Take care to retailer terra cotta pots this winter

Do I really want to maneuver my new terra cotta containers inside for the winter? My gardening buddies have suggested me to place them in my storage throughout the chilly months.

— Sarah Jones, Barrington

Many gardeners use containers so as to add curiosity to their gardens and there are a number of steps you may take to guard most terra cotta containers over winter. Terra cotta containers are standard and most of them are porous and take in water that can freeze and thaw repeatedly by way of the winter and finally trigger the pots to crack if they’re left exterior. Seibert & Rice assures that its high-fired terra cotta pots — that are made from particular iron-and-calcium-rich clay from Impruneta, Italy — can stay open air even absolutely planted if correctly elevated. If the containers are positioned instantly on the bottom over winter, particles can block the drainage gap, which permits water to gather and freeze the pot to the bottom. When the pot is moved the next spring, the underside could fall off as if it had been reduce off. The edges of the container also can crack, with the clay coming off in skinny sheets.

The late fall freezes shouldn’t pose any issues to your terra cotta containers, so you may go away them out on show till arduous frosts have utterly killed the vegetation in them. Flowering kale can final properly into November and nonetheless look good. Begin by emptying your containers. Take away lifeless vegetation, and if the vegetation that had been within the pots didn’t have any illness issues, put the particles in your compost pile. If the vegetation had been diseased, throw the vegetation and rising medium away, as most residence compost piles don’t generate sufficient warmth to kill diseased organisms. Retain any rising medium that you just’d wish to maintain in a plastic container or a bin and brush the pots clear as wanted. Combine equal components of thenew rising medium with the outdated medium subsequent 12 months if you’re reusing it. Scrub the pots with an answer of 1 half bleach to 10 components water to disinfect them if crucial due to a illness drawback. As soon as the pots are dry, they are going to be able to put inside for the winter. I’ve had good luck storing my terra cotta containers in an unheated storage even with the rising medium left in them. Terra cotta pots I’ve left exterior for the winter have all finally cracked and develop into unusable. If you happen to should retailer your terra cotta pots exterior, stack them the other way up and elevate them off the bottom. Cowl them with a tarp to maintain them protected against rain and snow so they won’t take in water.

Containers created from supplies reminiscent of wooden, forged iron, metallic, concrete, fiberglass, lead, plastic and dry solid limestone could also be left exterior in winter. When shopping for fiberglass or plastic containers, search for ones which are UV resistant, as daylight can degrade the plastic over time and trigger it to fade in colour, develop into brittle and crack. Typically, it’s best to retailer ceramic containers inside although the coating on these pots will maintain moisture out for essentially the most half. Small chips or cracks can permit water in and hurt even coated ceramic pots. I do know of gardeners who’ve left their ceramic pots exterior in winter over a protracted time period with good outcomes.

For extra plant recommendation, contact the Plant Info Service on the Chicago Botanic Backyard at plantinfo@chicagobotanic.org. Tim Johnson is senior director of horticulture on the Chicago Botanic Backyard.