1 minute read
Hang about
by aboutmedia
Hanging baskets are a great way to add pops of colour to your garden and allow you to bring height and interest to seating areas and patios.
May is the perfect time to plant your baskets and with the right care you can expect to enjoy months of beautiful floral displays. Here are four easy steps to ensure you get the best results:
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1. Prepare your basket
Pop your basket in a bucket to keep it stable. Many come already lined or you can buy readymade jute or moss liners. Snip a few holes in the liner about 5cm above the base to allow excess water to drain and so you can push in your trailing plants.
2. Add your compost
Create a compost mix by combining a good quality multi-purpose peat-free compost with water retaining granules and a slow-release fertiliser. Fill your basket until it’s level with the slits and embed a small flowerpot in the centre which will act as a watering reservoir.
3. Plant away!
Wrap the roots of trailing plants with paper and gently push them through the slits. Try trailing verbena, sweet peas, petunia and pelargoniums. Add your centrepiece – good choices include fuchsia, geranium or a small dahlia – and then add fillers such as pansy, viola, busy lizzies and lobelia. Top up with your compost mix and firm down.
4. Tender loving care
Water your newly planted basket and then continue to water throughout the summer, ideally in the early evenings. Pinch out early flowers to allow the plants to become established, feed with a liquid fertiliser, rotate the baskets on a weekly basis, and deadhead regularly to keep them looking blooming marvellous.
Spring splendour
May is a wonderful month in the garden. The days are getting longer and warmer and all the promises of April come true as carefully planned borders start to burst into bloom. Delphinium, hardy geraniums and aquilegias take centre stage, with the verdant spikes of euphorbia and acid green Alchemilla mollis acting as the perfect backdrop. Late flowering tulips are also putting on a magnificent show but for many gardeners, the ravishing beauty of the peony will undoubtably be the leading light. With huge blousy blooms swaying over dark green foliage and a delightfully intense fragrance, who could fail to fall in love at first sight!
June offers up more delights and all the cottage garden favourites now fight for attention. Lupins, with their stately spires, are a worthy contender, as are elegant antirrhinum and salvia, whilst perfumed
