The No Effort Secret to Growing Stunning Containers

Photo by Roger Bradshaw

​Whether you live in an apartment where container gardening is your only option or you have a large property that calls for the placement of many different containers, its certain that pots are a necessary part of growing things. 

Without flower pots, the exterior of our home would undoubtedly look a little...blah. 

But planting them up every Spring and Summer can be a lot of work and quite costly.

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​Besides properly growing perennial flowers in your containers that just happen to bloom profusely, how else can  you get a boldly beautiful container garden for minimal effort? 
​

​I have over forty attractive containers all over our property for the purpose of vegetable and herb growing, but also to add big splashes of color that my family, as well as, our neighbors can enjoy. I put containers everywhere; on the front porch, the deck, in flower beds, I even put them in the vegetable garden.
 
With a lot of containers comes a lot of work though. If I can cut corners and remove some of the effort involved in having an impressive garden, I definitely will.
 
The secret that I'm sharing with you will save you so much time and energy and also a ton of money.
 
I grow a lot of different plants in pots but the #1 way that I create an effortlessly gorgeous exterior is with my petunias.

So what's the secret?

​The secret certainly is not that I garden with petunias but how I get them to work for me.

In case you did not know, petunias are annual flowers that will die upon the first frost. Unless you live in a zone 9-11. 

But I live in zone 6, in Indiana. It gets cold and we get snow. But my petunias grow back every year. Yes, and I barely have to lift a finger.

​Here is how...
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Step 1

When my petunia seed pods are ready, I first pick them off and drop them into an envelope. I like having some stored this way as an emergency stash, for giving, and for growing any extras that I may need next year.

How do you find the seeds?

​The seed pods develop at the base of a spent flower and look kind of like a green little Hershey Kiss. They are ready when the pod has dried up and turned a light brown color. Wait until they start to split open slightly then carefully pinch them off of the stem. ​

Step 2

Now for the real secret. I drop some of the dried up seed pods right back into the potting soil. I usually wait to do this until the near end of the season so the seeds don't start to develop at the end of summer.

I throw the pod into the dirt, as well, as there are usually some seeds in there too. I sprinkle these tiny black seeds allover so that the container will be nice and full next Summer. You do not need to touch them after sprinkling. 

Step 3

When the growing season is over and the stems are all dried up, I use my Fiskar pruners to cut them all off down to the potting soil. 

​Step 4
Leave the container right where it is, all winter long. Now ignore it. Yep, you don't need to water it, you don't need to worry about any freezing temperatures. 

Just wait patiently until Spring. Little green blooms will start to appear when the temperatures are right. 
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Important Tip
Do not use ceramic pots with this technique. I bring all of my ceramics into the garage during the winter because they will surely crack outside when it freezes. 

If you are wanting to use this process for ceramic pots, then instead drop the seeds into some disposable plastic pots from the garden center and leave those outside. You can transplant the baby petunias when the stems are about three inches tall. 

​All in all...

My parents have been using this tried and true technique for over 20 years to grow petunias for minimal effort. I've been doing this for 2 years now and love the fun splash of color this brings to our home. 

We love the surprises we are given by these flowers. Some are pink and white stripes and some are a sweet light lavender color. Some rare ones are such a deep purple that they look like a rich glass of wine.

This year I even had pale yellow petunias with a beautiful purple center. No matter the color, these flowers all reach in way that creates a big show. We get so many compliments from our guests. 

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