I will start by saying that our property is so full of stuff I am very limited on where I can keep new additions to my fig (and other plant) collections. I have several very large figs in the ground, other fruit trees, a large antique rose garden, a native plant area, a bible garden area, various raised beds for vegetables, parking for dh's Freightliner and our vehicles, his shop in back for building rat rods, my herd of poultry, etc etc etc. I do have a greenhouse, but it's full all the time. Ditto with storage sheds.

Also important to know that much of our property is very shady. Too shady to grow much, and the areas that are sunny are full of everything mentioned above.

So I have a pot ghetto. Figs and citrus in pots, which are *mostly* the same size but colors vary as I don't have a lot of $$$ for fancy matching pots. I'd rather have nice plants and marginal pots, I guess.  Right now, the 10 citrus trees are in 30" pots which are sitting on the ground, lined up along one side of my back porch deck (and no, the porch deck is not an option for putting a lot of plants on BECAUSE IT'S ALREADY FULL). I have added a row of figs in 17 to 24" pots beside the citrus pots.

Y'all, it's horrible.

I've tried picturesquely grouping a few pots of figs here and there around the yard, tucking them into the bible garden, the rose garden, the vegetable garden, alongside the driveway (HUGE mistake) and clustered around the greenhouse and sheds. And it looks horrible. It looks like a ghetto out there, or like one of those 'you might be a redneck if...' deals.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to group or arrange all this mess? I really can't give up acquiring figs because.... well... just because. I can't go vertical in my attempts either as I can't lift a lot due to bad shoulders. Any way to hide long rows of pots? Even when the pots are the same size and color, they just look messy.

Out of ideas, please suggest...

I wish I was able to give you a suggestion for aesthetic arrangement but at least can remind (because you may already know it) that there may be many people who may wish to have a problem like this to worry about.
So be happy with it when trying to find a better solution & good luck.

GoodDaughter--I nominate this post as having the funniest internet fig forum posting title of all time.

Otherwise, I don't have any ideas. Have you tried terracing?

Gooddaughter, I think I'd be cutting down at least some of that shade(for the figs), although its a precious commodity during our hot, humid summers. Have you tried a thick mulch(leaves and grass clippings are free) around the pots, or the pots in the rows? Might  make things look more attractive with the mix matched pots covered up. I mulch around lots of plants in the yard, including my figs with leaves and grass clippings---just looks neat, provides some nourishment and moisture retention and best of all keeps that string trimmer away from the trunks. I'm the world's worst when it comes to raiding trash piles for used pots, galv. buckets and tubs of all sizes, so I kind of understand your delima. I just can't stand to see them going to the landfill when they're still useable.Hats off to you being able to keep all those projects going.   Hope this helps.Tim

Oh you poor girl!!!!  Would it help any if some of us came over and took some of the uglier potted figs off your hands?  Maybe some of the citrus too.

LOL, enjoy
Chuck

Hi GoodDaughter,
if you can and dont mind post some pictures some may be able to give you some idea's.
My first thought is this------- if you have a flat roof on any of the stuctures on your property that may be another area of space.

GoodDaughter, just listening to you and I know where I'm heading. Tim I'm like you, can't see a good pot go to waste. I really need to move out into the "sticks" as they say, with about 10 acres surrounded by a forest then I could live like I want without worrying what anyone thinks or says.
"gene"

Oh boy, can I relate to this one.

First of all, as a child of the 60s, I thought this was going to be a political thread. ("pot ghetto").  I LMAO when I discovered that it was not.

Well, yes, I have a couple of suggestions. I used cut-offs from our decking project and cut them to the height of some of the  pots and made a corral for them.  You can make a frame of something like left-over siding from the house, etc. You can fill in the top area and cover them with cocoa fiber or moss or something to hide the edges of the nursery pots of whatever.  Used bricks, landscaping blocks, whatever.

Alternatively, I can also help remove some of the homelier pots.  Just wanna help. <g>

C.J.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the sympathy and ideas. Well, *some* of the ideas, LOL! 

Where we are is flat and very heavily wooded. We lost a few very large, old oaks during hurricane Ike so the back yard has a little more sun now, but I am not sure it's enough to support fruiting plants. I may put a potted fig back there to see what happens, just as an experiment. If it proves to be sunny enough, I can put more back there.  We're not really wanting to cut down any trees, because the ones we have are all mature.

I like the idea of making a corral. Maybe I could bunch the pots up inside one so it wouldn't be too long or rectangular.

No flat roofs, unfortunately.

And we already do live kinda in the sticks. At least no one around here cares what anyone else's yard looks like, so my problem is not complaining neighbors or any homeowner's association or anything like that.  We try to keep the place nice looking, but how nice can it look with a Freightliner in the driveway and a hodgepodge of pots everywhere? I just want it to look a little nicer for *me*. DH couldn't care less.

I'd be embarrassed to post pictures. Trust me, it's awful. One thing we're going to do is to get some of those 18x18 concrete stepping stones and pave the ground beside the back porch where the citrus and figs are now just sitting on the ground. Having the pots sitting on a clean, uniform surface should make it all look a little neater. But there will still be the problem of two long, parallel rows of mismatched pots. 

Have you considered staggered shelving like this:

http://www.woodplantstand.info/photos/CCM096.jpg

http://threedcreative.com/images/SHELF-SIDE-CDRACK.jpg

I've found that creating an "area" like this to put your pots side by side give the illusion of order in chaos.

Pots hold plants. You can put them inside other pots to change their looks. You could make "pot cozies" - maybe out denim or flannel, to put around them, to change their look. Paint them. Be artistic. If it wears off in a couple years, you have an excuse to redecorate. Build wood skirts to put around them, that look like planter boxes, but are just decorative (no bottoms) Screw the 4 sides together, and they will be easy to take apart if need be. They can all the identical, even if the pots hiding inside are different: think facade.