A first-person gardening vlog showing a porch/entry transformation using container plants and an existing drip irrigation system. The speaker selects tall dahlias and other plants, arranges containers with a mix of symmetry and variation (using thriller/filler/spiller design), describes basic drip-system components and quick installation tips, and adds planters to block a dog from drinking at a water fountain. The tone is practical and personal, with hands-on advice and design commentary.
Foreign. Taking the time to work on this back entry, it is long overdue. I knew I needed some plants with height, and when I saw these dahlias, I knew they'd be perfect. The nice thing about this area I'm working in is there's an existing drip system that we've been using. I'm just going to push things around and work around it until I have all the final plantings done, and then I'll put the drip system back in. One of my goals is to add some extra planters around my fountain so this sneaky little one stops drinking out of the water fountain. She's been sitting here watching me the whole time, hoping I'd go around the corner so she could drink out of the water fountain. I picked up these tall containers and I got these risers that are on wheels. I think having these in front of the water fountain will definitely discourage her. When selecting and placing plants, I like to have some symmetry but not have it be too matchy matchy. So I think that I've achieved that with the two tall containers on the sides of this step. And then I just have some height but not super matchy on the two sides. I like the way this looks. I have a container for my tools and these here are specific to my drip system. I just used a couple pliers and a needle nose. I have a punch for if I need to make any holes in the irrigation system. And I have a couple of go to adapters and then I have my emitters that I use and that's pretty much all I have to do because this is already an established system. I've got soil in all my pots now, so I'm ready to dry fit all the plants and see if I like the placement. When picking plants, I really like to find plants that are on sale regardless if they're on sale or not. I always make sure that they don't have any insects. Their leaves look healthy, they no signs of fungus. If there's extra roots, I don't have an issue with that. I just break them up when I get them. Sam, when taking plants out of the nursery containers, be careful so you don't break any of the stems. Some. Some plants are definitely more delicate than others. This one was definitely being difficult with me, so I just cut the nursery container and I was able to pull it out. You may have heard me say this before if you've seen some of my other videos, but generally when planting in containers, I like to have a thriller, which is the tall plant that goes upward A filler, which is a plant that kind of fills in the base of the container, and a spiller that spills over the sides. So I'm kind of following that concept here with most of these containers. Throughout this video, you'll see me putting lots of soil in around the plants. It's good to make sure there's no air pockets and that the plants have all of the soil that they need around them. When possible, I put the drip system through the bottom of the pots because it just one, looks nicer, and two, it helped keep the drip system in place. Sometimes they can fall out or get knocked out of place if they're coming up and over the container. So this way it works out pretty good. Do you have any favorite plants you like to put in your containers? Comment below and let me know I'm really interested. I've been wanting to try these kangaroo paw plants. I love them. They're drought resistant and I just think they're beautiful. So I'm really excited to finally get some and plant them. If you're curious how this works, basically you take the tubing and you put it over the barbed end of the emitter. This emitter actually has a stake built in, which is really nice. And you just push that on and then you place it into the plant. Sometimes it's hard to place into the plant because if you just planted it because the soil is very soft, so you have to find an area where it'll actually stay in. But once you do, it stays. If you're considering automatic watering, getting a drip system is so worth it. There's a lot of great YouTube videos on how to install and maintain a system. And a lot of the stores have great starter packages that you can get started with. But definitely start small and test it out because they can be kind of overwhelming sometimes if they have issues. But well worth it. For these three new containers that I put in to block my dog from the water fountain, I didn't run the drip up through the bottom. I just chose to quickly daisy chain them and hook them up because it's easy to hide the the tubing with these tall containers. So basically I'll just put a tube on each one of these connectors and run it over the edge of the pot and it should work good. I can't believe I just did this. I knocked this beautiful bloom off with another plant. It got caught on it. I'm so sad. I love the way this turned out. It's such a beautiful space to be. I can now pull out my furniture and get my cushions on and sit out here and enjoy these every day. I can't wait to watch them fill in, spill over the containers. They're going to be gorgeous. And hopefully my sneaky dog doesn't get to the water. We'll see.
