Troughs

[Tim Ingram]

I think the real thing about troughs, as with gardening in general, is that you can try different approaches with the material you have to hand and compare results - plants are quite forgiving unless they are Eritrichium nanum or Ranunculus glacialis - and many will grow happily in sinks made in many different ways. What I would particularly like to do is to use troughs for very different groups of plants - eg: ericaceous species in a shady spot, maybe a whole trough full of Gentiana verna like I remember at Joe Elliott's nursery, and one devoted to those fascinating eriogonums. The great thing about seeing what other people do is that it stimulates, but there is no reason to feel you have to do the very same.

These are two nice examples that Jon Evans and his Group displayed at the Hillside Centre, Wisley, a year or two ago with quite different types of plants.

[Maggi Young]

Lovely pair of troughs there.
 Yes, without doubt the almost limitless possibilities of what and how  to plant  in a trough is the absolute gem of their appeal.  Add to that the chance to grow something in a very small area  where one might not otherwise be able to cultivate the ground - even to the point of a  balcony or doorstep - and the capacity with troughs to have lightweight versions that can be moved around  to allow a  seasonal splash of colour to be brought to the fore - there isn't anything I can say against troughs, really. I think they are wonderful aids to growing- especially for the smaller alpines, of course as we see in the examples above.

Not to mention  it beats the blazes out of having to dig three acres - anytime!!  

[fixpix]

I've been fancying some troughs for long and last summer I finally braced up and said to myself "it's time".
Plus, there was a perfect spot for them: the unused ledge outside my apartment on the 8th floor. YES!

Some pictures from last summer wit the "finished product" can be seen here (this is where I store my pictures - can't upload those here, cause they are too large).
http://s87.photobucket.com/user/calinromania/library/Hypertufa%20-%20Sempervivum?sort=3&page=1
But I took some pics now, showing that all looks OK, the pots haven't fallen apart (YET!) and the plants look real snug.

And a picture with the view at the end of January. Now the snow is all gone.

[Maggi Young]

Great view!!

What are the troughs made of?

[rgc]

My first attempt with a trough, planted up earlier today. Perhaps early February is not the best time of year in Scotland, but patience is not a strong point and today was sunny with showers in Stirling so seemed ideal weather. The plants arrived from Craigiehall Nursery late yesterday afternoon.  Filled the trough with compost about 10 days ago to give it a little time to settle.

Added the names of the plants to the aerial view of the trough so that the labels could be removed as they were no longer necessary. The side view is after the labels were removed. Tried to add some height with large stones, but the pictures do not show the increase in height very well. It is slightly better in reality!

Looking forward to Spring growth and flowers.
Bob

[ranunculus]

Very interesting method for preserving plant names, I have used a similar system with pen and paper ... I must update my trough plans on the laptop.

[Maggi Young]

About what length is the trough Bob? Looks good- and you know, we always say that the best time to do anything with your plants is when you want/have the time to do it! There may be an "optimum" time for some things for the plants' point of view but this is the real world, and if the gardener isn't willing or able at that time then the "best" time is in your time! 

[rgc]

Thanks Maggi. It is 94 cm long and 39 cm wide, bought from Hawthorn Alpine Troughs near Falkirk. (Christmas present from my wife.)
Bob

[Maggi Young]

Useful size - and you've chosen a good range of plants. 
(..... we don't like labels sticking up either!)

[fixpix]

Thanks Maggi, I'd say it's the best view in my city. Baroque palace and a huge Roman-catholic church behind.
I think I made the troughs from one part cement, one part sand, another peat (well, what I can call peat is the dried up potting mix, sifted, and kept the "dust").
There is no place around here that sells just dried up peat (is this what it's used for hypertufa? I don't want to mix up the words.)
So far, they look good.
All ice cover is gone. We are experiencing really warm days now.

Cute trough Bob. Love your plant choices.
Sure they will spread out nicely

[astragalus]

Love seeing troughs that actually have plants showing.  This is what I see now.

[Tim Ingram]

Anne - not far of this date last year here! At least the plants do well under the snow. Our winters are so varied that you never know what to expect, and last year there were snowdrops being shown into April. a month later than normal. This year we have hardly had a frost so far - both the plants and the gardener can have a wide tolerance to climate!

[Great Moravian]

That's very helpful Ian.  Yes they did put stuff in the bottom looked like the rough stuff used under Tarmac to me so I started getting confused and that's quite usual for me these days...  I'll keep in mind when I make my next containers thanks everyone

Chris,
If you abandon the rough stuff in the bottom, you solely move the water table to the bottom
provided the trough inside is not in contact with the plunge below the trough,
and the water table will be not aerated in deeper troughs.
If you use a sloping layer of rough stuff in the bottom, the water table will reduce
to the lowest corner of the substrate which may consist of pure sand.
I always use a synthetic tissue separating the bottom rough stuff and the
substrate in my troughs and am completely satisfied.

[Great Moravian]

I carried out several experiments in order to model and observe the situation in a trough.
I recommend you to repeat the following one.
1. Take two transparent plastic containers 15 cm high
2. Made a hole of 2 cm diameter in the bottom of either container
3. Cover the holes with a piece of grid
4. Put 3 cm bottom drainage layer of sieved coarse gravel 8-10 mm in one container
5. Fill the containers with cultivation substrate
6. Stand the containers horizontally with enough free space below the holes
7. Pour in water slowly in abundance
8. Observe carefully what is happening
9. Inform us

[brianw]

Josef. You have more or less described the demonstration that I recall seeing some years ago at the Alpine department in RHS Wisley. I don't recall what type of pots they were or what they were standing on, but as far as I remember it, a measured amount of water was poured into the pot with gravel in the bottom, and the water draining out noted. Then the same amount of water was poured into the pot with no gravel in the bottom and it was noted that much more water came from the drainage holes. That is the absence of gravel gave better drainage.
I am not sure why you recommend gravel to improve the aeration of this trapped (suspended?) water. If there is little or no trapped water layer this additional aeration is not necessary. In the open garden, on a level surface, the only aeration is from above by natural gas exchange or by being drawn in as water percolates down.