• 0 items$0.00
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Hands Occupied

Colorful knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame from craft book author & designer Heidi Gustad.

  • BLOG
    • Knitting
    • Crochet
    • Latch Hook
    • Macramé
    • Punch Needle
  • ABOUT
  • Shop
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • TikTok
    • YouTube

How-to: Transplant a Potted Plant

July 3, 2013 1 Comment

This post brought to you by Miracle-Gro. All opinions are 100% mine.

How-to: Transplant a Potted Plant - HandsOccupied.com If you find yourself invited to a cookout next week, you might want to come prepared with a hostess gift. If you want something that comes together lickety split, give a potted flower a try! If you’re looking to get into gardening for the very first time, you should check out The Gro Project for great resources to help you get started. 

Supplies

small terra cotta pot

small rocks

Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix

Miracle-Gro Shake ‘n Feed Plus Moisture Control All Purpose Plant  Food

small flowering plant

Directions

Line the bottom of your pot with some pebbles to ensure proper drainage. Potted plants like to get a drink of water, but they need some breathing room too. Watering a plant without enough drainage is kind of like giving a person a bottomless glass of water and telling them to drink it in one sitting. It would never survive.

How-to: Transplant a Potted Plant - HandsOccupied.com

Next, grab your flowering plant. Gently remove it from its store container by placing your hand over the top of the soil surrounding the plant and tipping it upside down. Some plants will pop right out, and others might need coaxing. Don’t grab your plant by the stem and yank (ever). A combination of massaging the container the plant came in and mild shaking do the trick for me.

How-to: Transplant a Potted Plant - HandsOccupied.com

When your plant is out of its store container, you’ll want to give it a fresh start by breaking up the container-shaped soil it’s in, removing about a third of the soil it came with. Don’t worry about tossing the soil – store bought plants’ soil can be chock full of excess fertilizer, bacteria, or mineral salts. If you’re having trouble removing the soil, you can use a chopstick or twig to carefully poke around in the roots to loosen the soil. Be careful not to rip apart the roots too much. Some plants do have really thick roots up and down the sides and bottom of the container they come in. In that case, you can be significantly more aggressive in loosening the roots and soil.

How-to: Transplant a Potted Plant - HandsOccupied.com

Really, the ultimate goal is to give your plant a fresh start in a healthy environment, spreading out the roots and removing some of the store soil before transferring the plant is the way to accomplish this. Speaking of happy potted plants, another way to avoid overwatering is to use the right potting soil. Miracle-Gro’s Moisture Control® Potting Mix is an additional step in the right direction. Add some potting soil on top of your layer of rocks, just enough so that when you hold your plant over your pot,  the roots are just touching the top of this first layer of soil.

How-to: Transplant a Potted Plant - HandsOccupied.com

Set your plant in the pot, centering it, and add potting soil around it until the roots are nice and covered. Even out the soil with your fingers, but don’t pack the soil down too tight. Overpacking the soil makes it harder for your plant’s roots to grow.

How-to: Transplant a Potted Plant - HandsOccupied.com

When you’re all potted, add a little sprinkle of Miracle-Gro’s Shake ‘n Feed Plus Moisture Control All Purpose Plant Food to get your plant the nutrients it needs, then water your plant well and let it drain.

Don’t forget – if you’re a newbie gardener, check out The Gro Project for more beginner gardening projects. You can also find fun garden projects on Miracle-Gro’s Pinterest page. 

Visit Sponsor's Site

Filed Under: Giveaways, Reviews & Sponsored, How-to Tagged With: diy, flowers, gardening, miracle-gro, plants, sponsored, tips

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad (she/her) is a craft book author & designer specializing in yarn crafts. Her work combines vintage and modern design elements, prioritizing color and graphic motifs. Her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now.

Previous Post: « How-to: Uncle Sam Planter
Next Post: Weekly Reader »

Reader Interactions

DID YOU LIKE THIS POST?
Visit similar articles...

  • How-to: Cinder Block PlantersHow-to: Cinder Block Planters
  • Attention, DIY Brides & Handmade Hostesses!Attention, DIY Brides & Handmade Hostesses!
  • Weekly ReaderWeekly Reader
  • Simple Ribbon Vase DIYSimple Ribbon Vase DIY

Comments

  1. Carol

    July 7, 2013 at 1:12 pm

    Hint – If your worried about soil falling out of your drainage hole, place a piece of coffee filter in the bottom of your pot before you add the pebbles.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), and I’ve been helping yarn crafters untangle various techniques on the internet since 2010. I got my start here, as a blogger, and since then I’ve shared more than a few tutorials here and on YouTube as I’ve grown as a pattern designer. 🧶 

learn more / work with me

Find Me on Social Media

  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • TikTok
  • YouTube
Latch Hook by Heidi Gustad

Footer

INSTAGRAM

Heidi Gustad 🧶 knitting & yarn crafts

handsoccupied

Knitting & yarn crafts designer 🧶
.
Stay up-to-date 💌 & shop new patterns ⤵️

POV: Showing you how my new Bevelled Tank pattern POV: Showing you how my new Bevelled Tank pattern fits with no ease vs. 4” of positive ease. There’s a bit more length to the cotton (brighter color) sample, but both are cropped and feature shoulder seams designed to sit an inch back onto the shoulder instead of on top, giving it a little swing. Length is easily adjustable for folks looking for less of a crop. 
.
Pattern: Bevelled Tank by @handsoccupied for @pompommag x @hobbii_yarn summer 2024. Available for free from Hobbii at the 🔗 in my profile.
Yarn pictured: @kelbournewoolens Skipper and Camper. 
Dress form is adjusted to a 36” chest and ~5’3”ish in height. 
Human has a 40” chest and is 5’5”.
Both skirts are vintage.
.
#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #handsoccupied #intarsia #handmade #knitting #colorwork
Let’s talk about fit and ease! . During the Beve Let’s talk about fit and ease!
.
During the Bevelled Tank design process for @pompommag, I knit 2 samples using 2 different @KelbourneWoolens yarns. One was in Skipper (100% cotton, second photo) and the other was in Camper (100% 2 ply wool). The Skipper sample was knit for a 36” bust, which measures in at 40” with 4” of positive ease. And I knit the Camper Sample for my 40” bust with a 44” finished measurement. (BTW, I’m 5’5” for folks that find that measurement helpful in visualizing fit.)
.
Based on the size chart for the Bevelled Tank, that means I knit one size 3 sample and one size 4. As designed, I conveniently fit a size 4 as intended with 4” of positive ease. When I wear the 3, there is no ease at all because the garment and my body are both 40” in size. Comparing the 2 garments, you can see how the fiber content (cotton vs. wool) and fit (no ease vs. 4” of positive ease) makes a difference in the look and feel of the finished garment. 
.
These samples are a great way to compare what ease looks like on different bodies. While I can fit both a size 3 and 4, the garment with no ease feels more like pajamas or a bralette when I wear it. On the other hand, when I wear the one with 4” of positive ease, I feel comfortable enough to wear it to work, even as a crop top. Plus, it leaves me with enough room to layer it with a nice button down if I’m not feeling the cropped look one day. 
.
I’m curious - how would you style this tank? Would you modify it with a few stockinette rows for added length? I’m so curious now that this pattern is finally out in the world. :) 
.
#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #bevelledtank #handsoccupied #knitting #intarisa #handmade #kelbournewoolens #croppedsweater #summerknits
After a 6 month hiatus, I am happy to say I’m ba After a 6 month hiatus, I am happy to say I’m back with a brand new pattern in 9 sizes, and it’s FREE as part of @pompommag x @hobbii_yarn’s summer design collection! (Link is in my bio.)
.
In my December newsletter, I announced that I was soliciting test knitters for a pattern that had originally been selected for the summer ’24 issue of Pom Pom Quarterly magazine. However, the magazine ceased publication after its spring ’24 issue, leaving in-progress designs unpublished. (It happens.) As a result, I’d begun the long process of editing, testing, and photographing the pattern for independent release through the Hands Occupied pattern shop and Ravelry.
.
Before I was done with that process, Pom Pom Quarterly’s former editors reached out with an exciting proposal for the pattern. Post-magazine, they’ve begun to partner with yarn companies to produce high quality pattern collections. They wanted to include designs from the would-be current issue of Pom Pom Quarterly in a new collection for Hobbii yarn, including my Bevelled Tank. I worked with the same technical editors I would have for the magazine on this one, and as you can see from the photos, Pom Pom’s team did an amazing job of styling the garment to the beautiful standards they’re known for.
.
You can learn more about the pattern on my blog and get the free pattern from Hobbii yarn - links to both in my profile. I’ll post sizing info in the comments for quick reference too. 🧶
.
#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #knitting #intarsia #sponsored #colorworkknitting 
.
Photos: @dianascarrunz 
Model: @angel.jade_
Here’s a nice throwback for you: my take on a vi Here’s a nice throwback for you: my take on a vintage knitting pattern from 1938 called the Fernlace Pullover. A pattern so nice, I knit it twice.
.
Yellow version 💛: knit with Despondent Dyes’ Vintage Vixen Sport after attending a @squidneyknits vintage knitting retreat in 2019 & learning *so much*. Paired with a self-drafted circle skirt pattern. 
.
Blue version 💙: knit with @eweeweyarns Ewe So Sporty in Sky Blue. Paired with the 1940s Boardwalk Duet sewing pattern from @decades_of_style 
.
Head to my stories for 🔗🔗 to the handmade wardrobe blog posts I wrote about each take on the Fernlace Pullover, working with a vintage pattern, where to find vintage patterns (including the one I used), & some thoughts on sizing. 
.
Image descriptions available in alt text. 
.
#handsoccupied #handmadewardrobe #fernlacepullover #vintageknitting #vintageknittingpatterns #knitting_inspiration
Frogging is a word in the knitting world that mean Frogging is a word in the knitting world that means to rip out your knitting. It’s called frogging because frogs say “ribbit,” and when you’re tearing out your knitting, you will “rip it” out, and that sounds like ribbit. No really. 🐸 Did you know this fun fact? 
.
P.S. I did like this design concept, but to make the pattern more knitter friendly as well as more wearable, I am making some tweaks to the construction. Excited to share when it’s ready! 🥰🧶
.
Yarn: @blueskyfibers Woolstok North in Morning Frost & Highland Fleece 
.
#handsoccupied #knitting #frogging #blueskyfibers #knittersofinstagram #blueskymakers #knittingvocabulary #bsfmakers #knitdesign
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2025 / Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework / Branding by Ink + Mortar
All Site & Shop Policies / Privacy Policy / Cookie Policy