Hanging baskets are a good idea. They add a lot of color to your home.
But most of the ones you buy are grown in a peat moss-based potting soil and they may not live at your house as long as one that you pot up yourself. The reason is that a peat-base potting soil once it dries out is very difficult to get wet again.
That’s why I recommend using a bark potting soil and I’d incorporate some acrylimide co-polymer. This is actually a space-age plastic 400 times its weight in water.
And one tablespoon of acrylimide incorporated into a ten-inch hanging basket can cut your watering by 50% over summer. Watch what happens when you add it to water. In about fifteen minutes time the acrylimides have absorbed all the water in the container and now look something like crushed ice.
Don’t overfill the basket. Remember the acrylimides will expand a great deal. Put one tablespoon of acrylimide per ten-inch hanging basket and stir it thoroughly into the soil.
Whether the hanging basket will be in the sun or the shade will partially determine what plants you use. Another of course is choose your favorite colors. I’m using marigolds and petunias.
Using the right potting soil and incorporating acrylimide co-polymers will insure that your basket will hang around all summer.
Tips For Hanging Baskets…
- Use a bark potting soil and incorporate some acrylimide co-polymer, which can cut your watering by 50% over summer
- Don’t overfill your basket; allow for the acrylimides to expand
- Add one tablespoon of acrylimide per ten-inch hanging basket and stir in thoroughly
- Choose your favorite color flowers and determine flowers to use by whether the basket will be in the sun or shade