Along the same time, I had removed a section of gravel driveway, yielding several yards of dirty road mix. The two projects collided and we decided to use the gravel mix as filler in the bottom of the troughs.
Since most evergreens do well in "poor" soil, it made sense to go in this direction for the project. We debated on the type of shrub, and ultimately chose Dwarf Alberta Spruce that were already close to their mature size at 5' tall. Adding these small trees to the 2' tall planter created a screen nearly 7' in total height.
There was not a lot of information about using troughs at the time, so I tapped out the drain plug and poured an entire bag of pea gravel over the opening to ensure adequate drainage. This has proven sufficient over the last three years and has yet to clog. After reading several other posts that suggest drilling out the bottom, I do not know if this is worth weakening the integrity of the container. It is steel after all and the containers are only plated.
The four planters have not aged at all and I am very pleased with how they look. They reference our exterior lights which are very simple galvanized fixtures. After three years, we have only replaced one of the original twelve trees. That was due to my stubbornness and using limited insecticides. Otherwise, this setup has been relatively low maintenance and the trees are quite happy.
2 comments:
where did you buy the planter?
Hi Mary,
I bought these planters from Murdoch's Ranch and Home Supply in Montana. I hope that helps.
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