Hanging Baskets - Need Help

Has anyone got any ideas as regards my hanging baskets. As you can see from the photos it all looks Ok however it's really a con! What I have done is to plonk the plastic pots the plants came in into the wire baskets and then stuff sphagnum moss between the wire and the pot. I couldn't do it the other way round because the pots wouldn't fit and as you can see with the middle baskets I couldn't even get the moss in, it was such a tight fit (at least one of the pots is green)! The problem I now have is that apart from the fact it is a bodge up the moss becomes totally dry very quickly and then starts to fall out. I cant possibly spray it enough for it to stay in place. I didn't want to re-pot the plants into smaller pots for obvious reasons and I suppose the logical answer is get bigger hanging baskets - but I like these. Does anyone have a solution for me? I have seen these absorbent green reconstituted cardboard things but they wouldnt really look good and there wasnt one the right size let alone three. May be they are the only solution. The best thing I think would be proper flower pot pottery, then I would re-pot, but I have never seen one and the extra weight could be too much. Any advice would be much appreciated


[ 17. June 2005, 02:07 PM: Message edited by: Charlie ]

 

Yes, as Marley farley says the usual way is to line the basket with moss, then add a black perforated liner (bottom of a compost bag is what I usually use), then compost with swell gel & feed & plant into the compost, leaving the plants in pots is a shortcut to extra work!
Try taking them out and starting again. I use conifer clippings to line baskets sometimes, which work quite well, and may help to disguise the pots, but all "green stuff" as lining needs water to stay green for longer. The wire on your baskets has quite large gaps so if you use moss again you need to pack it in realy tightly - although having said that, its not really a sustainable way of gardening unless you get it off the lawn!

 

Thanks for the input much appreciated. i had sort of worked out what to do - i think Ill go down the moss then coconut or synthetic then compost route. but as Bayleaf said the gaps are quite wide - I've just thought what about chicken wire then moss?!

 

If I am using wire baskets I tend to plant them up quite early with baby plants and push some of them through the sides as well as planting at the top (hope that makes sense) ...

There are some great alternatives to wire though ... wicker baskets in all sorts of shapes for example which look good even before the plants start to hang down.

I love using odd containers.. old watering cans, boots etc .... half the fun for me :D

I also tend to put a few seeds in too sometimes, these grow and take over later in the year when the main plants have past their best

 

Hi Charlie
Should be fine - don't forget to soak the plants really well before you replant them - you can "tickle" the roots so they don't go round & round - the ones for basket don't tend to mind a bit of root distrubance. hope it goes well!

 

Thanks Bayleaf - off I go again to the GC - seems like I live there now!

 

Yes Marley of course! And a disaster this morning, the hanging basket chain broke, right at the top of the highest basket - see my private message to you for photos!

 

Oh no! Still its a good excuse to go back to the garden centre

 

Yes back I went and now re chained (stronger) plus a new fuschia its all back in place and I have to say I'm very pleased with the result - lets hope it lives and I dont have another disaster!