Gardening tip: how to make up hanging baskets

Purple Petunias

published 1 May 2011

A good job for a rainy day in the potting shed. Rest a mesh basket on a big pot. Line it with moss, packed down. Take seedlings and rooted cuttings of pendulous plants-Lobelia, Helichrysum, ivy-and push the rootballs up through the mesh and moss.

Work a layer of potting compost around these roots. Push another layer of plants through the mesh, and add more compost, firming it with your knuckles. Finish with bigger plants on top-fuchsia (above), ivy-leaved geraniums, tuberous begonias-and top off with moss. Get ready for a summer of sloshing water.

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