*Garden fleece* seems to be largely a product from the UK! I did a search for it through Google
and all I could find were links to the UK. Seems we're behind the times with this one. Or, perhaps,
we have another name for it!

I have used polyester batten or fiber-fil in the bottom of some pots, as well as spent charcoal filters
from our pond filter!

Thanks for the tip, Donnie. I'm sure it will get us to "thinking" about what we CAN use for that purpose! :O)

Hey J. If needs be, I could send you some. Its light and easy to post.

Donnie

I usually put a couple lf layers of paper towel in the bottom of my pots.
Slugs don't crawl up the bottom of a pot. My main concern is keeping the soil from washing out.
Linda C

Well, Donnie, that's really nice of you to offer!

Whereas, I use to plant alot in pots, and whiskey barrels, up to this past Spring, when we had a preview of it, *way too early* and the hosta got all excited and started rousing from their winter's nap, to only 1 week later be smacked with a dose of *reality* with freezing temps once again. The result was I lost a whole lot of hosta in pots and in whiskey barrels that I never had a problem with before.

So, all that to say, I'm a little nervous to plant and winter them over in that situation again, until I'm convinced it is not a permanent climatic shift!

If I decide next year, that it may possibly be only a freak thing to happen, I might take you up on your generous offer!! That's very *neighborly* of you!!!:O)

Donnie,
What kind of soil mixture do you use? Do you get much snow in the winter?
Mary

Mary, I just use ordinary garden soil, with plenty of well rotted compost added. In pots I use 50/50 mix of garden soil and peat compost with a little 4mm grit added for drainage.
We rarely get snow, and when we do it never lasts more than a day or two. We get plenty of rain though... buying a garden hose is a waste of money lol

Donnie

I've tried paper towels to keep the soil from washing out of the holes. Works ok, but they look yellow after a while. Almost like they have mildew. Read some people use coffee filters. I would think that they clog before long and hold too much water in. Then I read somewhere about using used fabric softener sheets. YES!! DIVINE!! Water runs through freely, they don't break down (so may keep slug out, unless they crawl around the sheets). If you pot before you plant in the ground, they drop right off (assuming you don't let them get pot bound, and I don't know what happens then). You can cut them in half for a small pot, or use several over the holes in large pots. They don't retain water like paper towels, so no worry about root rot.

I usually put a handfull of river rock over the hole in the bottom of the pot, or sometimes put in a single broken piece of ceramic tile to cover the hole. Either works pretty well, drainage isn't interferred with and the soil doesn't run out. Since I removed a lot of river rock from the border on one side of the house a couple of years ago, I've had an almost never-ending supply of that to use up!

Joyce, I also like to use those rocks in and around plants, especially in pots to keep critters from digging
and to hold the moisture in and keep the hosed in water from digging up the plants. My grandmother
taught me about them holding in the moisture and protecting the plants from a deluge! You probably already knew this though!

HOWEVER, they worked against me this summer with a 'Spilt Milk' that I had still in a pot behind some other plantings.
When we finally did get some rain, the rocks held the moisture around the petioles, too well, and you guessed it--
the proverbial 'rot'! Sigh!