What colours will be in your Hanging Basket?
The Grapevine Theatre at Hampton Court Palace Flower show last week, kept audiences entertained during the TV style magazine show with the Hanging Basket Challenge.
It was a fun challenge to see how quickly celebrity guests could fill a hanging basket. This brought out the competitive nature in all the celebrity guests as to who would be the winner at the end of the week. After each challenge the times were recorded, they ranged from 1 min 10 seconds to the unbeatable winner at the end of the week of 9.5 seconds by Mark Compton.
Perhaps not a perfect basket and the plants not guaranteed their survival, but it brought many smiles and much laughter from the audience.
David Domoney, Mark Compton and Neil Domoney after Mark had completed the challenge in 9.5 seconds
Following on from the Hanging Basket Challenge we wondered how long you took to choose your plants, what coloured flowers you liked and if you did anything different with your hanging baskets.
Hanging baskets brighten up the darkest of corners around our homes and provide an instant display of bright colours. There area lots of plants you can use specifically grown for pots and hanging baskets and it is very easy to do, tailoring the colours you like to your home.
A hanging basket can come in many forms and styles and perhaps not even a basket such as this old tin bucket which gives a great backdrop to show off the bright purple flowers
If you fancy having a go at making a hanging basket, here is a guide to help you through the process:-
1. Place the basket on a large flowerpot or bucket. Put the liner in the basket and half fill it with hanging basket compost.Add moisture control gel and slow-release fertiliser to help keep plants consistently moist and nourished through the season.
2. Plant up the sides of the basket, by gently pushing the roots of your plants through the liner and firming them into the compost.Do this all the way around the outside of the basket and add a little more compost on top of the exposed roots. Continue like this until you reach the top of the basket.
3. Place the remaining plants in the top of the basket; one centrally and the rest evenly spaced around the edge.
4. Gently firm more compost around the root balls, keeping the final level a few centimetres below the top of the basket to allow room for watering.
5. Once complete, water well.
This pretty seating area has hanging baskets from the wall
There are many plants that you can use in your basket and some of my favourites are Lobelia, Geraniums, Petunias, Fuschias, Ivy and Impatients. All of these have a great selection of colours that you can choose to co-ordinate with the outside areas around your homes. Perhaps the outside space you have is limited?
A three story hanging basket could be the perfect way of growing fresh salad vegetables and herbs.
Salad and herb baskets
Always remember that hanging baskets are surprisingly heavy once fully planted, especially when they have just been watered. Make sure that the bracket holding up your hanging basket is securely attached to the wall, to avoid accidents.
Do you have any tips for keeping flowers well watered and fed in your hanging baskets or any tricks of the trade for a beautiful hanging basket?
Why not share your pictures with the blog team by pinning your pictures to our gardening board on Pinterest. We look forward to seeing your pictures soon.
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9.5 seconds to arrange a hanging basket is amazing form. They could be a professional basket arranger with skills like that…very impressed! Nice tips on hanging baskets.
Maybe it is a hidden talent? Glad you enjoyed this blog