vue - Gardening with Peg | Planting Whimsical Cracked Pots

In this episode of "Gardening with Peg," WestSound Home & Garden's Peg Tillery and her friend, Melissa Lawrence, show us how to make whimsical cracked pots. Use your already broken flower pot, or crack a new one! Read more in our blog at http://wshg.net/featured/2015-05-13/gardening-with-peg-how-to-create-tiny-whimsical-gardens-in-cracked-pots/. The only supplies you need for this project, besides plants, are potting soil, hammer, safety glasses and decorations. The small critters and decorations to add whimsy can be found at a wide variety of locations. Many local nurseries are carrying accoutrements now to be used in miniature gardening. Lots of kids' toys would work well. Craft stores, big box stores, even grocery stores and thrift stores are a good place to scout out items to include in these charming creations. Plant ideas include sedums and sempervivums (any kind works well), dianthus (look for miniature and clumping varieties), geraniums (several come in miniature varieties), thyme, and nearly any of the "stepable" ground covers available at numerous local nurseries and garden centers ( http://www.stepable.com/ ). We chose: Sedum Lime Zinger, Sedum makinai 'Ogon,' Sedum Blaze of Fulda (aka Stonecrop), Cupressus macrocarpa 'Goldcrest' (aka Goldcrest Cypress), Lewisia, Sutera cordata (Blue Bacopa) and Sagina subulata. Select plants that require the same watering, fertilizing and light exposure conditions. Since these charming cracked-pot plantings are multilayered, they'll need daily watering and monitoring until the plants are established. Even after established, during summer and fall months, they'll probably need to be watered once a day. Most plants can happily remain in the containers for several years. Once they start outgrowing the container, they can be installed out into garden beds. If you'd like to create a new cracked pot vignette each year, select annual plants. You could even try veggies. Lettuces, peas and radishes would look great in a cracked pot.