Don’t water plants on sunny days? Three horticultural myths exposed

While many age-old gardening practices are now supported by scientific evidence, some of the most common ones have consistently been shown to be either unnecessary or downright counterproductive when put to the test. So simply not bothering with the following three conventional pieces of gardening “wisdom” could save you time and effort, and will almost certainly give you the same or even better results. Old school horts, look away now…

Crocks in pots

While still a mainstay of the TV gardening show, the idea that putting a thick layer of broken terracotta pots over the drainage hole of a container will improve drainage was disproven over 100 years ago. As liquids move more slowly between different layers of substrates than a single substrate, this advice can in fact cause the pots to be slower to drain. This practice is usually advised for use in terracotta pots, as plastic and resin alternatives contain multiple drainage holes. Yet being porous, terracotta pots tend to be the least likely to suffer waterlogging: they are prone to drying out too fast. The only benefit of crocks in pots may be to stop potting mix from falling out of the drainage holes and making a mess when newly transplanted. If so, a piece of card, mesh or one shard of broken pot would be a better option. Read more