How to plant in pots outside?

Want to decorate with jars like no one else can? And what exactly are this year’s trend plants? Agronomist Anders Røyneberg shares his best advice and tips.

Tip of the week: An entrance, a balcony or a terrace can be turned into a beautiful oasis with pots full of fine flowers.

The expert: Anders Røyneberg is an agronomist, sexologist and known as arcticgardener on Instagram, where he has over 118,000 followers. He is current with the book “Krukkedilla – ornamental plants and edible plants for the outdoor space”.

1. What are the advantages of flowers and plants in pots?

– Fortunately, you don’t need a lot of space. You can do this on a small balcony, entrance area or terrace. I get really happy from an entrance hall or outdoor space with nice jars filled with beautiful summer flowers, says Anders Røyneberg.

One of the advantages of planting in boxes and pots is that they heat up faster and thus the plants germinate faster.

– You can also sow the seeds directly. Sow poppy seeds, marigolds, sunflowers or other things you like, says Røyneberg.

2. How about pots and plants on a budget?

Røyneberg suggests:

• Get a mason’s bucket and make a drainage hole in the bottom.
• Fill the bucket (1/3) with twigs, leaves, grass clippings or other organic material from the garden.
• Top up with soil and plant your favorite plants inside.

– If you choose blooming summer flowers, such as daisies in the pots, these can live all summer if you take care to pinch off spent buds. Then there will be new shoots all the time, and you can actually have the flowers until the frost comes, he advises.

If you have old pots that are a bit dull and faded in colour, these can easily be given new life.

– Jars can be sprayed with bengal varnish in your favorite colour. I like bronze, gold and navy blue, says Røyneberg.

3. How to get lush and beautiful plants?

– It is absolutely essential to have nutrient-rich soil in order to have good plants that abound. Don’t throw away the potting soil from last year, he advises.

If you are going to reuse potting soil from last year, proceed as follows:

• Add new nutrients to the soil every spring, either by mixing livestock manure products such as cow compost or chicken manure pellets into the soil, or by mixing artificial fertilizers such as lime nitrate into the water. It is poured over the plant soil.
• Kitchen waste is also suitable. If you have coffee or tea left in the cup or jug, mix it with water and pour over the potting soil. Eggshells are also fine. Then the plants get nitrogen and calcium, which are important for growth.

– Choose one of these fertilizer supplements for your pot plants, otherwise there can be an overwhelming number of choices, points out the agronomist.

His favorite is chicken manure pellets.

– I fertilize 2-4 times a month in the summer months, depending on the plant variety, to get extra nice and large potted plants.

4. Which plants/flowers are best suited in pots?

1. Perennials for outdoor spaces that tolerate shade to semi-shade and cope with some rain are, for example, lily of the valley/hosta and ferns. The latter I collected from the side of the road and potted over in my pots. They withstand the climate over large parts of Norway. They often overwinter in the pots outdoors and return each spring.
2. If you like large and flowering perennials that are also evergreen, rhododendrons can thrive in larger pots.
3. Many people like lavender, but a simpler and beautiful alternative is catnip, which got its name because cats can get an intoxicating effect from the plant. It thrives well in pots and boxes.

5. What are the most exciting plants of the year?

– Plants trend in the same way as music and clothes, says Røyneberg.

And one of the very simplest, is something you can easily do yourself.

– Now the big hype is popcorn grass. You can easily sow this yourself during May/June. You need a jar of soil and unpopped popcorn from the store. Feel free to start the process indoors before you put the grass outside, he says.

Proceed like this:

1. Sprinkle a handful or two of popcorn over the potting soil, preferably densely.
2. Cover with a 3-5 cm layer of soil, water and place the pot in a sunny location.
3. Then you get popping in the pots within one to two weeks and a beautiful ornamental grass in the potted garden.
4. The grass stands until the frost comes.

– Another of this year’s popular plants is giant verbena (Verbena Bonarensis), says Røyneberg.

He describes it as a tall, elegant and beautiful flower which, with its height of up to two metres, stretches over the other potted plants.

– Feel free to get a verbena in the spring, take cuttings and get lots of verbenas for the outdoor space. I myself ended up with over ten pieces in my pot garden, says Røyneberg.