Hanging Baskets Make a Nice Feature Outside of the Home

As gardening has become a lot more of a past time for people these days we are demanding more of our plots and adding on to them were we can, gardens have finally been accepted as an extension to the home and a place we can enjoy, entertain and relax in… and about time too!

My gardenat home is now full to the brim with all my favourite trees, shrubs and perennial plants and to be honest i am running out of space to add more specimens to my collection, in my past garden features i have mentioned and tried to encourage people to think outside of the box and add onto there existing displays by the means of garden tubs and hanging baskets.

I have baskets planted up around the garden at home all year round, in the summer i tend to stick to the show stopping “surfinia” petunias as they require hardly any maintenance and give a great display of flowers right through to the first really harsh frosts in the autumn, in the winter months i tend to plant up with winter pansies and trailing ivies just to add a splash of colour through the dreary dull months.

Adding hanging baskets around the gardenand outer perimeter of the home not only adds colour in a normally bare environment but makes a really good focal point too, the golden rule with all baskets and tubs is to keep them well fed and watered as they are in a confined container they soon run low on these reserves and need topping up on a regular basis. I always add water retaining gel to my tubs and baskets as this substance stores water and acts like wallpaper paste and lets the plant roots suckle from it when needs be, i also add fertiliser plugs to my plantings as they slowly release nutrients into the compost that in turn feeds the plants and helps to keep them full of health and flowering well.

In the summer months i always rope a neighbour into looking after my baskets and tubs by the means of keeping them watered whilst im away from home, and for some free plants or a bottle of wine they are normally keen to help!

Adding colour doesn’t need to cost a fortune and in our current economical crash and burn we as gardeners just cant afford to spend large amounts of money frivolously on our outside master pieces, i plant within my means and try to grow a lot of the plants myself, i also propagate and recycle plants around the garden too which saves a few pounds, exchanging plants with friends and neighbours is also a good option and helps to bulk up your specimen collection.

Anyway i hope you take something from this piece and it has engaged you to plant up a few tubs and baskets of your own, so until the next time my friends……….”Happy Gardening”.