Terracotta Pots – Best are British

I like UK made terracotta or clay pots. Good pots are made frost hardy and should last through all the British seasons. Imported pots have often been made in warm climates where they do not know the meaning of cold never mind frost.

Why Clay Pots not Plastic

• Old pots do sometimes collect a white salt deposit on the outside. You can see that on the photograph or the old pot collection above. As long as the pot is washed in a solution containing a disinfectant they can be reused indefinitely.
• Pots are porous and let in air to the roots.
• Evaporation from the clay pot keeps the roots cool. Plastic and particularly black plastic boils the roots of your plants.

Tips for Maintaining Plant Pots

• Avoid pots getting top heavy in windy conditions. Too much plant growth can get caught by a wind, blow the pot over and smash the pot. For tall plants weight the bottom of the pot.
• Pots can freeze to the ground and this weakens the bottom of the pot until it falls off. Use bricks or special feet to stand the pot on during winter.
• Keep the outside of decorative pots clean or algae and moss will be encouraged and discolour your pot.
• If you want to artificially age your pot coat it in Yoghurt to encourage green algae growth.

Amazon offer

any number of plant pots. They come in all shapes and sizes but terracotta pots are few and far between. Perhaps it is because they are heavy and expensive to deliver, all the more strange that we see Chinese pots in many garden departments at DIY stores.

If you break your pot do not despair you can make a feature like the one below.