How many pots do you have?

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Primrose
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My husband was lightly grumbling the other day about the number of pots I have stored, admittedly not very tidily in my potting shed area . He,s probably right and I do need to have a sort out but at this time of year you always seem to need extras for surplus seedlings.
I,m loathe to have a clear out now Before I,ve really started serious sowing.

So how many pots do you have? Is it too many ? I reckon I should delay clearing out until June when all the key stuff has been potted on. I store them stacked by size. Is there a better way?
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Strangely, I was lamenting to my son yesterday that I am running our of pots. I always grow too many tomato and pepper plants, pot them up into approx. 10cm pots and then give most of them away! So this year I am seriously short of roughly that size. Many of our pots are at least 40 years old because they came with us from our previous large garden. More of the story: ask people to return the pots!
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Geoff
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I wish you hadn't asked that - set me off on a half-hearted survey!
I seem to have about 100 trays/modular trays planted up, 9 sets of full rootrainers and 1200 pots. Highlights in the pots are 121 sweet peas, 159 chrysants (old shooting stools and new cuttings), 27 dahlia tubers set to sprout, 69 tomatoes, 43 peppers and 400 bits and pieces in cold frames 'that might come in'.
Then there are the countless empties in the potting shed (more trays, modules and rootrainers to the right out of shot) and two boxfuls in the garage that a friend of my wife's gave me when her father died.

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Westi
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Geoff I think you might win!
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Primrose
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:THANKS GEOFF ,!!!

That makes me feel much better. I can't match your display but my husband may begin to wish he'd kept quiet when I show him your ohoto and suggest he builds me a nice storage and display cabinet like yours !!! : :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
sally wright
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DISPLAY CABINET!!!!! Love it!!!!! It sounds so MUCH MORE organised than a mere pot stash.....

I have perhaps 5000 pots of various sizes and enough cells for about 8000 bedding plants so I would like to think I know what I am talking about. So here are my guidelines for a well organised pot stash.

Only keep on the shelves the sizes of pots you actually use. All the rest can be either shoved into plastic sacks under the staging, sent off for recycling, donated to a local charity plant stall of some kind, or you could organise a pot swap with a few other people.

Put out the word that no pot will be turned away. I do this; I keep what I want and pass on the rest as above.

Keep an eye on the recycling bin at your local garden centre for pots of the sizes you use - you can pick up quite a few that way - most garden centres don't mind if there is some pots outgoing as well as incoming.

Keep your stash tidy, that way you know you have enough of the right sized pots and you don't have to go racketing through the heaps. You will knock over more than one heap and cause breakages and that broken pot will always be the size you needed most - it's just the way life works.....

Using a "set" of pot sizes that fit your growing spaces and staging areas makes it much easier to fit in as many plants as possible.

Never put spare plants into your standard pot sizes - keep some similar sized pots for the surplus so you can keep your good pots. Call me anal/mean but I would transfer a surplus plant into another pot rather than give away one of my good pots.

To avoid damaging pots at transplanting time de-pot your bedding/ veg transplants into a tray or crate at the potting bench. This way the pots aren't dragged all over the garden and you spend less time crouched over holes when putting the plants in the earth. This is especially useful if you use a lot of cell trays as these are really fragile. You don't lose nearly so many labels either!!!

When you have washed seed trays etc, put them into a new bin liner and tie the top to keep them clean until you need them.

Before putting pots and cell trays away after you have emptied them, allow them to dry if you can and tap out the excess soil. This means they will stack in neater heaps and the shelves will not get so full of soil and other grot. They will also be MUCH easier to separate when you next need them.

Regards Sally Wright.
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Primrose
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As usual Sally some very helpful thoughts and hints which I'll bear in mind when the grand "sort out" takes place. We usually have a fund raising "seed swap and plant sale" day for our village library so thw point about not putting surplus plants into pot sizes you will later need is a sensible one.
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Or just tidy up every 10yrs or so & put extra's in the big crate near the shop on site! (Not the 'dead' cracked ones). Strangely I found it weird to not have a huge collection of pots when I did that; & I did regret a few decisions especially this year when potting on more as Mother Nature is not playing fair! BUT - the clay pots I was given by a long left neighbour do not go anywhere! Some are tiny so I think for one of those theatre things or potentially too small for that even as can cup in your palm & in fact event the largest is small but a couple have an interesting wee HRM stamp on them.

Suggestions welcome for use of these as they are well old regardless of whether the stamp is real or not.
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sally wright
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I know what you mean about not parting with your vintage clays. I have one in my stash that came from the nursery that existed before the old Spurs stadium was built; which makes it around 150 years old I think. I also have some hand thrown ones which are really lovely. Most of the ones I have are made of the beautiful dark red clay that comes from the Midlands.

If you ever have to repair a cracked or broken old clay pot; yes it's possible. I use Milliputt (terracotta colour). Here's how.

Wash the broken pieces thoroughly in soapy water to get soil and other grot off. Do not allow the pot to dry out (important). Be careful not to cut yourself as the shards can be quite sharp.

Tape the pieces together on the outside using a wide sellotape (duct tape glue does not come off easily); making sure that the bits align properly. Make sure this is tightly done as you will be moving the pot around quite a bit to get at the damage inside.

Mix the Milliputt according to the instructions; but work a little water into the mixture (just a few drops). Wear gloves!!!!

Apply the glue mixture to the inside of the pot over the seam and spread it out to about one inch on either side of the joint. Work it well onto the pot so it gets into the pores and cracks of the pot; then smooth the glue out so that roots cannot get underneath it. Use some drops of water to help with the smoothing. Do this on a warm day as the glue being spread onto a cold pot makes it much harder to work with. If you need help getting to awkward spots a small pack of clay modelling tools is helpful.

Allow the glue and the pot to dry out for a few days before attempting to fill the pot. This joint repair will not be frost proof so the pots repaired like this will be for summer use only. If the joint does not glue up properly you can chip/scrape/sand off the excess glue and have another go.

Regards Sally Wright.
Westi
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Thank you Sally - a couple of them are cracked & broken but I like them so much as so fine & thin if I find a cracked one it gets the bits put inside the pot & I wrap them up in newspaper.

Any ideas on what I could grow in the really tiny ones or were they just for first sowing in their time like our plastic?
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sally wright
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What about something like cacti or succulents; there are some really small ones that are very slow growing such as lithops which would look really good in a clay pot. The weight of the clay pot will stabilise cacti etc much better as they can be quite top heavy.
Regards Sally Wright.
Kristine_M
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Geoff wrote:I wish you hadn't asked that - set me off on a half-hearted survey!
I seem to have about 100 trays/modular trays planted up, 9 sets of full rootrainers and 1200 pots. Highlights in the pots are 121 sweet peas, 159 chrysants (old shooting stools and new cuttings), 27 dahlia tubers set to sprout, 69 tomatoes, 43 peppers and 400 bits and pieces in cold frames 'that might come in'.
Then there are the countless empties in the potting shed (more trays, modules and rootrainers to the right out of shot) and two boxfuls in the garage that a friend of my wife's gave me when her father died.

IMG_4484.JPG

omg I think you won
Colin2016
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Not enough it seems as when I start potting up the seeds I have loads but as the day progresses I run out of the size I want.
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Primrose
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Our potting shed area has just undergone a major clear out. Forty years of surplus accumulated pots have just been disposed of. The remainder, and i still have plenty are all nicely categorised and stacked. (But mostly alas still unwashed!!) That,s a job for a warmer sunny day.
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Geoff
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Congratulations. I confess I'm not a pot washer, if they are dry I reckon they wipe clean well enough.
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