Gardening In Hanging Baskets

Gardening In Hanging Baskets
By Lynne Wilson

Hi Fellow Gardeners,

I am very excited about growing veggies and herbs in hanging baskets. I know you can grow absolutely stunning displays of very colourful flowering plants in baskets. They really brighten up an area, and also become a talking point. I know people who hang the baskets just as a divider, and even those who want to hide from their neighbours.

I recently was talking to a lady, who was a teacher at a school for gifted children. She was growing all her vegetables in baskets on her flat balcony on the Gold Coast of Queensland. I must admit I was really taken with the idea and so I tried some different veggies and herb in my hanging baskets.

They do need feeding and watering regularly, but provided I didn't get to carried away with too many of them, which I am incline to do, I could manage to produce some really nice capsicums and chillies, particularly.

I found the chillies probably the easiest as they didn't seem to mind a bit of drying out. Other plants I tried were potatoes, tomatoes, watercress, chives, mint, parsley (this was also very successful), even comfrey and rhubarb. There were many others that I grow now as well. I used a tiered hanging basket system so I could have as many as 6 baskets one underneath the other, and also I used a new recycled plastic basket liner I have discovered, which just lasts and lasts. This was recycled from plastic soft drink bottles. I also rigged up a drip watering system for the baskets. As the top one gets watered, it filters down and waters the next one and so on. I hang these around the sides of my carport, mainly to close the area in and protect it from the weather as it was larger than I needed for my car.

I did find the side where early morning sun on the plants was the best, as our afternoon sun tends to get very hot and drying. So if you want to try growing some of your veggies and herbs in hanging baskets do remember the light conditions. It will save you moving things around later on. There are more tips and savings ideas associated with growing plants, either leafy, flowering plants or veggies and herbs in hanging baskets, such as reducing the weight and retaining the water.

I heard of one family whose fern was over a hundred years old. It had been past down from generation to generation, of course it was needing a bigger basket. I thought that was fantastic, my friend grows ferns in her baskets inside on her patio and she claims they are over 25 years old. I think growing plants in hanging baskets is a fun and easy way to grow plants. No bending down, they may still need a little weeding unless the basket is crammed full of plants. And yes they still are subject to pests, but it is much easier to just pick off caterpillars or the like, because of the height they are at, than spraying them.

Have fun, try it out.