Go potty for planting

Available outdoor space can quite often be confined to a windowsill, balcony, terrace or paved courtyard where pots are the only option you’ve got.

There’s also a new breed of gardener – young hipsters who have discovered indoors plants – and now they want to bring this idea outside, even if they are just renting, so they can move their “potted” garden from flat to flat.

Once the gardening bug bites there’s no going back, so this week I’d like to kick off our spring gardening with three types of space you can create in containers.

ALPINE

The first container has a slightly unusual shallow bowl shape.

This garden mimics a scene you might find halfway up a mountain – a reinvention of an Alpine trough garden that is usually created in old Belfast sinks.

The plants need good drainage so make sure there are holes in the container, and rather than using a humus-rich or a peat-based compost, use a mix of 50% John Innes No. 2 with 50% horticultural grit.

I’ve added in a selection of stonecrops and houseleeks.

Sempervivum ‘Rubin’ has dark maroon rosettes, Sedum ‘Coral Carpet’ has white flower heads over mats of bright-green tinged bronzered foliage, and Sedum ‘Cape Blanco’ will produce golden yellow flowers over mats of pretty rosettes of silverywhite fleshy leaves.

When the danger of frost is gone you can add in more tender species such as cacti and other succulents. I’ve put a few stones on their sides to create the strata of a rock face and top-dressed with grit.

This container will appreciate full sun and it won’t mind a windy exposed place – as long as it’s bright – and will thrive on neglect!

These plants will also do very well in a little soil planted in the cracks of an old wall.

WOODLAND

The second is a woodland garden, which is the perfect option for a shady courtyard.

The focal point is a small flowering crabapple tree whose pretty white blossoms will develop into small red fruits over the summer.

Instead of placing it in the centre of the pot, it’s positioned towards the rear to give a more natural aspect.

Beneath its shade are a gathering of violas – make sure you dead-head these regularly to keep the display going.

But the real star of this arrangement is Brunnera ‘Alexander’s Great’ with a lovely spray of blue flowers and silvery

ots and containers are becoming increasingly important when it comes to gardening. The Alpine container mimics Alpine trough gardens usually created in old Belfast sinks The woodland garden is perfect for shady spots