Talk

I've always followed the more the merrier form of hanging baskets. If you make holes in the liner you can put in trailing plants around the basket, at least 4. A wide variety should be in the garden centres about now. Then in the top I'd put trailing petunias, verbena, 'million bells' about 6 plants around the rim edge. Then in the middle I'd put 2 trailing fuchsias or pelargonium.
Make sure you have put in some water retaining gel and fertiliser granular.

Not enough water....

Probably not quite the right plant choice

oh brilliant, thank you. So I can cram them in for that abundant look? I thought I might have overcrowded them.

And this time I'll water them...

Did you use trailing petunias? Those look a bit more upright. I'd go for the ones that are specifically labelled trailing. I've had the same disappointment after mistakenly using regular petunias. They just don't look as nice imo.

I use water retaining granules and plant feed granules from Poundland

Water and deadhead daily.

Look up thrillers/ spillers/ fillers re. hanging baskets.

I had great success with the hanging basket 6pk selection from Homebase last year. They're labelled by colour (pink, purple, white off the top of my head). I had the pink and purple ones. They contain a vigorous trailing petunia (rather hardy, mine have survived the winter ), a fuchsia, bacopa, creeping Jenny and a daisy for example. If you plant one pack in the same container they look fantastic, really complementary. I think Aldi might have them in at the moment. Haven't seen them in Homebase yet but suspect they'll be on sale soon (May).

Aldi have hanging basket plants for £2.99 !

YY to water retaining granules - I find it best to mix them up with water into a gel like paste before adding to soil .
Half fill basket with compost ,slow release fertiliser and gel ; sit plants on top of compost ,arrange and then fill in gaps with compost .Leave an inch at the top so that you can water without it all running straight off .

I find petunias a bit delicate /get eaten .Geraniums and lobelia seem easier to me .Ivy leaf trailing geraniums are lovely .

Good luck !

Oooh following with great interest as I would love a few hanging baskets at my front door.

My DM always says that it's real testament to you as a gardener if you have a vibrant hanging basket as it shows you make the effort to water them every day!

This is my current one (left behind by previous owner of home and not been taken away in the 6 months we've been here!)

I agree that cramming them in is ok, as long as you use a good quality Compost. I would add slow release feriliser when planting as feeding hanging baskets is a faff. I also suggest hanging baskets with a reservoir in the bottom as the types you show dry out extremely quickly unless they are planted in the shade.

oh fab, thanks for all the advice!

It sounds stupid but I honestly didn't know you have to water them every day!

And they may not have been trailing petunias... honestly, how obvious?!



What do you class as a good quality compost? I have a bag that I got from Tesco...

I think I'll nip to aldi tomorrow, thanks for the tips!

Homebase are buggers for mixing up the upright and trailing petunias in my experience! Trailing ones will give you that lovely bushy tumbling effect. Just remember to deadhead frequently to encourage maximum bloomage

The Tesco compost should be fine. I use any multipurpose I can get my hands on. Aldi compost is good too in my experience. If you want to beef it up a bit add the water retaining granules and plant food granules mentioned, or a spot of miracle gro or similar in your watering can every so often.

Sounds like you're all set

You can buy Compost for hanging baskets which has a slightly different mix. Sometimes though you pay a bit more for it and it is no better than a supermarket one. Stick with your Tesco one but as others have said feed and water.

So should I just plant as many plants as will fit in the baskets, with no spaces in between?

Leave some space. i would say if you can put two fingers between each plant that should be ok. It is easier to water if there is a little bit of space. One of the watering problems is that, because the plants are high up you can't see the water going in. And it can just run off the plants without wetting the soil. It is probably a goood idea in really hot weather to take them down and plunge them into,a bucket of water for a good soak.

you need a bit space between plants.
compressed coconut is goo for retaining moisture, but you need to water often and also use plant food.
you can also use watering bulbs for when you can't water often enough.

I think replanting often also is required once the plants are past their best.

When you say compressed coconut, is it the brick things? And would you mix it with compost? Some of them look like they are just another kind of compost

One tip I would give for petunias particularly is to not only dead head but also cut back the plant once it starts to get 'leggy'.
You can cut it back to where you see a flower forming and this will really encourage new growth and density to the plant.
Depending on how I want it to look I have cut mine back by 2/3 some years.
There are some great tips on YouTube about this. For baskets deadheading is the answer and of course feed and not letting them dry out too much.
Good luck !

Noted thank you!

I went to Aldi yesterday looking for the hanging basket mixes. Unfortunately they didn't have any (which kind of threw me for a minute. I kind of froze in front of the plants not able to decide which to get!)

But taking into account the advice above I've gone for some white lobelia (they trail, right?) x 18 and some pink geraniums x 12. This gives me 6 lobelia and 4 geraniums for each basket. Does that sound right?

Any advice still very much appreciated, thank you!

Here's a picture so you can see the scale, thanks.

(Please ignore last year's corpses )

That amount would look fine. Check your Lobelia, there are two different types trailing and upright. However, the upright does bush up and flop over.
Are you going to put in a new coir liner? You could make small X holes in the front and put the Lobelia in that way.

These are two baskets I had in my previous house. The one under the window was a longer version of yours. It had geraniums and Lobelia in it. When you first put them in they look a bit empty, but they soon pick up.

oh brill, thanks! yes, I have some new liners to go in, and some water retaining thingys and feed.

I'm going to try really hard to get it right this time!

those baskets are lovely btw JT05

Thank you 😊

I save empty margarine tubs or the containers from takeaways, well washed out of course, and put them in the bottoms of hanging baskets and wall planters as a reservoir for water after I've lined the baskets.