So does placing broken bits of pottery in the bottom of patio pots to aid drainage help or hinder your plants?
Well, Which? Gardening has said the technique is a load of crock having carried out a series of controlled tests.
They used 40 ten litre pots and planted five Million Bells Trailing Yellow in each one. The perennial plant was chosen because it is known to get root rot in very damp soil.
During the test the containers were watered and when the plants came into flower there was no difference noted between the pots with broken pottery in and ones without.
Ceri Thomas, editor of Which? Gardening, was part of the team behind the test.
She said: "Despite six-in-ten of gardeners telling us they always use crocks in pots, we found that this made no difference to how well the plants did in our tests.
"In fact, in wet summers crocks can prevent water draining out of the pot and do more harm than good, so think twice before you follow this commonplace habit."
Comments
I do use broken polystyrene in large heavy pots to reduce overall potential weight when root depth is not an issue - terracotta crocks add further weight to a pot/container.
It gets very hot here in the summer so the plants I put in my pots need all the moisture they can get. I mainly geraniums because they can easily survive if watering is missed, or late.
I think putting anything into the pots, other than compost, severely reduced the available rooting-zone and will be detrimental to the plants over time.
I do wonder if the Victorians used to add a bulking agent to reduce the volume of compost, rather than than an aid to drainage?