Six Top Tips for Planting Your Hanging Baskets

Now is the time of year when many gardeners start thinking about hanging baskets because the risk of frost has largely passed. They make a picturesque and convenient addition to any outdoor space, no matter how big or small.

Here Madingley Mulch, who supply Black Fen soil garden products to customers in Suffolk, Essex and our home county of Cambridgeshire, provide six top tips on how to make the most of your hanging baskets.

 

1. Use Fen Soil Topsoil

Beginning at the bottom, you should always use a top-quality compost or soil improver on top of your basket liner (whatever this is made of), as any plants grown in confined spaces need the best possible start.

Our best-selling topsoil, which is only available in the Cambridgeshire area, is a screened soil, which means it has been well filtered removing the larger clods of earth along with any stray plant roots and stones. It’s also peat-based which makes it ideal for use in hanging baskets.

 

2. Think Structure

You should always start off with a sturdy central plant in the middle of the basket to give others something to work around. Begonias make for the ideal centre point for any basket, thanks to their large and colourful single or double flowers. Trailing plants such as fuchsias are better left to the outside of the basket to give them maximum space to grow, as can be seen in the picture above.

 

3. Think Colour

Unless you have a fetish for a particular shade, or want to plant more than one basket at a time, it’s always a good idea to have different colours. Pansies, petunias and geraniums are always a good choice, not just because they flower reliably, but because they have a number of different coloured varieties.

 

4. Think Water

In the height of summer, particularly if it’s another warm one like this year, you will need to water your basket once a day. Don’t worry too much about overwatering as any excess should drain out of the bottom of the basket. It’s also worth ‘topping this up’ with a weekly feed of liquid fertiliser to ensure the flowers get all the nutrients they need.

 

5. Prepare to Prune

It might seem unusual to prune your hanging basket, but it makes sound growing sense. Cutting off the first flowers, as well as pinching shoot tips, will ensure stronger roots and better growth later in the season, meaning your basket will look better for longer. In fact, it’s worth deadheading and trimming any plants if they start to look a worse for wear at any time, and not just at the beginning of the season.

 

6. Recycle It at the End of the Season

At the end of the growing season, your hanging basket can still have a role to play. Tip the contents onto the compost heap (if you have one).  And, according to the Royal Horticultural Society, some hardy plants (such as ivies) could be replanted into your main garden.

 

Black Fen Soil in Suffolk from Madingley Mulch

Black Fen soil isn’t just for use in your topsoil, it’s also a core ingredient of Denise’s Delight, a soil improver available exclusively from our base near Cambridge and which is ideal for use in raised beds. It also contains well-rotted horse manure, humus and other plant nutrients.

If you’d like to buy your fen soil or any other garden or DIY products from us, you can order them directly from our online shop. We also deliver to addresses in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Essex and further afield.

If you have any garden-related queries, follow this link and fill in the online form.

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