POSTED BY KIM — It’s mail order time, people, and that means styrofoam peanuts. SAVE THEM. I know they sort of multiply and it seems like you always have them when you don’t need them and vice versa, but
The container gardener's little secret
they’re great to use in the spring in the bottom of containers, so plan ahead. They prevent potting soil from falling out the drainage hole, and if you have a really big pot, you can use several inches of styrofoam peanuts in the bottom of the pot to fill up some space. It also makes pots lighter if you have to move them around.
I always end up with a trashbag full of them, and space is so limited in my garage/potting area that I end up hanging the bag from a nail in the wall. It’s not fancy, but it works.
Look for them in the fall when you empty out pots, though, or they’ll end up blowing all over your yard. 
I learned that the hard way!
4 Comments
October 26, 2008 at 9:06 pm
I bought a Knock Out RoseBush from Sugar Creek back in July and I’m embaressed to say it is still in
the black plastic pot.Is it too late to plant in the ground and if so what do I do?
thank you for your help.
Ellen
October 26, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Kim – There’s an easy solution to the escaping peanuts. Simply bag them before you use them. When preparing containers in spring, stuff plastic trash bags with the appropriate amount of peanuts. Set them into the bottom of the planter, then add soil. When autumn comes, you don’t have the mess of plastic peanut pieces mixed in with your potting mix – you can add the soil to your garden rather than throwing it out. Also, you can reuse the peanuts the next year…even saving them in their bags ready to go into the same planters.
October 27, 2008 at 9:27 am
Ellen — no problem! You can plant roses — or any perennial — through Oct. 31 in the St. Louis area. In fact, I put in several roses last year the first week of November and each one over-wintered fine. No special care needed for the Knock Out — just dig a hole and drop it in…Enjoy!
October 27, 2008 at 9:33 am
Good suggestion, Caleb, re: the bags. I also remember, now that I think about, reading that you can use pantihose or something like the mesh bags that oranges come in. I’ll admit, I have bits of styrofoam all over my deck right now because I popped some big plants out of their containers and wasn’t able to catch the styrofoam before they burst all over the place. Picking them up sounds like a good job for my kids!