Set yourself up for success by starting with the right supplies. The potting soil, fertilizers and mulch you use matters! Read on for our tips to keep your flowers and plants happy and your container gardens looking fabulous all season long.

POTTING SOIL – The first step to healthy plants is to use a quality potting soil from a garden center. Do your plants a favor and replace the potting soil in your outdoor planters once a year (at least the soil from the top half of the planter). Julie and I have made a habit out of replacing our soil with our summer planting, it’s easy to remember if you replace it the same season every year.

FERTILIZER – We like a granular, slow-release fertilizer. Just mix it in with your potting soil before you add the plants. This type of fertilizer is supposed to last all season long. However, we like to give our flowers a little help mid-summer and use a bloom booster fertilizer every one to two weeks. Any garden center or big box hardware store will sell these types of fertilizer. We also like to use a product called Soil Moist in the summer if the pots do not have an automatic drip system. Soil Moist helps keeps soil moist longer in between watering, just like the name says!

MULCH – Once we are finished planting the container, we like to top dress the container with mulch. Adding mulch makes the containers look “finished” and helps to keep the soil from drying out in the summer and keeps the plants insulated in the winter. Our favorite type of mulch is a shredded cedar, which you can find at your local garden center.

So that’s the scoop. As long as you start with good quality potting soil, fertilizers and mulch you are well on your way to a beautiful container full of healthy plants. We’ve included a link to our favorite fertilizers here. Do yourself a favor and try them when you pot up your summer planters. You won't be sorry!