Planting with Better Homes and Gardens from Walmart

Let’s just start by saying, I do NOT have a green thumb. The one plant that I owned that did well sadly lost it’s life when I had a car accident years ago. Over the years I’ve had a few plants but have been unsuccessful. I’ve found that I do best with a vegetable garden, perhaps outside vegetation is my sweet spot. But honestly, I don’t know. However, I am always game to give new things a try so when Walmart asked if I wanted to do some outdoor potted planting using the Better Homes and Gardens line I immediately said yes. As my mom always said to me when I was growing up - “nothing beats a failure but a try”

I was sent a 16 inch planter by BHG and was tasked with finding just the right way to fill it. I must say looking at the sheer size was intimidating, but I pressed forward and took a trip to Walmart to find soil and plants that appealed to me. A note about the planter, it is extremely aesthetically pleasing and it is made from plastic so it is very light weight. Additionally, it does not have drainage holes so I used my handy drill to make a few holes in the bottom.

At Walmart I chose Petunias probably because I am love purple and my most successful plant in the past was actually an African violet. For an accent I chose pink Calibrachoa. It looked like it’d be pretty with the violets. I was able to snatch up 5 of the violets at half-price for around $1.80, what a great buy! 

I purchased a 2 cu foot bag of soil and if I had to do it over again I’d likely just fill the bottom two thirds with dirt from around my home and add the highly fertilized soil just for the top because I think I wasted some good soil that will never be used by the plants. But at $10.00 a bag I was able to have some left over for my next potting project.

I set up shop outside my front door and filled the pot with soil. Next I removed my plants from their original containers and tried to arrange them in a visually appealing way. I will note that it has been extremely hot here in Atlanta so I was advised to water my plants at least 3 times a day. As you can see they are a bit droopy but I’m hoping that with new soil and proper watering they will perk up.

I am actually quite pleased with my final product and it was so easy to do that I can’t believe I never tried this before! I am certainly going to give my plants some tender loving care and hopefully they will continue to brighten the entryway to my home!