Pay attention to plants, hanging baskets

You have taken the time and creativity to plant or purchase summer blooming annuals, as well as your summer fruit and vegetable crops. Now that the heat of summer has arrived, your plants will thrive beneath the summer sun. Be aware, however, that summer blooming plants, as well as edible crops, do need your attention from time to time to keep looking and performing at their best.

Caring for hanging baskets and combination planters is simple and easy, as long as you stick to a few regular maintenance activities.

Gardening is a verb. It is an action. Once you purchase an annual hanging basket or porch or patio planter, it is not as simple as just setting the planter outdoors or hanging the basket on a hook.

To keep these stunning and carefully created masterpieces looking their best and flowering continuously, it is important to provide at least a minimal amount of care, sometimes daily.

Most importantly, these containers and hanging baskets must be watered thoroughly, sometimes daily. On windy and exceptionally hot days, it may even be necessary to water hanging baskets twice each day.

Once a hanging basket or container dries out, it is sometimes difficult to get it to return to its full glory. Providing consistent, regular watering helps to keep the basket or container thriving.

Fertilizing annual baskets and containers is also necessary to keep these arrangements thriving throughout the entire summer season. Often, gardeners forget to fertilize and the basket or container dwindles in flowering beauty over several weeks during the summer season.

The easiest way to fertilize a hanging basket is to use a high-quality, bloom booster-type fertilizer and apply according to the package directions. I prefer the water-soluble fertilizers over granules, especially for annual planters and baskets. The water-soluble mixtures give instant availability to the food source, whereas the granules often take far too long to release into the soil.

The benefits of an instant fertilizer boost from a water-soluble, bloom booster fertilizer, such as Miracle Gro or other, is just what your annual planters need to continue to produce new blooms throughout the season. You can fertilize every time you water using these water-soluble fertilizers at a lighter ratio, or fertilize at full strength every few weeks or so.

Be sure to use the correct fertilizer for the types of plants you have in your containers. For explosive bloom, it is best to use one of the bloom boosting fertilizers.

One of the most important aspects of container gardening with hanging baskets and planters that many gardeners neglect is pruning, trimming and deadheading.

Even the most stunning and beautiful planter or basket requires some pruning, trimming and deadheading to continue to be vigorous throughout the season. Sometimes, a simple haircut will do. Just shear several inches of growth every few weeks.

Sometimes, you also need to prune at the center of the planter, pinching off old growth and trimming leggy stems.

Deadheading keeps annuals looking healthy, as well as stimulates new growth. Deadheading is simply popping off or removing spent blooms to keep the container looking healthy, as well as encourage new buds to form.

Give your planters and hanging baskets some routine care throughout the summer season to keep them thriving and bringing you joy for months.


Rob Zimmer is a nature and garden author, public speaker and radio show host on WHBY. Readers can find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RobZimmerOutdoors.