- Make sure you gather all the plants you need for the basket before you begin. A common error is to use too few plants. For a typical 45-centimetre basket, Claude LeDoux recommends around 27 plants.
- Line the basket with the basket liner to just above the second-from-bottom wire rung. Place the wick through the bottom of the basket so that half is in the basket and the other half is coiled in the drip basin.
- Fill the basket with soil to the same height as the moss and firm the soil against the moss to increase soil volume. Keep the wick upright.
- Add half the controlled-release fertilizer (14-14-14).
- Mix the fertilizer into the soil.
- Plant the bottom layer of plants, from outside in, just above the second wire rung of the basket.
- The bottom layer is complete.
- Line the top half of the basket with moss.
- Fill the basket with soil to a slight mound in the centre.
- Incorporate the remaining fertilizer and place the top layer of plants around the basket. To complete, dig a hole in the centre of the basket and firmly plant the last few plants. At his course, Claude recommends a variegated geranium (Pelargonium Wilhelm Langguth’) and two Calceolaria ‘Sunshine’ plants. Related stories:
Hanging Baskets 101 Anatomy of a Hanging Basket