Flower Basket

Flower Basket

Increase Your Porch Charm Factor With Beautiful Hanging Baskets

Ever notice how a porch's charm factor skyrockets when a porch is decorated with beautiful hanging baskets? It's easy to create your own hanging baskets. Gather up a few materials and go to town! In the spring, your neighborhood department store, home improvement store and nursery carry a nice selection of flowers, baskets and potting soil from which to choose.  So here are the steps to create a pretty hanging basket for your porch or someone else's.

Select a basket Most hanging flower baskets are made of either wire or plastic . They range in size from 8 to 24 inches. Liners for wire baskets come in plastic, pressed paperboard, coco fiber, or sphagnum moss. If you use a paperboard liner, drill holes in the bottom for drainage. Put a few small to medium size rocks in the bottom so the holes don't get clogged with dirt and prevent drainage.  Sphagnum moss and coco fiber are very porous so they have the tendency to dry out quickly.

Soil Pay attention to this step and you'll have great flowering baskets. Fill the container with a lightweight good quality potting soil mix. You can either purchase this type soil or make it yourself. (You'd need equal parts of vermiculite, perlite, and peat moss). Look for packaged soils that contain fertilizers, preferably slow-release. This will save you time later as you wouldn't have to add water-soluble fertilizers. Fill your container to about an inch or two from the top to make it easier to water.

Plant Select the right plants and arrange them to maximize their beauty. Choosing a single kind of flower will give you the greatest impact; selecting a combination can make a beautiful mixed basket. Just make sure your basket is large enough to accommodate a variety of flowers. Put the shorter, trailing plants in front of the taller ones so that they can be seen. Choose your plants according to the location where they will be - sunny, shaded or hot.    For sunny locations here are some suggestions: vines, ivy geraniums, creeping Charlie, trailing lobelia, trailing snapdragons and all the great varieties of petunias. For shady locations, consider fuchsias, hanging basket begonias, New Guinea Impatiens, regular impatiens, coleus and begonias for your baskets.

Water Water your soil really well after planting. Due to the nature of planters, you may have to water daily when it's really hot. You can purchase a long-neck watering device to help you reach baskets high overhead. One way to see if they need water is to lift them slightly. If they seem light - they need water. If you are not going to be around for longer than a day or two, make sure you have someone water your plants when you are away. In the summer heat, they are sure to wilt quickly.   If you do not have the time or inclination to make your own hanging basket, you will find a plentiful assortment in the spring at your local nursery or home improvement store. Just hang it up and enjoy it. I would recommend, however, that you feed it with a slow-release fertilizer so that the flowers flourish and grow like crazy! Then you will have one of the most charming porches on your block!

About the Author

Mary Morris is a self-proclaimed porch lover and grandma to 5 (going on 7) awesome grand kids. Mary is one of the co-founders of http://www.front-porch-ideas-and-more.com,  a site about everything related to front porches and more.

Check her website often for great http://www.front-porch-ideas-and-more.com/front-porch-designs.html as well as ideas for decorating and just plain enjoying your porch.

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