How To Achieve A Hanging Garden

Creating your own hanging garden is an easy and versatile way to grow a variety of delicious edibles and plants. They look beautiful and can work particularly well for people who don't have a lot of garden space (or any at all) - not to mention they're great gardening projects to get the kids involved in too.

"Now is the very best time in the year to start planting because we're not likely to have any more frost" says Allan Cavill, South West Mentor at the National Allotment Society. "You can take this well into the summer and do this right up until more or less the end of August, or beginning of September."

So if you want to create your own hanging garden but aren't sure where to start then keep reading, as we've spoken to the experts and gathered their advice on how to get going.

Different basket styles

Ann Smith

Some hanging baskets are solid, others are made from wire, some may come with lining while others have no lining at all, so it can be difficult to navigate what is best. But Chief Horticulturalist at the Royal Horticulturist Society, Guy Barter, says it's just down to personal preference.

"I don't think it really matters. The nicest hanging baskets are made of wire and you can push holes in the liner and have plants coming out the bottom and the sides, as well as on the top, which is a lot more fun."

JTF

Standard Round Wire Hanging Basket 14 Inch

If you're unable to get hold of a particular type of hanging basket though, or don't have a garden, Horticulturalist and Gardeners' World Presenter, Frances Tophill, suggests using a household item instead. "You don't need to buy a bespoke hanging basket, it can be a fun upcycling project from something you might already have knocking around," she says.

"If you have some thick string you can just use any old container that you've got and just make a little basket for yourself and hang it from something. If it has holes in you need to make sure there's some sort of liner that keeps the compost in and if it doesn't, you need to make sure that there is a drainage hole. If you are doing it indoors though it's always good to make sure you have a saucer underneath, because I know from personal experience that if you water something that's in your window and then it all drips all over the carpet, it's a nightmare!"

In terms of size, Frances says this is personal preference too, but for her, the bigger the better. "It means less work for you. There are traditional style hanging baskets that are full of bedding plants and if you're going for that kind of style then you have to remember all of the plants in there are competing for the same nutrients in the compost, so the bigger you can make that reservoir of nutrients for them, the better they will grow," she says.

What are the best plants to grow in my hanging garden?

Chee Siong Teh / EyeEm

The great thing is you're able to grow a variety of items in hanging baskets, according to Leaf Creative Founder and award-winning garden designer, Peter Dowle.

"Strawberries by nature are a ground trailing plant, they have a great looking leaf and are attractive as well" says Peter. "The beauty of growing things like strawberries in a basket is you're away from slugs and snails."

Tomatoes are also a good choice, he adds.

"There are varieties of trailing tomatoes and they can be planted on the top of the basket, if you're just doing a top drop down basket, or equally they can be planted in a basket through the slits so they actually cover from underneath as well."

Gardening Direct

Tomato Tumbling Tom Red

Gardening Direct gardeningdirect.co.uk

£14.99

For flowers, Guy says all the usual trailing plants are highly acceptable for hanging baskets. "Things like petunias and abelias, trailing pelargoniums, trailing fuchsias, sprawling pot marigolds; all of those make wonderful hanging baskets."

Nasturtiums are also a great crossover says Peter, as not only do they look fabulous but they're edible too. "They're very high in vitamin C and they look fabulous so they can work in salads. They are a natural trailing plant and I think pretty much across the range of nasturtiums they're all edible, but obviously check the seed packets", he says.

For a really striking basket though, Frances suggests having a mixture of foliage and flower to build up different textures. She suggests having a 'thriller (a more dramatic plant perhaps with more height), spiller (a plant that tumbles down) and filler (to fill in any gaps)' will make a real show stopper basket.

Herbs are also a great for hanging baskets. Peter says Greek basil and marjoram are 'well suited to basket culture', providing you with delicious flavours in the process, and prostrate rosemary will tumble beautifully over your basket.

How to plant up your hanging basket

revelpix

If your hanging basket doesn't already come with a lining, this is the first thing you need to do and again there are lots of different choices.

"You can buy liners and they're usually made of things like coconut fibre, hessian (a coarse cheap material that you use in furniture making) and some people line with polythene too", says Guy.

B&Q

B&Q Brown Natural Fibre Hanging Basket Liner

If you have moss in your garden, he says you can also line your basket with this too. If you don't have any of the above, any kind of fabric will work just as well, or even a bin bag.

Once lined, get a compost that is full of nutrients - Guy recommends either a hanging basket compost or multipurpose compost - then take your plant, make a hole in the lining and plug it through. Continue doing this until the basket gets near the top, leaving a bit of a lip, then water it. Frances stresses that giving your basket a good water afterwards is really important.

"You need to water it straight away so that the roots can make contact with the compost and then they can begin to grow, feed and pick up nutrients" she says. If you want to take the pressure off having to water your basket as regularly, she suggests purchasing water retaining crystals to add into your compost.

"After that, leave it in a shaded place for a couple of days for everything to settle down and then hang it up in its final position" says Guy. "If it's the kind of hanging basket that doesn't need its sides punctured and isn't designed for that, then just treat it as a normal pot."

If you want to plant your hanging basket straight from seed, the best way to do this is by raising them in little pots or trays first, then planting them into the hanging basket. Otherwise, it will take a very long time to get an appealing display.

Where should I hang my hanging basket?

Westend61

The National Allotment Society's Allan advises, if you can, avoiding putting your hanging basket directly in a south facing sun as this will dry your plant out too quickly. Instead, aim for a west or east facing position, avoiding north as this will be too shady. You're aiming for a position that can provide sun for three quarters of the day and a little bit of shade.

Guy suggests that people who don't have garden space should follow this same rule and avoid hanging baskets in south facing windows.

"A west or east facing window should be fine and somewhere where the atmosphere is reasonably humid. It's quite good if you can open the windows a lot, because the outside air is quite humid, whereas it's often pretty dry indoors. You want no heating ideally, plenty of ventilation from outside and as much light as you can arrange", he says.

If you have a balcony and you're allowed to attach a bracket then you can do that, or rest it on something like a bucket. Frances even says hanging your DIY basket off a curtain pole will do.

How to care for your hanging garden

David Burton

Hanging baskets need to be watched carefully as being up in the air usually means they need a lot more water. 'Little and often' is Peter's advice when it comes to watering. If you're not sure whether your basket needs a drink, stick your finger in the compost, and if it feels dry to the touch it needs water.

"Baskets are much better watered little and often", says Peter. "Rather than giving it a really good water, waiting two days, and then another good water, I would give it a light sprinkle in the morning and a light sprinkle in the evening. That way you're always keeping the basket moist."

Nordic Nest

Ernst watering can

Ernst nordicnest.com

£30.00

Feeding your basket regularly is also key. If you used a compost in your basket which contains a slow release fertiliser, then this should keep your plant fed for up to three months. After this time, or if your compost didn't contain this, you need to feed it every week. A handful of chicken manure pellets can work well, or a liquid fertiliser. Frances suggests a seaweed based fertiliser that you mix with your water, so you're watering and feeding at the same time.

"You can make this yourself with stinging nettles" she suggests. "Just pick them from your garden and leave them in a bucket of water for a couple of months. It will smell, but then you'll have a really high nutrient feed that you then mix with your water and then you water your plant with that."

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