How to Care for Hanging Haskets

Caring For Hanging Baskets

Hanging baskets and planters are nothing short of beautiful. They brighten up your home indoors and out. The best time to buy them is during the spring when garden stores open up for the season and demand is high. The stores respond to this demand with huge displays of colorful plants, just waiting for you to take home to hang under the eaves of your house, or around a patio or deck. Once you bring them home and place them in their summer location, the next step is to learn how to care for hanging baskets to keep them healthy and blooming all season long.

There’s an artistic quality to hanging baskets. They come in all shapes, colors, sizes, and growth habits. And, the same goes for the planters, too. This means you can select among a countless variety to fit your personal taste and decorating needs. You can use sun-loving or shade-loving plants as needed. While most are blooming varieties that spill over and down from the planter, there are non-blooming flowers, too, And you can even use hanging baskets to plant herbs and vegetables.

Using hanging planters is a popular form of vertical gardening. For space-limited gardeners, it opens up new gardening space. People in apartments and condos can participate in the relaxing and rewarding hobby of gardening. More on vertical gardening.

Caring for Hanging Baskets

Whether you realize it or not, as soon as you hang up that flower-filled planter under the eave of your home, you have become a home gardener. Welcome aboard to this exciting hobby. Now, your mission should you choose to accept it (and you quite obviously have), is to keep the flowers inside of the hanging basket blooming all season long.

Caring for hanging baskets requires frequent attention. But it isn’t hard to do. First, before you select a hanging basket from the garden store, determine where you want to hang the planter(s). Location is important to determine what type of plants to buy. For sunny locations, sun-loving flowers are best. For shady spots, it is best to use more limited varieties of shade-loving or shade-tolerant plants. Now you are ready to go and get those beautiful, hanging baskets.

If this is the first time, you need to install eyelets or hooks under the eave. First, make certain the ceiling will support the weight of the planter. It is important to secure the hook or eyelet to a joist, stud, or other solid wood. Once they are installed, you can hang your plants there every year. And after the season is over, you can use these same hooks to hang wind chimes, spinners, and seasonal decorations.

Now, you are ready to go to your local garden store. You will be amazed at the huge, overwhelming variety of choices. However, rest assured, you will know what to select when you see it.

Finally, comes the easy part, simply hang the planter on the hook or eyelet.

Follow the tips below, and the beautiful flowers in your hanging basket will put on a showy display all season long.

Fun Links: Hanging Flower Basket Day

Hanging Baskets Plant Care Tips

Here are some tips for caring for hanging planters all season long:

After you bring your hanging baskets home, give them a good dose of water. The plants are likely in full, showy bloom atop lush and green stems and leaves. But, carefully examine it and remove any spent blooms and dead leaves.
Check moisture levels daily in hot weather. Even amounts of water are best. In hot, humid weather, you may have to water daily.
Apply a liquid fertilizer every two to three weeks. Or use fertilizer spikes made specifically for hanging baskets.
Deadhead spent flower blooms as soon as they die off. This promotes the production of new blooms.
Trim away any dead growth. Also, trim the plants to create a shapely appearance.
Turn the planters every few days to provide equal amounts of sun to all sides of the plant.
Spray insecticides and fungicides only when absolutely necessary.
Going away for a few days? Ask someone to take care of your plants.

How to Care for Hanging Planters Indoors

Grow plants in hanging baskets just like you would any other indoor plant.

If you are bringing in plants in the fall, check the plants and the soil carefully to make sure insects are not hitching a free ride into your home. See more on Bringing Plants Indoors.
Give the plant a good trim.
Avoid leaf drop by slowly acclimating the plants to the indoor conditions of your home. See more on How to Avoid Leaf Drop.
Water needs are much less indoors. Allow the top of the soil to dry slightly between waterings.
Protect your floors and furniture. Outdoor planters have holes in the bottom of the planter to allow excess water to drain. Transplant the plants into a hanging basket that does not have a hole in the bottom. Or, set the planter into a larger planter that does not have holes in it.
Reduce the amount of fertilizer to once every 2 to 3 months. The goal for growing indoor plants is slow and steady.