For some people planting hanging baskets can be a real chore but really it is a straightforward and hopefully fun job! Firstly choose your basket and if your looking to keep things simple a 14" pre-lined hanging basket is ideal. If you are planting baskets in winter it is worth putting a few slits in the basket to aid drainage but it is not particularly necessary in summer.
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| add slow release fertiliser |
Moving onto compost, it is definitely worth using a specialist hanging
basket compost. Furthermore we like to add a small amount of slow
release fertiliser, such as miracle-gro continuous release plant food (pictured right)
For 14" basket we normally opt for one centre-plant and 6 trailing plants around the edge (two alternating varieties).
We think this is the ideal amount to achieve a good full basket quickly. You can get away with less especially if you are using vigorous growers such as Surfinia petunias.
Start your planting in the middle. Zonal (bush) Geraniums, Nemesias and Bush Fuchsias are all great plants for a centrepiece. On this occasion we chose Fuchsia 'Patio princess'. It is nice and compact, and will be covered in flower buds from June onwards.
Now on to trailing plants. We would recommend two
lots of three plants. Bacopa, Bidens, Surfinia Petunias, Trailing Fuchsias and Verbenas are all popular choices. In this example we have chosen a new Calibrichoa
called 'Hot pink star' and Lobelia waterfall 'Blue ice'.
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| Basket plants ready for planting |
Calibrichoas are basically small flowered trailing
petunias. They are amongst the best performers available in basket
plants and will continue to flower all summer long.
Lobelia waterfall 'Blue
ice' is a massive improvement on standard bedding Lobelias. It is both
stronger flowering and more vigorous in growth. Most importantly it
will not run out of steam or start to go brown during a hot summer like traditional lobelia
is perhaps prone to.
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| The finished basket, ready to grow on |
Once planted we will grow the basket on in a tunnel or greenhouse for a couple of weeks. It is never easy to predict the weather in this country but normally speaking it is safe to put baskets out by whitsun bank holiday monday. If you do not have a greenhouse you can always leave the basket out during the day and move it in at night.
