The Yard Stop Garden Center Podcast
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The Yard Stop Garden Center Podcast
Getting creative with small spaces
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Join Jenn and Emily as they talk about getting creative with small spaces. Whether it's a backyard porch or small apartment patio, there is always a way to help something beautiful grow in your corner!
https://youtu.be/bQCObBXCRW4https://yardstopgardencenter.com/
Welcome back to our podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Today we're going to be talking about how to fill your small space and get creative with plants. Our guest speaker is Jen. Welcome to the podcast, Jen.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Thanks for having me. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Tell us about your small space.
SPEAKER_00I have a very small front screened in porch. I don't have very much grass area out front at all. So I do all of my gardening on the porch. Mostly all in pots. It's all pots. I have a very small fountain that I have put on my porch as well. That I have utilized a lot of plants around it and under it. Made a very beautiful small area.
SPEAKER_01You can do a lot with small space if you get creative.
SPEAKER_00I mean, whether it's a you know a porch, um, a balcony, uh a windowsill. I mean, there's many options, many small spaces to work with. And even on a windowsill, there's so many cute little pots. Yeah, uh, little plants and uh succulents, a lot of succulents. I see a lot of people with succulents on their windowsills, which is very cute. And they make the cutest pots for succulents as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they make good gifts too, I think. Um, well, for someone who's a noob, how would you get them started? How would you help them get started? Where should they start?
SPEAKER_00Well, if you're on a porch like I am, the first thing you want to do is figure out do you need shade plants? Do you need uh, you know, something that's good in both sun and shade, depending on where you're gonna put it. Um, so that's probably where you want to start is are you uh find out if you need shade plants, full sun, um, if you know, if you want uh flowering or you just want greenery.
SPEAKER_01What plants would you recommend for a porch space that gets like little to no sunlight?
SPEAKER_00Little to no sunlight. I would say that would be more along your ferns, your hostas. Uh you have your caladiums, those are heart-shaped leaves, they're very bright. You also have your trailing plants, which are like your creeping jenny, your sweet potato vine. Uh, there's very nice in a pot uh they could give the layered look. What about for full sun? For full sun, I would recommend like the Angelonia, petunias, maybe some marigolds, other hardy and very low maintenance, bright, pretty colors. The lantana is also very pretty with the colors.
SPEAKER_01I feel like those ones, like if you're gonna put them on your porch, Lantana and Marigold, especially, they need to be in like a very sunny spot. Yeah. Because I know those are like sun, full sunflowers from what I've seen, where we have them located out in the yard. Um, what's it called when you put a you put like three plants together in one pot and there's so you have like each plant has its own little purpose. What's it called? Thriller?
SPEAKER_00You have your thriller, and your which is the highlight of the pot, which will be the tall thing, the tall plant probably in the middle or more towards the back. Okay. It's gonna be the vocal point of the plant. Okay. Then you have the filler, which would be any other thing that you want to put around that, uh, just to take up space, greenery. You could put some flowers in there, whatever you like. And then you have what they call the spiller, which would be along the trailing uh the vines, the creeping jenny, or the potato vine, where it will cascade down um down the pot. It makes a very pretty look.
SPEAKER_01We should do that at home because we have a porch with a bunch of plants, but we don't have a thriller and a filler.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's a lot of fun to do as well. It's a lot of fun to put together.
SPEAKER_01I bet. What's like a good maintenance for your porch plant?
SPEAKER_00Um, well, of course, now in the summertime, everything's gonna need to be watered probably a little bit more than usual.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Um, the good thing uh to do is I do the finger test. I stick my finger down and check for if it's moist or if it's dry. Um, I do it a lot like that. A lot of people say, you know, every day or every two or three days. I've heard about that. I, you know, I I don't I don't do it by the calendar, I do it by whatever my finger says. If it's dry or if it's moist.
SPEAKER_01I've heard you can't really put your plants on a watering schedule.
SPEAKER_00But especially here in Florida.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. I feel like watering plants is just so I wouldn't say it's customizable, but I feel like it's like I would say down the general, I probably do it at least every day.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. This time of year, maybe sometimes even twice a day.
SPEAKER_01Because my mom has a bunch of philodendrons on our porch. And uh like I feel like we hardly ever water them, but they just they keep trailing and like growing, you could propagate them. Um but I feel like with small space with plants put in a small space, that would invite a lot of pests, also. Yes. So how what kind of what are your more common pests for porch plants?
SPEAKER_00Uh, I would have to say like your mealybugs, spider mites, um, the aphids, uh, you got the fungus gnats, which are not my friends at all.
SPEAKER_01What do you recommend to treat them?
SPEAKER_00Well, what we use have here that I like to use is this systemic pesticide. Uh it's just granules. You put those granules into the soil, and then it gets into the stems and it gets into the leaves. So when they go to have a little lunch, they don't like they don't like it.
SPEAKER_01So they get gets rid of them.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Oh, what would you say some of the some of the pros are to continue gardening?
SPEAKER_00Um I would have to say the space efficiency. You can move things around a lot. Helps to reduce the weeds and the pests and diseases being in the pot, actually.
SPEAKER_01And you can just change them out constantly. You know? I feel like it's different when you plant something in the ground. You don't want to rip it out of the ground, but I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I guess it'll be a lot easier when it's in a pot as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Or I guess you could add to it. Um how long have you been doing container gardening? Have you ever had the space to do like outdoor gardening?
SPEAKER_00Or you've always just when I had my own home, I was always in my yard. I always planned the things in the yard. Now that I'm in an apartment and I don't have the yard space, yeah, that I have to oh, I have a little bit of space, but I can't plan anything. Yeah. Of course, because it's not my home. Right. Uh so that's why I do everything in the pots.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So that way when I leave, I can take them with me.
SPEAKER_01Yes, that's a really good positive to it. Um, you were also telling me about you get really creative with like your space.
SPEAKER_00You can what were you you Well, I I had just recently did I put a small fountain on my porch. Um, and I decorated all around the base of it with all different kinds of plants, and I put some pavers around it, made it a very special little place. Um, I I have a very small porch. When I say small, it's very small. And I think I have two other plants in there. So now that I'm running out of space, now I'm gonna, I guess, maybe start hanging, hanging baskets. Okay. Um, uh start working up. Um, I have another project in mind, is going to be with an old ladder. I'm gonna take it apart and I'm gonna use the one, the ladder that has the steps on it. And I'm gonna put it up against my wall, and then I'm gonna put all potted plants and maybe just some decorations, maybe like uh, you know, bird feeders or bird houses. Just it, there's it's just use your imagination. There's a million things that you can do. Just yeah, use your imagination, start with one plant like I did, and just work my magic from there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's a good idea.
SPEAKER_01The ladder's a great idea. Um, I love it. You can you can get the plants to like grow up, you know. People even like put them in the kitchen, in their bathrooms, and just let it grow like that.
SPEAKER_00And I also um on the outside of my porch, I put a trellis of jasmine. And I have such a good idea. I have the purple potato vine, sweet potato vine out there. So I'm trying to get them to vine up my uh screens and my railings that they have the stairs going down those railings. So that's another project that I'm working on now as well.
SPEAKER_01Smells so good. We just gotta I speaking being on the subject of vining plants, I have one of those um, I forget what they're called. They're they're vining flower, they're right out here in the vining section.
SPEAKER_00Um I don't know which one she's talking about.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I can't yes. Well, I planted it next to our mailbox as a gift for my mom for her birthday a couple years ago, and it's doing really well, but it just doesn't seem to be properly wrapping around the mailbox. Like it's are you helping it along? Yeah, I think so. Like, I don't what's a good way to help guide or like do you uh uh like tie it?
SPEAKER_00Well, what I do with mine, I just every time I see that it's start a piece is starting to grow out, I'll just kind of train it to like go one way. Okay. Kind of maybe wrap it around another one. You gotta help it. Yeah, just gotta kind of help it along along the way.
SPEAKER_01Okay. It's funny because we have an another our neighbor's bush is like right next to our mailbox. So I feel like the vines often like go straight out into nowhere. Trying to reach I think they're trying to reach over to connect. But maybe I just need to train it, so I need to wrap it around. Try it. Um, you're also gonna be on Coffee with the Gardener.
SPEAKER_00I am.
SPEAKER_01You're gonna be hosting the Coffee with the Gardener class on the 29th of this month. I am okay. So August 29th. Are you excited about it?
SPEAKER_00I am. Okay. My first class, so yeah. Yeah, they're excited.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. What's one of your favorite plants?
SPEAKER_00I would have to say it is the Crotons. I love the Crotons. I love the tropical colors, yeah, bright colors. I love that they're very hardy.
SPEAKER_01Um they're full sun, right?
SPEAKER_00They are well, no, they can be full sun or shade. They can take either or they can take the shade, they can take either or. Are you carrying? Are you? They're very they they look very nice, like all um like at the base of a of a big huge tree. Okay, put them all around the base of oh, it's beautiful, absolutely beautiful.
SPEAKER_01So you could put those on your porch. Well, Jen, thanks for coming on the podcast. Thanks for having me. Of course, I think if people want to start their own little potted plant, start with one plant and take it from there.
SPEAKER_00Let your imagination work with it.
SPEAKER_01Yes, and we have so many plants to choose from here at the yard stop. So y'all should definitely come see us if you want to get creative with your small space, small space, and join Jin's class August 29th. It's gonna be um Coffee with the Gardener, and you can sign up through our Facebook page. So, yeah. Other than that, guys, thanks for tuning in. We hope you enjoyed the topic. We'll see you guys on the next episode. Bye.