Planting Those Containers for Summer

It’s that time of year again, when I get outside and get those containers planted for the summer months. It’s still nice right now and not too hot, but that will change quickly.  I love adding colorful annuals to my white planter boxes and it adds such beauty to the patio outside in my backyard.  I can’t imagine my summer and outdoors without having some colorful summer plants added to my spaces, can you?

This year, I’m partnering with Ecoscraps® once again and they are sponsoring my containers this season.  I introduced you to them last year and love their concept.  I looked at their website and really liked what I saw.  Two college students noticed how much food was being wasted when they went out to eat and decided to do something about it….by turning it into gardening products. 

Since 2010, EcoScraps has been working to be a part of the solution by reusing this waste and keeping it out of the landfills. They want to educate and make sustainability something that’s part of mainstream America.  I personally throw way too much stuff away that I can’t eat before it goes bad. That’s the hazards of cooking for one or 2, it’s so hard sometimes to eat it all and use it all before it starts to go to waste.  Ecoscraps takes that food waste and makes wonderfully rich garden soil with it.

Sold at Walmart, I would love for you to check out their product line.

So what’s so different about THIS dirt?

The Ecoscraps founders saw a better way to make soil which in turn is better for our gardens and planet.  Bad food transformed into rich, organic soils does a lot of good for all of us as families and for the environment.

Instead of all that wasted food going to landfills, it’s going into this rich dirt to organically grow plants and food.  that’s a win-win for all!

OK, so why not support a company who does all of this?

Take a look at their video on the process of turning waste into soil!

Getting my 2 big bags of Ecoscraps potting soil from Walmart, I was ready to start planting.  Filling up my big containers is a good sized job, but this soil is rich and will hold water and minerals to help support my plants.  I’ll share more about my plants in another post, but for now watch me plant them!

I’m adding these pretty colors to 2 other planters out there too.

So, this is how those big containers end up at the end of the season. It all dies back and the plants just sit there after their growing season comes to an end.  We all have these sitting around, don’t we, just begging for new plants to be added. But, you have to have new soil added to get the season kicked off with new plants.

Once I take the old mass of roots and dirt out of the container, it all comes out in one big (and heavy) clump.  I drug this clump to the edge of my yard in the trees and bushes and eventually it will decay. You simply can’t reuse dirt when the roots are this thick, plus for new plants to thrive it needs rich new dirt in the container.

In goes the new Ecoscraps soil with its rich blackness which will nourish my new plants and they will be ready for growing and putting on lots of new blooms.  Yippee for that!  I love my blooms!

I added four plants in here for now and may have room for one more, but they do grow and spread out pretty fast, so these will be really gorgeous in a few weeks after they grow and get taller and fuller.  I always try to use something tall in the middle, something spilling on one side, and definitely a couple that add lots of color and blooms to the mix.  I’ll keep you posted later on how they do this summer!

In the meantime, I’ve got a gift card giveaway for all of you!  Ecoscraps is giving away a $50 Walmart gift card so you can try out their potting soil too. I love being able to give away great stuff to all my readers, so this is a win-win for all of us.

All you have to do to win the $50 Walmart card is leave your name and email address on the Rafflecopter widget and answer this question in the comments below…

Have you planted your summer flowers yet and where are your main planting areas? Containers or garden beds? Let’s talk about flowers today!

Note: This post is sponsored by Ecoscraps, but my love of container gardening is all my own!

a Rafflecopter giveaway