Seeds, Fertilizer & More
Among the easiest to grow from seed in spring, these dainty beauties are a workhorse of the flower farmer. Their long vase life and cottage garden esthetic adds a soft and romantic touch to bouquets and centerpieces.
May is the time to fill hanging baskets, wall baskets, troughs and ornamental vases. Frosts should be past, so no greenhouse space will be needed.
Size is important. Large baskets – 16in, for example – are easier to manage and plants grow well but are heavy, requiring very sturdy supports; but small ones – 12in, say – dry out quickly and hold limited reserves of nutrients. Intermediate sizes, about 14in, are more practical and still give a bold display.
Wire baskets are economical, but many other materials are available – weight is usually the main consideration (the lighter, the better) unless very sturdy brackets held by 75mm screws are available.
Peat-free potting compost for hanging baskets must contain much moisture, and manufacturers achieve this by using fine-grained material such as ground bark, wood fibre and coir.
Some baskets do not need lining, as they have solid plastic or basketry walls and these can be easier to water and manage.
However, arguably the most glorious hanging baskets are achieved with wire baskets lined with materials such as coir, wool or paper pulp. Unfortunately, it is hard to know whether moss available for sale – the traditional choice of liner – is from sustainable sources. Gardeners on a budget can use cardboard or moss raked from the lawn.
Self-watering baskets with an in-built reservoir appeal to busy people, as they allow longer intervals between watering.
Uncertain gardeners may wish to opt for single-flower baskets – a basket of trailing begonias, calibrachoa or petunias of one or very similar colours can look fabulous and are easy to manage.
However, the full experience comes from mixing and matching, typically using taller centrepiece plants – fuchsias or nicotiana, for example. Usually just one is enough which you can then surround with trailing subjects, including ones inserted through the liner, that go on to hide the basket. Baskets made of decorative materials such as cast iron can be less abundantly planted, so the decoration remains visible.
Nurseries take pains to find delightful, often quite vivid, combinations, often available in garden centres as kits or illustrated in catalogues and on websites. Trixi is a frequent example.
However, the widest range are available as strip bedding or as potted plants – the former are an economical but effective option. At this season, plants will be in flower, so they can be confidently selected on the basis of colour.
Gently firm potting compost around plants as you fill, then water well. Subsequent waterings should ideally be enough to wet the basket but not to flow out and be wasted. RHS research has shown that one mugful of water per day can be satisfactory for a medium-sized hanging basket.
Where containers are at risk of occasionally drying out, consider drought-resistant plants such as trailing pelargoniums, osteospermum and scaevola.
Where time is short, bacopa, calibrachoa, which looks like a smaller version of petunia, and the trailing basket lobelia (Lobelia erinus) need no dead-heading. Dead-heading is otherwise vital for best results.
For areas of light shade, begonias, downy mildew-resistant busy Lizzies and fuchsias are sound choices.
Foliage balances the flowers; creeping jenny, Dichondra “Silver Falls”, ivies, silvery helichrysum and ornamental sweet potatoes (ipomoea) in various shades are good choices.
Thorough watering, frequent feeding with, for example, seaweed fertiliser and ruthless deadheading will bring good results
Source: inews.co.uk
