Saving weight in pots and planters 
 
I was helping a neighbour with her planters a while ago. They had been planted using some plants I had given her. I was very surprised at how light the troughs were. She showed me how the bottoms were filled with empty milk bottles, thus removing some weight. (As well as saving on compost!) 
Any way, here are a few photographs of the process. 
First, get a clean, empty planter. (Thank you Mrs. Beaton). 

Secondly, choose your items to pack the bottom of the pot. In this case a trough. Make sure they are clean and light. I washed these with water with soap and disinfectant as well. Ensure they have lids as water may enter and make the container heavy, not what we want. Depending on size and shape of your container will determine the items used to pack the bottom. 

Now we place them in the trough and position how you want them. In this case not much choice, but it was exactly what I wanted. 

Number four, introduce the compost and fill as per five. 

Number six shows this one “potted up”.  For these plants there was plenty of compost to allow their roots to spread out.

I use this mainly to save weight as I quite often want to move my troughs. Having said that, there will be no moving of troughs, pots or planters by me this year, 2025.  

Hope this is a wee bit of interest, 
                   Andrew Lothian.