Experimenting with pots inside of pots today

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Several years ago I bought some really big pots, filled them with a lot of potting soil, and over the years everything I've planted in them has failed. So today I'm trying something new - pots within pots.

I'm experimenting mostly, and my best guess about why all of the plants that I planted in the big pots died is that the water just collected at the bottom, and where the roots could reach got very wet and then was bone dry soon afterwards. At least that's my theory, so now I'm going to use the big pots just as a base, and I've put plants in smaller pots that sit on top of the big pots. They're buried very slightly, and they all have holes in the bottom to allow drainage.

As I was looking at the pots that I did just now they seemed to need something visually, so I added some rocks and some plastic lizards. Hmmm... maybe I'll go over the Dollar Store and get more plastic lizards, you really can't have too many plastic lizards, you know!

I have a spray bottle of plain water sitting on the tiki bar, and when I go out in the morning and sit there drinking my coffee I can give the plants a little spray. I'm in the Phoenix, Arizona area and the air is very dry here, so plants really appreciate being misted.

The plant there is a sansevieria, which grow like weeds in the garden, and I just pulled it up and planted it with some nice Miracle Gro moisture control potting soil (my favorite - and you can get me some more for my birthday, hint, hint!).

My failure rate for plants on the patio is very high, but I always start with fresh enthusiasm. I'll let you know how it goes.

Update September 18th: This is working! All of the plants are thriving. I kinda wish I'd done this a long time ago, but live and learn!

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