The Lazy Girl's Guide to Potting Plants

I love having fresh flowers on our doorstep and patio, but find it hard to set aside the time to pull it together. Over the years, I’ve developed a few tips for doing it with minimal effort.

First, find a plant that is roughly the same diameter as the pot you’d like to put it in. If the planter has dirt in it from last year, consider yourself really lucky and start with the old soil in it.

Place the entire plant – original pot and all – into the planter to measure how much dirt you should add. You want the plant’s plastic container to sit just inside the pot with its edge level with the planter. If it’s not, you’ll need to add some soil. There is nothing more frustrating than adding your plant and then realizing you should have added more dirt. (The struggle is real, folks.)

Now that you’ve measured, remove the plant and add dirt until you’ve reached the desired height. Be sure to make the sides higher than the middle, leaving a depressed area in the center. I like to to use top or potting soil for this. When picking up a bag at the store, choose one you can lift. It may mean you have to buy several bags, but it is better than trying to hulk something that weighs more than you do.

Now, that you’ve added the soil, remove your plant from its container. I typically squeeze the pot, loosening it around the edges. Then, tip it over and pull to get it out. You can be pretty rough with the plant without doing any damage.

Before adding it to the pot, you will need to loosen the roots. After that, nestle your pansies (or other plant) inside the planter. You may have to smoosh the whole thing down a bit, so that the soil and roots are flush with the edge of the pot and not poking out.

Add potting soil around the edges to fill in any gaps or low spots. Then, ask your cleaning crew to broom the area. Chances are you may have a little dirt around.