Help! Big container help!

[Completenewbie]

I'm a complete beginner to gardening and have no idea what to do with a big square container at the front of our house (south facing).

It was sprouting all sorts of green stuff and so in order to try and make it less messy I pulled it all out and now I'm left with a big box of old soil that appears to be sprouting new green stuff and is being used by the local cats as a litter tray.

I did the typical amateur thing and thought it would be best to start by going to the garden centre and buying plants that I thought looked nice and looked like they would go together. I then got home and had a crisis of confidence and now here I am, posting on a gardening forum...

I have some geraniums, spider plants, celosia, cordyline red star and ellwoodii.

So I suppose I need to start by emptying out the container and replacing the soil with compost? Any particular kind of compost? And then are the plants all OK to go together?

Ps. completely new so please keep it simple

Thanks x

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forum

Sounds like a nice combination of plants, as far as I know they all enjoy full sun. The Cordyline could get quite big though, and the geraniums may not survive the winter if they're not brought inside, but I can't foresee any major issues. Given that you've already got them I'd suggest planting them and see how it goes!

In terms of sorting out the container, you don't necessarily need to start from scratch with the soil. Get rid of any obvious cat poo and make sure there is good drainage, and use a good organic compost if you need to supplement what is already there. Given that you're finding it difficult to stop plants growing in there suggests to me that the soil is probably pretty good already.

 

[Completenewbie]

Thank you! That's easier than I was expecting!

 

[alp]

Welcome to the forum, @Completenewbie !

If you have iplayer, you can catch up with the last episode in which it shows how to dress up a container. Might be a good idea to incorporate some sand, as Becky says, to improve the drainage and add some slow release fertiliser. Add some geranium which is fairly tough, heurchera which is evergreen with flowers, a bit of grass, ivy leaves draping Pansies which are cheap and easier to take care of and petunias are reduced in diy stores, so they can be a very good choice. You can even add some strawberries or have a cherry tomato!

 

[JamieB]

I’d say add a citronella, lemon grass, some herbs. Bug repellent! You might find some cat repellent too.