Potting mix for native plants.

Growing plants in containers is not something I find particularly easy. This isn’t because it is a difficult thing to do but rather that I am not particularly good at remembering to water or don’t have the water (because I am on tank water only) to maintain good moisture levels in the pots. I really do prefer to put my plants in the ground and generally let them fend for themselves once they are old enough.

However having said that I do have a really lovely Hibbertia obtusifolia in a pot and last year when I had more water I also had some gorgeous purple Calibrachoa (not natives but a beautiful gift from a friend) lounging about on my front porch. Apart from water and the right light conditions the main requirement is a really good potting mix that is suitable for the plants that you want to grow. The Calibrachoa I was growing were potted up in a premium potting mix but my Hibbertia is in a mix that I made up from various ingredients especially for native plants in pots. It is a mix that we use in the nursery for growing plants once they come out of the cutting bed.

A potting mix must serve several purposes to be useful. It must have weight to anchor and stabilise the plant in the pot. It must have a source of nutrition because the plant cannot spread its roots beyond the confines of the pot to look for nutrition. It must have a fairly open structure so that the roots of the plants can take up oxygen and it must be able to retain water so that added water does not dry out too quickly.

​We use just 4 ingredients in the potting mix for the nursery; 400ml (we use a large 200ml plant pot for measure) soaked coco peat, 200ml course sand, 100ml (or 2 cupped handfuls) native plant fertiliser and  1 bag of general purpose potting. Mix these together and use promptly, not forgetting that if you are using any sort of composted materials or potting mix you should wear gloves and a face mask because the risk of contracting legionnaires is not worth the slight inconvenience of doing so.

If you can’t be bothered making up your own mix for your natives just buy a good quality native plant mix. NEVER skimp and save by buying a second rate potting mix and NEVER use garden soil in pots. The main reason for this in the home garden is that soil usually has very small particle size which leads to compaction which in turn results in poor aeration, poor drainage and poor penetration of water to the plant roots and your plants will not be happy.