Investing in big planter pots can enhance your outdoor space, but they also take more soil to fill than most plants need. If you want to upgrade to larger planters, one Instagrammer has the ultimate hack to save on soil.
The scoop
In a popular Instagram reel, Hillary Muscatello (@telloandrose) shared her favorite tip to fill up large garden planters without wasting money and soil.
"I'm going to show you a super simple trick I learned a few years ago for filling up big planters," she says.
She then explains that if a plant is too small for your planter, it typically does not need all the dirt required to fill it and goes on to share a few tricks she has up her sleeve to conserve dirt.
First, add a few heavy rocks at the bottom of the pot. Then, place a smaller planter pot over the rocks. Add dirt and replant your plants. It's that simple.
When choosing your planters, ensure both the large and the smaller ones have drain holes so excess water can escape.
"You'll save a bunch of money," Muscatello finishes.
How it's helping
Gardening can be a rewarding but expensive hobby, so reducing costs can help you get the most out of your budget.
With loads of nutrients and fertilizers, potting soil is pretty costly. You could spend hundreds of dollars if you need multiple bags of soil. This hack can help you reduce the amount of soil used instead of wasting it to unnecessarily fill large planters, helping you save money and also allowing you to reallocate the unused soil to other planters or areas of your garden.
You may also choose to bypass planting soil altogether and make your own, stretching your gardening gains and dollars even farther.
What everyone's saying
Fellow Instagrammers were impressed with Muscatello's savvy gardening trick, thanking her in the comment section.
"Genius! I always fill the bottom with cut-up pool noodles, but this is way better and cheaper," one user wrote. "I have a ton of old pots!"
"I'm using this tip! Great idea," another excitedly added.
"Thank you!" one commenter said, "I need some around my pool and didn't want to deal with so much fill."
Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more, waste less, and help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
