Garden Container Planting Planning Checklist

Write down what each group of containers is meant to do, whether softening a hard corner, screening a view, marking a route or growing something you intend to eat.

Groups with a stated job survive; pots bought one at a time accumulate along a wall and then become a chore.

Consider using containers to test a position before anything is planted into the ground there, and note exactly what you would be testing.

A movable trial answers questions about scale and position that no drawing can settle, provided you know what you are looking for.

Note where each container would be seen from, including the window you look out of most, since pots tend to be placed where watering is convenient rather than where they are noticed.

Containers earn their upkeep only when they are looked at, so their position should be decided from indoors as well as out.

Be clear about where containers are being used because there is no soil to plant into, since that is a different decision from choosing them for the way they look.

Necessity usually means more containers and more watering, and it changes what should be asked of a designer.

Note the size of the wall, paving or doorway each container will stand against, and consider how a small pot reads in that setting.

Containers almost always look smaller in place than they did where they were bought, particularly against a large wall.

Ask a garden designer what they would expect containers to do in your layout, and whether the same effect could be had in the ground with less upkeep.

A designer will often propose fewer and larger, which is usually less work than many small ones doing the same job.

Accept that containers dry out far faster than open ground, and decide how much attention you are genuinely prepared to give them through a hot, dry spell.

This is the single decision that determines whether container planting works, and it is usually made after the pots arrive.

Note the distance from the nearest tap to each container position, and walk it carrying a full can before settling on that position.

The walk that feels trivial once feels very different when it has to happen repeatedly in warm weather.

Decide who waters the containers, and check whether that person is usually at home during the periods when containers need it most.

Container watering happens at particular times of day, and the household pattern decides whether it actually gets done.

Write down the arrangement for watering when nobody is at home, and be honest about whether it would hold through the driest part of the season.

The arrangement that works for a short absence often fails in exactly the conditions when containers need most attention.

If automatic watering is being considered for containers, ask the installer what it needs, how it is controlled and who looks after it out of season.

Owners are usually told what these systems do and rarely told what they need afterwards, which is the part that matters.

Any connection to the mains water supply, and what is allowed on it, must be established by a qualified installer or plumber and confirmed locally.

If you intend to water containers from collected water, ask a landscaper or the relevant supplier what that involves in practice before relying on it.

Collected water needs somewhere to be stored, a way of getting it to the containers and somebody to carry it.

Whether collected water suits a particular use, and how any store should be arranged, should be confirmed with a qualified professional and the supplier.

Note that a container is far heavier once filled and watered than it was when chosen, and decide in advance whether it will ever need to be moved.

The decision to buy a container that can never be moved again is worth making deliberately rather than discovering it.

If any container has to be moved seasonally, write down who would move it and how, rather than assuming it will be dealt with when the time comes.

Seasonal moving is the promise most often made and least often kept when containers are bought.

Note what the surface beneath each container would look like when the container is eventually lifted, since standing pots mark most surfaces.

This shows up as a permanent pattern of circles on paving, and it surprises owners who move pots around later.

How a particular surface reacts to standing containers, and what should be done about any marking, is a question for the material supplier.

Ask the supplier whether the container is intended to stand directly on a surface or to be raised off it, and write down what they tell you.

This affects drainage, the surface underneath and how the container behaves in cold weather, so it is worth asking before buying.

Check that any container you intend to move could pass through the gate or doorway on its route with the planting still in it.

Planting adds width and height that nobody accounts for when the empty pot goes out through the same opening.

Note whether moving a container would involve a step, and treat that as a reason to reconsider the size rather than to plan a lifting operation.

A step between the container and where it needs to go is usually the point at which seasonal moving quietly stops happening.

Note where wind funnels between buildings or along a side passage, since tall containers in those places are the ones that go over.

Funnelled wind is entirely predictable once you have watched a windy day, and it is invisible on a plan.

Note which walls hold heat into the afternoon, and record how long direct sun stays on each container position.

A pot against a sunny wall dries far faster than the same pot a short distance away in the open.

Note which positions sit under an overhang, a canopy or the edge of a roof, since containers there receive very little rain even in wet weather.

The rain shadow beside a house is the most common reason containers dry out while everything around them looks watered.

Track where the shadow of the house falls across each container position through the day, and write down what that position genuinely gets.

Owners are far better placed than any visiting professional to record this, and it is the information a nursery will want.

Note the corners that catch weather from two directions, and consider what standing a container there means for it through the colder part of the year.

Exposed corners are hard on containers and on whatever is in them, and they are usually chosen for the view rather than the conditions.

Ask a garden designer or nursery which conditions each position offers, rather than choosing planting first and looking for a position afterwards.

Working in this order avoids the common pattern of moving a container repeatedly until something survives in it.

Note where water draining from each container would go, and whether it would run across a route people walk on.

Water crossing a path from a group of containers is a nuisance in warm weather and a nuisance of a different kind in cold weather.

Note whether any container position holds water underneath it, since a pot standing in water behaves very differently from one draining freely.

This is easy to observe after rain and is the difference between planting that thrives and planting that does not.

Decide whether saucers are wanted, and ask the supplier what they mean for how the container drains and what collects in them.

Saucers solve one problem and can introduce another, so the supplier view is worth having before buying.

Note where a container would stand hard against a wall, and consider what repeated watering does to the wall face behind it over time.

The wall behind a group of containers is rarely thought about until marks appear on it.

What repeated watering against a wall or a surface may do over time is a question for the material supplier and a qualified professional.

Note where watering would carry material onto a threshold or an indoor floor, particularly for containers just outside a door.

Containers beside a back door are the ones most often watered and the ones whose mess comes indoors.

Ask the supplier whether a container drains as supplied or needs something doing to it first, and record the answer before it is filled.

This varies between containers and is much harder to deal with once a heavy pot is filled and planted.

Before putting containers on a deck, balcony or roof terrace, ask a suitably qualified professional what the structure can carry, and treat it as an open question until they answer.

Filled containers are far heavier than the furniture such spaces were considered for, and this is not an owner judgement.

Whether any raised structure can carry the weight of filled containers must be established by a suitably qualified professional, and nothing here should be read as an answer.

Note what happens to water draining from containers standing on a timber or composite surface, and ask the supplier what that means for the material.

Standing containers change how a raised surface dries out, and the supplier is the one who can say what follows.

How a decking or terrace material responds to standing containers and repeated watering must come from the material supplier and the installer.

Note what sits below any raised container position, including a neighbour space, a window or a doorway, and consider what draining water would do to it.

Water leaving a balcony lands on somebody, and that conversation is much better had before the containers go up.

Note that wind is stronger at height, and ask what securing a container on a balcony or terrace involves before anything tall is placed there.

Height changes the exposure completely, and tall planting in a raised position is the most exposed thing in most gardens.

How a container should be secured at height, and whether it may be placed there at all, must be established with a qualified professional and, where relevant, the building manager.

Note how containers, growing material and plants would reach a raised position, including whether any of it has to pass through the house.

Access decides how often a raised container arrangement gets refreshed, which in turn decides how it looks.

If the property is a flat or part of a managed building, ask what arrangement applies to containers on balconies and terraces before buying anything.

These arrangements vary widely between buildings and are much easier to ask about than to argue about later.

Decide whether you want fewer large containers or many small ones, noting that each additional container is another watering point whatever its size.

The number of containers, rather than their total volume, is what sets the daily effort in the growing season.

Note that smaller containers dry out fastest, and take that into account for the positions where a pot is most on show, such as beside a door.

The most visible containers are often the smallest, which is why the ones people see are the ones that look worst.

Consider grouping containers so that watering happens in one place rather than as a circuit around the garden.

A single stop is far more likely to happen than a round trip, particularly on a busy evening.

Write down what each container needs beyond watering, such as tidying, moving, topping up and eventual replanting, and note who does each of those.

Watering is only the visible part, and the rest of the work is what usually goes undone.

Be honest about what a neglected container looks like beside a neglected bed, since containers show it far sooner and far more obviously.

Containers have no reserve, so a missed spell shows immediately in a way that planted ground does not.

Set the number of containers against the time the household genuinely has, and reduce how many there are rather than how well each one is looked after.

Fewer containers kept well look considerably better than many kept badly, and the choice is easier made now.

Note how growing material would reach each container position, and where bags would stand while the work is being done.

Refilling stalls where there is nowhere to put bags down, particularly in a courtyard or on a balcony.

Decide where spent material goes when containers are emptied, and check what your local arrangements allow for it.

This is a surprising volume from even a modest group of containers, and it has to leave the property somehow.

What may be put out for collection and what has to be taken elsewhere is set locally and should be confirmed with your local authority.

Note where empty containers live when nothing is planted in them, since they take as much space empty as full and are easily damaged when stacked.

Empty containers are one of the largest hidden demands on garden storage and are never included in the storage list.

Ask the supplier whether a container is intended to stand outside through winter, and record what they say rather than assuming from the material.

This differs between containers of similar appearance, so the supplier answer is the only reliable one.

Whether a container or its planting can be left outside through cold weather is a question for the supplier and a qualified professional, not a general rule.

Consider what happens when a container itself fails or planting outgrows it, and decide in advance whether it would be replaced or simply removed.

Deciding this now prevents the slow accumulation of broken and half planted pots along a wall.

Keep a simple written record of what is in each container and where it came from, so anybody looking after the garden knows what they are dealing with.

This is the information most often missing when somebody else waters, and it takes very little to keep up to date.