Skip to Content

How to Fill Large Planters

Sharing is caring!

Greenery and flowers are perfect for decorating indoors and out. Therefore, you will want to fill large planters with flowers, greenery, and bushes to make a big visual impact. Large planters are a must for a grouping of flower pot planters. However, filling large planters can be challenging and expensive. So using lightweight pot fillers saves money and your back.

Flower planters filled with flowers

After selecting your planter, consider a few things before filling it out.

Steps to Fill Large Planters

First, will you need to move the planter?

Is it a tall, thin planter?

1. Planter Drainage

Drainage is essential for allowing excess water to drain away from your plants. Thus avoiding rot root. You can read more about container planting in this earlier post.

Where your planter will be located will determine if you need holes in the bottom. If you do, you can drill them into the bottom of your planter. In other words, if your planter is on a covered porch, you will not need to drill holes for drainage; however, if your planter is in an area that will receive rain, then you will need to have drain holes.

2. Planter Filler

Why use a pot filler? l

If your planter is large and/or tall, the potting soil needed to fill it will make it extremely heavy. In addition, using a good-quality potting mix to fill the entire planter will be expensive.

For these reasons, I recommend using a lightweight filler that allows for drainage.

Pot Fillers (options):

  • Pool noodles
  • Plastic water bottles (empty)
  • Cans (empty)
  • Packing peanuts
  • Pinecones
  • Sticks
  • Milk jugs

Large Planter Filling Supplies

The supplies you will need are simple and inexpensive.

Pot filler supplies on a wooden table in the yard
Pot filler supplies

Before filling your pot,

place a piece of landscape fabric over the bottom of the pot.

Note: if your planter is tall and has a small bottom, place a couple of bricks or a few handfuls of rocks in the bottom to stabilize your pot.

Next, add your filler. I filled the bottom with pool noodles placed around and on the bricks for this planter.

Cutting pool noodles into a tall planter
Cutting pool noodles

Note: do not overfill your pot. Be sure to allow enough room for your plant’s root systems roots to grow.

3. Hardware Cloth

To add a layer of hardware cloth, I measure the inside of the pot at the top of the pot fillers.

Measuring the inside of the planter
Measure planter

Next, I cut the hardware mesh with tin snips.

Cutting metal with snips on a wood table in the yard
Cut mesh

Then I placed the hardware fabric over the filler material.

Placing the cut mesh in the planter over the pool noodle pieces
Place mesh in planter

4. Landscape Fabric

Next, I cut landscape fabric the same size as the hardware fabric.

Place ground cloth over the mesh
Add ground cloth

Fill Large Planters with Soil (Potting Mix)

You will want to use a quality potting mix. Potting mix is lighter than ground soil and allows plants to grow easily in planters. It also holds moisture, and it can contain fertilizer.

ground cover placed over  pot filler

Next, add your plantings and watch them grow and fill in the spill over the planters.

Three planters filled with flowers
Fill large planters

The plants fill in after a month or so.

Flower planters filled with flowers

More Planter Inspiration:

If you want to decorate your planting pots before filling them, I think you might like this adorable idea.

See you soon,

Kippi

Ps. This post was shared on Between Naps on The Porch.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

debbie-dabble

Saturday 1st of June 2024

Kippi, Great idea using pool noodles....I use cans or bottles...love the idea of the chicken wire and cover it with the landscape fabric....Brilliant!! I have a rather large pot that I will try this out on!! Thanks for the inspiration, my friend!! Hugs, Deb Debbie-Dabble Blog

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Sharing is Caring

Help spread the word. You're awesome for doing it!