Secure a Garden Pot to a Metal Post

When our garden gate arch was constructed, I thought of having plants in garden pots on top of the concrete posts. The metal posts of the arch would help stabilize the garden pots.

Actually, we used to have a hodgepodge of tiny pots, plastic and ceramic, on top of the concrete post before. But because of their small size, and since there wasn't anything to tie them down, they were vulnerable to tipping and falling.

Not a few strong winds have toppled these small pots. A few times, someone passing through the gate with an errant open umbrella would do the same thing. These have resulted in broken pots and uprooted plants.

Now, with the metal posts in place, there's something to secure the rectangular garden pots.

I was thinking of having the floriferous blue plumbagos (Plumbago auriculata) gracing the tops of the two concrete posts of the gate. I bought a couple of plastic rectangular garden pots so there's plenty of room for their roots to grow.

One way to tie a garden pot to the metal post is to to pass a thin wire or twist ties into the two holes at the rim of the pot and tie it around the metal post. Unfortunately, like most common garden pots, this pot doesn't have two holes and I didn't want to drill holes near the rim.

How to Tie the Garden Pot to a Post

Materials

• Rectangular Garden Pot with multiple drain holes - 1 foot long, 6 inches wide, 6 inches tall
  
• Solid strand wire, insulated - gauge 14, 21.5 inches long
  

Procedure

1. Form the solid strand wire into a U-shape. The length of the bottom of the "U" is equal to the distance between the 2 middle drain holes of the pot. So if the the distance between the 2 drain holes is 1.5", then each leg of the U-shaped solid strand wire will be 10" (2 x 10" + 1.5" = 21.5"). Shown below is the U-shape formed wire and the rectangular garden pot.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Pass the 2 legs of the wire into the 2 middle drain holes from the bottom of the garden pot. The solid strand wire essentially hooks the garden pot from the bottom.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Shown below is the bottom of the garden pot with the wire. The wire should have little or no slack at the bottom of the garden pot.
   
   
   
   
   
4. With the wire still on the the garden pot, replant your favorite plant and backfill potting soil as needed. Bend the wire outwards so the 2 ends are out of the way.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Position the garden pot with plant and wrap the 2 ends of the wire around the metal post as shown below.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Twist the 2 ends of the wire together behind the metal post to secure the garden pot.
   
   
   
   
   

The insulation of the solid strand wire prevents the scratching of the post's finish. It also prevents rusting and discoloration of the garden pot and the post. From the front, the wire is hardly noticeable because of the garden plant's foliage covering it.