The Best Tip For Filling Large Outdoor Planters

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Let me tell you the best tip I have for filling outdoor planters this spring!

This one tip will help you save money on soil for large outdoor planters. They will also be sturdy/heavy enough without being too heavy to move. Let me tell you my best tip!

I’ve also teamed up with some great blogger friends so we can all share with you our spring outdoor ideas. Thank you, Shauna from Satori Design for Living, for hosting this Outdoor Extravaganza series.

Pot filled with white flowers on wooden deck.

Now that it’s officially spring, it’s time to get my outdoor areas attended to and in true rainy Vancouver fashion, it’s raining of course.

I am not much of a gardener but I always do container planters every year. Years ago in my apartment dwelling days, I learned the best tip for filling containers.

There’s nothing worse than hauling bags and bags of potting soil up to your apartment patio for a few simple containers. I thought there had to be a better way so a friend of mine told me this trick.

Table and chairs outdoors with potted plants around the table.

Let me show you how I filled these large outdoor planters.

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Could you imagine filling all those planters with potting soil? I wouldn’t be able to move them after and I can’t imagine how many bags of soil I would need to buy and haul into the car.

Here is the secret: styrofoam packing peanuts!

Yes, that’s right, those packing peanuts you hate to see when a package arrives at your door. Well now you have a use for them!

Wicker chair outside with back of styrofoam on it.

I fill the pots up about two-thirds full with the packing peanuts.

4 large steel pots with the styrofoam in the bottom.

Here’s another tip: You can add the packing peanuts to pantyhose or put fabric in between the packing peanuts and soil. I think I’ll do this next time to prevent the roots from grabbing too much of the packing peanuts and not being able to detach the plants properly when changing annuals each year.

Soil on top of the styrofoam in the steel planters.

(I bought these pots at Canadian Tire from their Canvas line but they no longer make them.)

Here are some other planters I’ve filled. I used plastic planters and pop cans to fill up the planter.

Cans and plastic containers filled in large planter.

Then I added a layer of landscape fabric over the recyclables.

Landscape fabric over plastic recyclables in large plant pot.

And finally added the soil. Time to plant!

Similar Pots:

Fill your planter pots like you normally do and water them. That’s it!

There is still enough soil in the planter that will not make the planter tip over. There are still a good weight but if you are concerned with tipping, you can add half packing peanuts, half soil.