i don't like i don't i don't actually don't mind boxwoods let let that sink in but um but you do mind it's not that i it's not that i mind them or that i'm i'm not truly a hater but since you all are all lovers i will take them i will take i will let the hate flow through my veins like a young anakin skywalker um it's It's that they look so like they're so like kitchily vibrant sometimes. Like they're like they're like a polka dot shirt or a leopard print shirt or something.
00:12:55
Speaker
Like they just feel so gauche. So, I mean, their, their brightness, their funness, their, everything is like their strength. And it's also to me, their weakness. And so sometimes also think in some landscapes, in some contexts, it just really, really doesn't work, which is true of any plant.
00:13:09
Speaker
um And so maybe it's my inability to just let go and have fun and just be a summer girly or something, but. They're too joyful for you. yeah when is too bad It's making me smile. I don't like that.
00:13:23
Speaker
Yeah. I'm the star of the show, not the Coleus. You need to come up with a dark purple one called Melancholy just for Brett, you know, to bring the vibe down, to bring the temperature down. Yeah, maybe I'll just get a deep purple Coleus and just work my way into it. No, I actually have come to appreciate them much more, but um the first the first exposures to them, out I don't know, they just weren't my... How didn do you feel about begonias then, Brett? They're kind of in that classification. Yeah. A little bit different. They have bloomy blooms, but they have interesting foliage too.
00:13:52
Speaker
Yeah, I associate begonias with my grandma, which is just positive and negative. One, I love my grandma and I planted those begonias for her. That was pretty cool. But I also just associate it with like old ladies.
00:14:05
Speaker
Great. I was going to say I love them. So no problem, Brett, where you're dead to me. Well, there's so many different begonias, right? you got your angel wings. That's a great point. Great point. Yeah. save Save this conversation, Alexis. So how, okay. So while we're on begonias...
00:14:21
Speaker
What are the ones you just said, the different types or the different kind of big categories? Angel and or dragon wing begonias. I think depending on who you ask, they'll call them something different. Depending on where in the Bible but you are. it's Like deviled eggs versus dressed eggs. Yeah. I had to look that up today. these And tuberous begonias. yeah oh those are beautiful yeah and they're they're they pack a punch what are the other begonias that are like the little expbook of like the lime the wax ones right those are the ones a lot of colors so i think that part of the part of the point here is there's a lot of different because even within coleus there's like really different ones with very like different colors different shapes different all that kind of stuff and So like don't take the bog standard Home Depot container thing that you've seen as the only options. You can really branch out and find some cool things that are different. Even it's the same plant, just a different variety. So so we've hit petunias, begonias, cali.
00:15:28
Speaker
Marigolds. Marigolds. So much happiness. Yeah, that's another fan favorite at our house. Thus why my husband thinks it's a good idea to buy me like five flats of them.
00:15:40
Speaker
if We have about like 200 marigolds just plopped around. It's kind of very like Dr. Seuss, depending if you get like the African ones. And and so then they're just like marigolds just like plopped around everywhere. um wife To do 180, Jennifer really likes, my wife really enjoys a good vibrant lettuce mix with a few green onions thrown in. and And like the tiered containers you can get, the prefab tiered containers. It doesn't take much of a volume of soil, but she absolutely loves growing different lettuce mixes in those, the reds and the yellows and everything in between, arugula and arugula.
00:16:18
Speaker
and all of that fun stuff. And we'll have a few onions and stuff in our little tiered planters, but she'll put that out in full sun, six to you know six to eight hours. But she is just about every year. She's already asked me this year. She goes, ah is the lettuce container, you know, is it ready? I'm like, no, it's not.
00:16:34
Speaker
Yeah. Bring me my lettuce container. Bring me my lettuce container. you leave But yeah, that's sort of ah on a different salad. Yeah. Yeah, that's always fun with doing like a, we do a cherry tomato in a very large flower pot each year. So productive. So out of control.
00:16:53
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Do you go just like the indeterminate that just keeps going and going? just Yeah. Just usually a random cherry tomato plant that I will pick up somewhere in the spring craziness and,
00:17:05
Speaker
Plant that and just let it do its thing because it's almost a guarantee you know to get something off of it. Unless you get a really fat ah tomato hornworm on there. But that's also a cool life lesson watching that as well.
00:17:19
Speaker
so That's a learning lesson. You too will one day be consumed. It's like we're going to teach the three and five year old life lessons. Okay, mom. Yeah, yeah we just were here for the cherry tomatoes in our salad.
00:17:35
Speaker
Another one I associate with my grandma is geraniums. Yes. Yeah. That was classic. I used to plant geraniums for her every year. and we've done some geraniums in pots or in ah like hanging baskets and pots and stuff in the back.
00:17:51
Speaker
You'll ever do any grasses? In pots before? I've done like the Egyptian, you know, series of grasses. a papyrus, you're saying? Papyrus, yeah. I've some of those, and i and I see that from time to time. It seems like that was more popular maybe 15, 20 years ago. I have a bog garden.
00:18:08
Speaker
Bog? We do. In a container? Yeah. Yeah. How does that work? What is a bog garden?
Cultural and Aesthetic Aspects of Gardening
00:18:14
Speaker
if you It is um carnivorous plants that like to be in peat and like consistently wet.
00:18:25
Speaker
So it's like a bog atmosphere. So I've got, ah you you said grasses. And I was like, what do I have that's unusual in a container? And then it hit me. i've just pulled my bog garden out of the cooler for winter, winter dormancy. She started to come back to life. So...
00:18:40
Speaker
Bog. The return of the bog. Yeah, so if you're of those people who consistently overwaters, maybe you just need a bog garden that likes sit and sit and sit. Do you think preserve a body in it?
00:18:53
Speaker
I'm not going to let you in on my secrets. Like a bog? You know, like the bogs where they'll find a cell in on that. Is that how you're feeding it? Bog body. She said carnivorous. With small animals. Have you seen little shuffle holders? I'm not going to give away answers. Okay. Noted.
00:19:10
Speaker
You haven't mentioned Brett about all, because I just thought, it I was like, what do I have that would be different? And I have a tiny little ah evergreen that's been in a pot for years. And I add like other flowering annuals to it each year. so it it's like an Alberta spruce, Jessica, or something? it's It's a little spruce. I don't know what kind it is. I got it in North Carolina. It's Alberta. It only grows like an inch a year and never gets bigger. But Brett, all your bonsai.
00:19:38
Speaker
Yeah, I've got them. They're in containers. They're near the patio. Yeah, I've got them. Yeah, they're, they're pretty cool. They're there. I wouldn't necessarily recommend them as a low maintenance patio plant, but you know, if you're If you're feeling, feeling froggy, uh, you might go for it. The cool thing about, you know, I've said this a million times, but like the ones that I have, they pretty much stay outside year round. Like they're exposed to the elements. If it's really, really cold, I'll bring them into the back porch, but, uh,
00:20:09
Speaker
Yeah, I like that. I like that they live outside, even though they have their own little pots. When you say patio, when you mentioned the word when you were coming up and and putting this to paper, Brett, it's such a different thing in my mind when I don't know why, but I got to thinking about it after you put down the word patio in the podcast title. It immediately like goes in, and you just said and something that kind of related to that. It goes into stuff that kind of transcends just the plant for its utility. It's usually when we got it as a patio plant, it's something that we get to beautify an area, to fit the area. And it's kind of like ah almost a hobby thing. i don't know, maybe it's just me, but when you add the word patio to plant, I'm thinking immediately it's just kind of a hobby, recreational, kind of beautification sort of angle
00:20:53
Speaker
on things. It's like a living, weird a living aspect of the decor in some ways, or it's, yeah you take this very, like, you know, a lot of patios are concrete or, you know, some variation of that deck is just like, yeah, I, we talk about it as softening and I think it's that that's part of it. I think it's important landscape bringing it, you know, to life.
00:21:14
Speaker
It's, it's accenting it. It's, it's, and it's amazing what that does to like your, there's all kinds of things about spending time with plants and around plants and how it's good for us. And we, you know, just chills you out, relaxes you, but just a nice like reminder of that. This space is a kind of ah a living thing. And,
00:21:33
Speaker
it's It's on that, like the patio is or the whatever space is kind of like the fringe between the inside life and the outside life. So you kind of get the- Like outdoor rooms kind of thing. Yeah, the best of both. and I mean, there's a lot of places across the world that use their outdoor living spaces considerably more than um yeah and some people in the United States because they don't have AC or whatever.
00:21:53
Speaker
And um I just always like the, yeah, the like- Italian patio kind of vibe or like a you know, Mediterranean, Central American, all kinds of different places that, yeah, that have er these really like, and you'll, you'll see sometimes, and especially in cities, you'll walk down like,
00:22:12
Speaker
internationally to walk down and you'll see like every window has like some sort of plant growing on it or hanging out of it or something. And just that kind of like clinging to that, uh, that appreciation or that element, that inclusion of that element. Well, here's a, here's a personality test for you guys. When I, when you say patio plant, what immediately comes to mind a really shady, cool area or a really kind of hot, vibrant, sunny area?
00:22:37
Speaker
I mean, did you guys, I mean, I know it's both obviously. Hot, vibrant, sunny, but only part of the day. Okay. Split the difference. Uh, because you know, people, when they call into our office, sometimes they need some recommendations. You know, that's the first thing we have to ask, but, um,
00:22:52
Speaker
you know, patio is very situational to me. And a lot of times it's close to a house, which means it's on one extreme or the other. And I have that exact scenario in my own home. The back's super sunny, super hot. The Cali's love it back there. The tuberous begonias that I grow, not so much. We grow those on the front.
00:23:10
Speaker
where we have a tree in front of the shady side, it's shady all the time. So I think of extremes when I think of patios, either like super sunny or like Jessica, I don't know if your concrete containers out in the sun, but like you, then you start thinking about root zone temperatures and watering schedules. I mean, all it's like that's the tale of patios to me is kind of one extreme or the other. In a lot of cases, unless you're Brett and you have a little bit of either.
00:23:36
Speaker
of either Oh, yeah. my My idea of patio is not a real patio. it's That's what I was going to ask you what you when we say patio. Our back patio is ah it it faces squarely into the west.
00:23:51
Speaker
ah to And so it is hot in the afternoon yeah but it's pretty shaded you pretty chill most of the time before that but yeah it's a good morning it's a good morning spot to hang out in afternoon in summer it's a little bit rough were you gonna say something alexis you were gonna say like i i love something or i mean i oh i was gonna say i love a I love to see the patios when you've got, you know, off the first floor, multiple floors up and you've got all these draping plants that are coming down and for people who have like put up a little trellises to, and have a plant that binds up it. So like maybe blocks the sun or blocks the wind on the patio. Functional.
00:24:34
Speaker
Yeah, I was talking to somebody recently who was wanting on their porch. They had to take a tree down that shaded the porch. And they were like, well, I don't want what i don't want people being able to look into my porch because they're in a neighborhood. And I was like, oh, you could just put like a vine up there or something. And just there's so many options for that creating that like space, that room like space with plants.
00:24:55
Speaker
That's really fun. Yeah. Yeah. And the window boxes. Oh, go ahead. Well, you just you don't get as much escape. route escape at least from pots as know some other you know some other situations you're saying about window boxes Jess Yeah, that's something I always think looks really pretty when they're planted, right? And there's a house in Lexington. I know I pass all the time going to my in-laws in the summer and they always have really pretty window boxes that they can easily get to, right? Because it's like a one level house. Yeah, that's cool. Easily get to and probably easily water, but they are gorgeous every year and it just like, it really draws your attention, you know?
00:25:35
Speaker
very Southern living magazine kind of picture, very picturesque. Yeah. Garden and gun. yeah Yeah. Take it in that direction. That works. Sometimes you tell people that's a real magazine and they don't believe you. Oh, it is. It is it is a premium, premium feature. When I see window boxes, uh, especially nowadays where I either I'm not noticing them or they're just not as common. I know they're a high maintenance item, but, uh, so cool when you see those window boxes, uh, And they're well-maintained and they have a pop of color, whether it's geranium, you know, or petunia or something trailing. It's so cool to see those. There's a house of lesings in Lexington. Oh, there you go.
00:26:13
Speaker
No, it's okay. We're just all so excited to talk about patio plant. Yeah, now we're starting to- I think it's because it's been like so warm and then it's cold and then it's warm again and it's like, I want to plant something. yeah But I don't want all the pot inside. Yeah.
00:26:27
Speaker
I was just going to say like from the like mental health perspective, I noticed- So last year was like the first year since we've been in our house that I successfully had- A full like summer of a nice like patty patio patio pots like that, you know wasn't my house plans or something. There's like a design floral one because I kill everything basket I ever had. So I had one on the front porch and I had one on the side porch.
00:26:54
Speaker
I got shade and I was able to, number one, grow plants that I'm not going to grow anywhere else. And it was just like such a nice thing that like when I would come back up and come inside, and this is like, you know, coming from someone who has thousands of flowers in the field, right? it's It's not necessarily about just the flower. It was just like something...
00:27:14
Speaker
nice and fresh and lush that's like easy to take care of just responds really well and pretty quickly to whatever you need and it was just there it was just a bright on the top step just a little bright pop and uh you know i i was amazed how even though you know i have all of this other stuff available just like how something that simple just so refreshing yeah yeah And it seems crazy like to say that like I enjoy the watering part of it or just like the like the the nighttime routine with the sun staying out longer and then going around and watering or if you water in the morning, whenever you, you know, wins your opportunity. But to go around and check the little plants and like you said, it just adds that little extra pop of color to the area and you might also get some, you know, little critters as...
00:28:09
Speaker
bees or butterflies or other little visitors, you know, coming up closer while you're out on your point patio. I love the plants that attract like the butterflies to the patio. Like what am I thinking of? Or or insects in general, or like lantana or some of those that, you know, laana i love lantana containers. I i just, they that's what we have in the, some of those in the back from time to time because it's hot and dry. But yeah, I love the the things that bring like they particularly butterflies, but bees are fine too with me, but I love those plants that attract those things. Bees are fine with me. Bees are fine with me too. They're good. I mean, they're obviously attracted down with the zineas. They're okay, I guess. i mean Yeah, they their pollinators are okay. Buzz off, buddy.
00:28:50
Speaker
but yeah that i also love yeah I also love my veg in pots. I think that has been, yeah like again, going back to somebody who has tons of like land to be able to put in an in-ground garden of any size that I choose, maybe even the same size as the amount I have in pots.
00:29:09
Speaker
Just something about just like the accessibility of the pot that has been like I have a garden for the first time because I've done it all in pots and I don't have to break ground. I don't have to think about where things are going. and I don't think about weeding. It's just it's in a pot. I can do it when I want to do it. It has been a game changer and I'm growing so much garlic and i have so many tomatoes started that and I'm so excited about it. Just like a little something for me.
00:29:38
Speaker
yeah didn have challenges Yeah. I think we're, we like are more much more visual and symbolic and and react to symbols and the way that things that rep things, the way that things, uh, we interpret things and how they, what they represent to us than we ever really realize. And you think like,
00:29:58
Speaker
Growing food in a garden is this like functional thing. But the reality is that it looking nice and it being accessible and it being well put together and well thought out is as much of a, like the, the form of it is as important as the function itself. And it's like, yeah,
00:30:17
Speaker
It always, whenever you're like I'll, like I'll take and put a hanging basket or something up and it's like in the exact right place and it just looks amazing and makes me feel good. It always makes me appreciate ah like landscape landscape architects.
Gardening as a Hobby and Tips
00:30:30
Speaker
and like interior designers and garden designers and people like that because there's just so much about shaping the environment and the way that it impacts our lives that I would say that we don't understand but we actually do understand them we teach people things and unfortunately though a lot of landscape architects end up making their money like installing islands and parking lots and like you know in front of a Walmart or something but But the the core of the of the discipline and some of the cool projects that people get to do, it's just so like, oh, wow, that does look better.
00:31:02
Speaker
Wow. That's so much art science to that. is Yeah. It's just that's just it's what comes to mind when you're when you're talking about the Alexis that. You know, it just wouldn't be the same if I had to walk 300 yards and bend over to get it out of the ground. It just wouldn't be the same experience. I wouldn't be as happy with it. is it Yeah. Yeah. For me, it would be i'd be turning it into a job rather than something to enjoy, like a hobby. i'd be turning it into a job by putting it. It's just like me in my brain. That's the way it works, because I i would take it too far. Yeah.
00:31:38
Speaker
As I do, as What do you think it is about it that like so that signals to you and reminds you that this is not, this is just a hobby. That's like, what is it? Is it having it in the container that sort of sets it apart? literally the container. Yeah. It's like that it's up out of the ground. It's like the maintenance factor is just so different than something in ground. And then, um,
00:32:00
Speaker
Yeah, that it's literally contained, you know, just like, okay, well, I only have enough room. I only have this many pots. I want to grow these things. This is, you know, i got to I'm picking my favorites and stuff. In fact, I think it might be almost out of buckets, Jessica, so I might need some more. I heard a botanist say that it's a difference between a wild squirrel and having a pet squirrel. the pi like a pet I've heard a botanist called botanist called like the container plants. They're cuter and more accessible to you. They're like the pet squirrel. It becomes cuter and fuzzier if you have it accessible and where and where you go to rest. so Ray, you struck me as a guy who's had a pet squirrel in his life.
00:32:38
Speaker
I may have had some pet squirrels. If you feed them consistently and constantly enough over time, they will come and be. My aunt had some that are bordering on pets for sure. Yeah, but there's cats in the neighborhood. So then it turns out I was feeding some cats. The squirrels. Feeding some cats, some squirrels? Yes. So apparently the squirrels became acclimated to me and then the cats caught on to the fact that the squirrels. cycle assessment, baby. Yeah, I know. That's a mistake on part. Only the strong survive.
00:33:06
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. But they they were drawn to the patio area where I was relaxing. Not a good thing. So well so we weren some how about some logistics on sizes, soils?
00:33:16
Speaker
You mentioned the sunlight kind of thing, watering, maintenance. Any any what is what do extension agents say to people when they come and want to grow stuff in containers? The first thing I think of, Brett, is soil temp. That's the most problem I've had over time. If you if you take out of out of the equation, like the the medium, the the potting soil, the media, if you take out of the the equation container size, what's given me the most trouble over time and I've had to manage and come to really appreciate in both commercial settings, I've worked over time, commercial settings, and at home, is soil temperature. If you ever take
00:33:55
Speaker
ah you know, a thermometer, one of the, the, the tops that, you know, can measure from a distance and you measure the, so it's incredible how hot a container can get like a black container that's getting the sun blasting the side of it. And it's also amazing how much better results you get, depending on the plant, when you either mulch or you water at certain times of the day, pulse water, but managing the temperature and containers, you know, tell people that all the time and it's, it applies to certain types of materials more than others.
00:34:25
Speaker
But some containers just get too hot for even plants like strawberries. They just don't do well. But first of all is kind of think about temperature when you're thinking about containers. And and that that plays into probably, you know, some of the other things, materials and size and so on and so forth.
00:34:42
Speaker
I'd say i would tell everybody to make sure whatever container you're using it has drainage holes in it. Right. And depending on the size of the container, you might want to put multiple in there um because we often like can love our plants too much and water them too much. And, um and then also like, if it's say it's exposed, right. If it's not like under your porch, right. Where it's solely depending on you for water, right. If we do get ah the heavy rain or something you definitely want that to be able to, to drain, drain out.
00:35:18
Speaker
So, yeah, I usually talk about size of a container. So I go back to we've had my old coworker Alethea on here before, but she was my FCS agent and She did a patio garden on her back porch and she was asking me, ah you know, how many, what size pots did she need to get? Because she wanted to do jalapenos and she wanted to do tomatoes. And I said, you need a five gallon bucket, at least the size of a fat five gallon bucket per tomato. And then, you know, it's like half gallon size for, you know, something like a jalapeno.
00:35:55
Speaker
And somehow she took it in her her mind that like she could plant all of her plants in like all her tomatoes in a five gallon bucket and all of her peppers. And and she said she had the spiciest jalapeno pepper she's ever had. And I said, yeah, babe, because they were all of the capsaicin was being just pulled into one tiny little molecule. Fighting for that water.
00:36:20
Speaker
And she's like, oh. Because the planets were mad at you because of how crusty they were. i yeah i think she told that story on the pod. Go back and listen to the other story of Alethea. That was a good one. Only the strong survives.
00:36:34
Speaker
Yeah, so ah size matters, and especially with vegetable production, if you're to do veg in containers. So there's we have a publication where put it in the show notes. We call it ID 128, but it's Kentucky Vegetable Gardening.
00:36:51
Speaker
a booklet and there is a table in there for container vegetable recommendations. So there's a bunch of different ones. So not only does it tell you that, you know, um broccoli, you you what size container you need for broccoli, but it also gives you good varieties for containers, which for something like tomatoes is really helpful because a lot of tomatoes tend to get really large, but you can get full like slicer style tomatoes, but in a compact plant for a container. So I always like telling people that that's available.
00:37:22
Speaker
Yeah. If you go, when you go to the nursery or wherever the the modern plant labels are really great compared to what they used to be. Um, and there will be ones that say great for container. And if you, you know, if you don't see that, you can ask the people that work there or look them up online, like what you're look up on an ID one 28. But, um, I know last year when I was looking for stuff, I was, we, I did some container tomatoes last year and it was, uh,
00:37:47
Speaker
Yeah, just wanting to, because because the the thing, those things like to send roots kind of deep. And so if you don't get one that's more compact, that's going to handle that better. You're just, it's just, you're going to watch a long leggy plant die a slow, painful death in the side of a bucket and not get whole lot. Sounds like a song title.
00:38:06
Speaker
he Yeah. Long leggy plant die. What about media? Or as lesser people would call it, soil. soil I use like we're not regular potting media. Yeah, potting.
00:38:20
Speaker
So like just any. It doesn't have to be complicated, right? yeah Yeah. Not actual soil in a bucket because that'll make it. We've said it a million times. Yeah, don't dig it out of your garden. It's a heat-based media that would be labeled potting soil probably. Potting soil, yeah. yeah And a lot of people like the potting tools that have like extra stuff in it that holds the water a little bit longer. Modifiers, yeah. Modifiers, yeah. I would say like you don't have to spend money on that. If you really suck at remembering to water something, then that might be good. but It does work, yeah.
00:38:55
Speaker
Yeah. What we usually see is that people tend to overwater yeah and I would definitely not want something that has like extra water holding capacity that's out in the open because you're not going to be able to control the rain and you're going to have some problems that way. So I tend to just prefer, i know exactly what I'm getting with the, with the regular potting soil.
00:39:17
Speaker
That's less, that's kind of plays into that too, is also fertilizing. Right. Because you are controlling that nutrients go into that plant. um And you'll see it really quickly, ah depending on how often you're watering or how much rain we have, um especially with your vegetables, ah that yellowing starting to occur.
00:39:39
Speaker
for your indicator that you might need to give it a little bit of liquid fertilizer in with your regular watering. And I don't know if that has that in that chart or not of like when, um fertilizing containers and that ID one 28, or I could be making that up in my mind, but, um, but that's something to also consider is fertilizing throughout the season, your containers, because different plants will deplete what nutrients may be available in that commercial potting mix faster than others.
00:40:09
Speaker
Potting mix just doesn't hold any nutrients. I mean, if you look at potting mix under a microscope, it's literally little pieces of moss. That's what it is for the, you know, peat based if it's sphagnum peat based. But no, then that's the hardest thing for me besides temperature is the fact, just that fact, Jessica. And it depends on the plants you're growing. tomato is a lot different than a coleus, you know, and how much water it takes up. And the more you have to water that, you have no nutrients left after just a few days. So it's almost like, and I've never gotten this just right, but it seems like that's where your modified fertilizers that are coated, like Osmocote's a trade name, But a fertilizer like that, that releases a small amount of fertilizer every time you water to give it small micro doses along the way to kind of bump it along. does better than these big hot doses of full strength fertilizer because you know depending on once again your fertilizer schedule yeah you're trying to be a patio plant grower not a chemist a lot a lot of the like hydroponic and other things yeah had it's chemistry like you're you know oh it is exactly what you're i agree with your million parts per million the delayed release thing that you're talking about right i think is um but yeah it's right on stuff so keep in mind you're talking a bonsai guy here so how to water is like a
00:41:31
Speaker
existential philosophical question, but about how often are you watering like a container plant? Let's just assume it's not raining and let's just assume spring, peak, summer, and fall.
00:41:43
Speaker
Like about how often are you typically watering other than when it needs it? I mean, and maybe even how do you know when it needs it Five-gallon tomato during peak season is once in the morning, once in the evening. hungry Every day. yeah Every single day for something that's, you know, producing like free. If you think of the fruit load on your patio tomato, you mentioned bread. And, you know, the needs are huge. Even in five, eight, nine gallons of soil, the needs are huge. So that's just, you're just going to struggle to keep up with that. Like Jessica said, every day. Yeah. Everything else varies, just a huge amount. And it depends on if it's in a sunny location versus a shady patio. That has a huge impact. You know, the more shady it is, the less you have to typically water that, all things, you know, being equal besides that.
00:42:31
Speaker
I do think people tend to water too much when the plant is young and not enough when it's old. yeah Maybe it's because you're excited and you just planted it and you're whatever. But like, you know, that all of those leaves are, think of them as these things that are sucking moisture out and letting it go out into the air.
00:42:51
Speaker
And so the more leaves that there are, the more straws you have that are sucking up and spitting water out into the air. And so when it has little teeny tiny leaves, it's not moving much water. And so it doesn't need as much water, but when it's big and it's producing fruit it's doing all that kind of stuff.
00:43:04
Speaker
um So like, how might you know when to water? Well, with like hanging baskets, thinking about that, or just the pots, I just go and like lift them, right? If they feel light, then I water. Same thing. Oh my gosh. Kind of like what we talked about our houseplants, like window water, same principle. I lift the pots or I put my hands, like Bill actually touched the soil. um And then also just paying attention to the forecast. Like if it is going to be crazy hot, like I know going need more water.
00:43:37
Speaker
that day. But it's a lot of, just like with our house plants, if you if you can, like I'm not lifting those concrete pots, right? So I'm going around and I'm just like filling yeah like if they they need um some water or not with those.
00:43:51
Speaker
Yeah, I think the the lifting thing, you know, if you water water the plant really, really well and then feel what it feels like when it's heavy. And you have to do that a bunch of times. Like, know, people are like, I don't know. I mean, yeah, you guys know because you know how to lift it or whatever. But you just have to kind of calibrate your like, is this hard for me to lift? A little hard for me to lift? Okay, that's about where it needs. Okay, this is really easy. That means it's light and it it needs water. It's just...
00:44:15
Speaker
developing that sensitivity across time is is something you need to you just have to yeah calibrate your feelings yeah not letting your soil go hydrophobic on you because you went away for the weekend and you know maybe the plant's not looking too bad but it's time definitely time to water ah and the water just runs down the side of the pot between the soil and the pot the soil doesn't ever take it up that can also be a ah yeah a bear when you're dealing with some bigger containers the similarity that people talk about is like a sponge you know when a sponge is wet it can take more water but if you let a sponge really really dry out and then run it underwater the water just goes right off the edge and you know just beads up and rolls off and so you have to take some time to really get it re-soaked and it can be hard to do that's that hydro that
00:45:06
Speaker
dreaded hydrophobia that uh alex is talking about okay so i have one more and perhaps most important question do we have any tips for places to get cute pots or or fun alternative like depends on how creative you are a brett my wife goes to a thrift store and everything's a a container to her everything yeah i mean it may be a vase to some people but it's a container she's like can you drill hole in that i'm like i don't know I say that in my classes a lot of times that like almost anything that can hold soil and drains can have the potential to be a container. so you can use your imagination. It could be a boot. We don't know.
00:45:49
Speaker
They do also, they make ah ceramic drill bits, just FYI. I've got one. You can punch holes in the base of We'll not break the ceramic if you follow the instructions very carefully. I haven't had to figure that out. right Little diamond coated burr things that, yeah, anyway. but Anybody else? i just I use Jessica's old livestock mineral buckets.
00:46:15
Speaker
They do work great for growing veggies. For someone who has cows, ask them if they use minerals. They're but good volume of soil. Yeah, good volume yeah they're like they're really great for a lot of stuff. I've grown potatoes in them. The potatoes were kind of small, but I've grown potatoes in them. We attempted onions until my three-year-old went around and he went pop, pop, pop, made that sound and he popped all the onions out as they were growing. Yeah. But um yeah, those are good size. So you can like repurpose a lot of things, right? Or this is getting more into like almost raised beds kind of territory, but like water troughs or like other things like that in that realm that may like leak now, you know, you can't use them for their, you know, initial what they were originally purchased for.
00:47:06
Speaker
It can hold the soil and it's already leaking, right? So there's your drainage. um And, you know, those as planters. i think oh yougo a bird sorry ah i think you all might just be so cute that this is what you think like cut it' cute i have to make up you know i have to go extra cute in order to make up for this and so fuzzy this is like i don't know mineral mineral tub with the the black label with the nutritional needs on the side you can always paint it right like hot spray paint that baby pink who cares that's still a thing right people so for those who those who may be looking i was a little frustrated when i first went and looked for some at like the mate major your home centers the orange ones and the blue ones they are so expensive They're expensive, but they're also not that there's not that much variety.
00:48:03
Speaker
um And I went to a store called At Home, which is a large... It kind of reminds me of what was Garden Ridge when I was a kid.
00:48:14
Speaker
um It's like a large kind of semi-warehouse type store. the The pots can still be expensive, but there's usually some sort of an online coupon. um They have a shocking number of different...
00:48:28
Speaker
pot styles plastic ceramic concrete i mean uh overwhelming a number of options ones that look like terracotta don't they bring they have giant ones they have small ones awesome love them yeah and and and i got um ollie's same oh yeah yeah kind of a discount for time yeah you snagged some at uh at martin supply too um yeah so produce uh supply places that uh you know You can go get six packs or drip irrigation or whatever. They've carried more and more every year. They carry more styles, but I got some, they're plastic, but they're urns and they look you know more like a metal. And they and they i've the one I've had on my porch is is white. That looks kind of like a white concrete. you know It's a stone, whatever. I've had that thing on my porch for five years and it's I'm still going to use it. So, And those are really inexpensive, like kind of mind boggling. So if you've got a produce supply place, you can go even if you don't you know have a farm or something and you'll just pay tax, which is what you would pay anywhere. But you can get some really good stuff for cheap.
00:49:39
Speaker
I do that at landscape and nursery that we have a landscape and nursery place that sells a lot of stock and they install stuff. So they've got a, what I call a pile of pots and that's what they call It's about three stories high in the back. And I go and get, cause I love big volume pots. They're not pretty. And Jennifer will not allow me to use it on a pretty patio area. Because she says it's not her vibe. Whatever. But i love I love those big nursery containers. The big black.
00:50:05
Speaker
Yeah. And they're different series. I forget the numbered series. But they're they're about seven to eight gallons. And then there's squat pots that are also very good. But any which way, I go and raid their pile of pots all the time for very, very, very cheap.
00:50:18
Speaker
pennies on the dollar you know they're just looking to get rid of those and i am just like a squirrel in there digging through walnuts i'm just all the containers i love them yeah so check out if you're really crafty i've seen people um do like a take like some grout or cement and they'll on a plastic pot and so they'll go around the outside of it and so then it'll look like it's you know um rock or something like that yeah concrete and or they'll put stones on it or you know whatever just to boost the vibe yeah you make your hyper two fillings so there are a lot of options for lot there's a lot of options and whether you're a buy it and be done with it or ah thrift it and adapt it or a scavenge it from the back of the landscape place and then find a place to hide it type person mineral bucket reuser you there's a space you know in this in this container world for you so um that's all that's all i grow something in a pot this year if you've never done it before
00:51:21
Speaker
I'm telling you, it's a game changer. Have at it. Have at it. Even if it's some lettuce or just a marigold or some combination of the two, you might you might find yourself adding another bucket every year. Next thing you know, bucket farm.
00:51:37
Speaker
Awesome. Well, if you have any questions about container gardening, whether that is a house plant or a vegetable or ah just a flower, annual flower, whatever it is, if you've got questions, feel free to reach out to us via email. You can also follow us on social media at Hort Culture Podcast and check out the show notes and we'll we'll put some links into, you know, finding the right size for at least for veg. But if you've got questions on flowers or anything like that, please feel free to reach out.
00:52:07
Speaker
And we thank you for listening with us today. If you've got any ideas, please feel free to throw them out there. Leave us five stars. We'd appreciate it very much. Helps other people find our podcast as well. But we thank you for being here and hope you join us next time. Have a great one.