CLEAN UP YOUR CONTAINERS

While you’ll want to use some pots for a winter display, you might prefer to retire others until the spring/summer. There are a few good clean-up practices to follow. Probably the most important one is to discard your used potting soil/compost. The compost will have been sitting outside all summer collecting insect eggs, weed seeds, slugs, snails, fungi and mould spores. These can all overwhelm and set your plants up to fail the following year. It’s also a lot easier to discard old soil or compost now than during or after winter when it has become soggy or waterlogged.

First, remove all soil and brush out any that is stuck to the sides or bottoms. Make a bleach solution of one part bleach to nine parts water to sterilise and kill any bacteria or mould. Immerse pots in the solution for 15 minutes. Then rinse thoroughly, dry outside and stack upside down to store. These inverted pots can also double up as stands for winter containers.