Bulbs, Tubers, and Roots   Basic Gardening Tips   Container Plants   English Garden   Fall Planting Guide   Ground Covers   Purify Your Home Air   Mediterranean Gardens   Patio Furniture Care   Planting Guide   Shade Garden Basics   Starlet Flowers   Toxic Plant Alert   Tree Lighting Suggestions   Main Care Sheets Page Container Plants   Soil:   For real success with plants in containers, you first need a good soil mix. For most plants we recommend Roger’s Potting Soil. For cactus use 1/2 potting soil and 1/2 clean (builders) sand.   Planting:   Give your plants a great head start by using Roger’s Soil Activator at planting time. Use 1 tsp. Soil Activator for smaller pots and baskets and 2 tsp. for larger pots and baskets. Lightly cultivate into the top inch of soil and water thoroughly. Watering:   Because a container is exposed to the drying action of the sun and wind, your container plants will dry out more quickly than those planted in the ground and therefore need to be watered more often. Check the soil with your finger. When the top 2 inches feel dry, water thoroughly. If the soil feels moist or wet, wait a day or two and check again. Watering thoroughly means getting water down through all the container’s soil, completely saturating the soil surface. Apply the water for a long enough time so that water flows through the soil and out the drain hole(s). Apply water 2 or 3 times for complete saturation of the root mass. Fertilizing:   By watering container plants more often than plants growing in the ground, you will be flushing out the nutrients at a faster rate. You need to feed your annual and perennial plants every two weeks with Roger’s Flower Food. Remember, never feed a dry plant and always allow new plants to become established for at least two weeks before your first feeding. Every 3 months, substitute one application of Roger’s Flower Food with Roger’s Soil Activator. Grooming and After Bloom Care: Annuals and perennials will need to be deadheaded on a regular basis. Deadheading means to remove faded flowers as soon as possible to keep the plant’s energy directed toward producing more flowers. As you deadhead, pinch out a couple of sets of leaves to create a dull, bushy plant and to encourage many more flowers.   Perennials will need to be cleaned up after their blooming season is over. Some perennial plants remain green and attractive all year and need only to be sheared from time to time to keep them from becoming leggy and sparse looking. Others will go partially or completely dormant and lose part or all their leaves. These plants will need to be cut back — about 1/2 to 2/3.