Its time to plant up summertime hanging baskets

Hanging baskets are a great, easy on the pocket way to brighten up your outdoor space or entrance for summertime guests. You don't have to have a huge space for this type of gardening just a hook to attach them on to.

Baskets are available in a wide range of styles. Still popular are your traditional wicker or fleece lined basket, but ceramic and gloss ceramic are becoming more popular. If I could give you a tip, go for the biggest your space and budget will allow. Hanging baskets take a lot of watering through long hot, dry spells the more compost they can hold the easier your work load is.

Follow these four steps to great baskets year on year:

Lining. Make sure to buy a lining that fills your basket. I know this sounds like common sense, but you would be surprised how much the weight in compost will pull down on your liner. Hence if you are using a liner that requires cutting, wait until after filling before cutting.

Compost. A multi-purpose compost is suitable for hanging baskets. You can add our Gardeners Friend Multipurpose Fertiliser to your compost to feed your plants and receive the best display from them (See video below).

Planting. Garden centres make it easy to plant baskets by selling packs of plants that work well in a hanging basket. Look for trailing as well as upright plants to give a dramatic look throughout the summer. Plants like Begonias, Fuchia, Pelargonium (geraniums), Lobelia, Viola (pansies) and of course the king of bedding Begonia semperflorens.

Aftercare. Basicly watering and feeding. On hot days it is essential to water your baskets and be sure to water daily if you have hung your basket under a fascia. Feed every 4 weeks with our Gardeners Friend Multipurpose Fertiliser to have fuller baskets and more flower production (See video below).

Don't delay, BUY Gardeners Friend Multipurpose Fertiliser and add this to your shed of tricks!

It would be great to see your successful hanging basket displays. Why not send them to use via our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/madebygardeners/?ref=hl

Enjoy your baskets this year!