Give your old, tired plant containers a spruce up for autumn

Give your old, tired plant containers a spruce up for autumn

AS SUMMER draws to a close and plants in pots start looking tired, it's time to give your containers a fresh new look for autumn.

As well as making new plantings, consider brightening up existing containers. Give wooden troughs and windowboxes a good sand before repainting them in whatever colour you fancy, but make sure they complement whatever's around them.

Retro lovers may like to recycle items like food cans and tins, colanders, old metal buckets or even bread tins or old wooden crates.

If you only want to replace certain plants which have gone over, dig them out carefully with a hand fork and then replace the old compost with new compost, preferably the type which contains slow-release fertiliser and water-retaining gel. Fill in the gaps with temporary colourful autumn plants such as autumn cyclamen, pansies and violas, combined with dwarf marguerites and berried winter cherries.