How to Fill an Outdoor Planter

How to Fill an Outdoor Planter: A couple of years ago I stopped putting dirt in my big planters. I love changing out my front porch plants seasonally so choosing filling over dirt makes the swapping process easier & cleaner. We had plans to plant these evergreen trees somewhere else on our property come the end of the season, but when we sold our house we decided to take them with us & plant them once we bought land. They are currently sitting next to my in-law’s pool, but in the next few weeks, we plan on taking them up to our new land & planting them. I used packing filler from the treadmill we got to fill these big pots & Roger kept joking as I filled them that it was a good thing we finally got a treadmill so I had filling for these planters. Since I didn’t plant it in dirt I needed to water them more often, but since it’s just rocks I can easily water it & quickly change out the plants as needed. Unfortunately, I got a surprising amount of unkind comments last year because of this simple tutorial, so hopefully this will help clear some things up: -This was always meant to be a temporary situation, just for the warm months, with the plan of planting them after the season. Although things changed when we sold the house, the plants are still alive & will be planted soon. For those who are worried this is bad for the plant, a nursery left a comment & said “For those worried the tree won’t survive. They sit for years in these pots where they are produced, & again for months & years at Garden Centres. The caption makes clear that this is for a temporary display & will be planted out properly when the season changes. We think it’s a great idea” -I used packing materials from the treadmill we bought. I did not go out & get packing materials specifically for this post, I repurposed items that we already had. -This was placed under a porch so the packing materials did not get wet, if you are doing this in a place where it will get rained on I have alternative filling options. -How to water? The dirt was not covered by cardboard, only rocks. I watered the center of the plant & the water went right through the rocks into the soil. I hope that helps :)