ANSWER.
A     First you must choose your basket, the traditional wire basket is still in evidence but takes skill and hard work to fill. The plastic pots now in vogue are easy to fill but do have some drawbacks. Also the location of the basket has to be taken into consideration.

If you are away at work during the hot summer days, it may be worth your while investing in an automatic watering system for your patio tubs and hanging baskets.

Most systems are gravity fed drip feed systems from a header tank. But there are more complex types which use electronic sensors to detect when and where water is needed.

These systems are readily available at garden outlets, and the basic models are very cheap to buy.

Q.    
WINDOW BOXES. I have window boxes that face the East and nothing will grow! I have tried everything from changing the soil, to cleaning out the window boxes so that there is no bacteria, buying the Ph kit to test the soil, planting Pansies, Impatiens, Marigolds and various other annuals that never live. It seems that the roots never grow into the soil. Please help me with some ideas. I want colour in these boxes. They are on the front porch and get a few hours of morning sun and then mostly shade. HELP! Thanks, Janet P.

A.    Buy some farmyard manure or horse manure, readily available at garden outlets mix into the soil along with some peat. This should encourage root growth. Try, any fuchsia; fibrous begonias; impatiens; osteospermum; nicotiana; trailing lobelia; begonia elatior; We have great success with Surfinia in east facing positions. Valecroft

Q.    
Can I plant morning glories and climbing small tomatoes in the same planter box or will they choke each other? The morning glories will go on either side of the trellis and the tomatoes in the middle portion will that be OK? Thank you

A.
You can grow morning glory and tomatoes together. The only trouble is you have a conflict of interest if you grow in the same container. The tomatoes need very rich soil to produce fruit, morning glory need very poor soil, in fact will not flower at all in rich soil. Therefore you need to plant the tomatoes and morning glory in separate containers in your planter box. Watch out for black aphids on morning glory, can affect the tomatoes.
Valecroft.

Q.    
Hello, I have had a fantastic winter-flowering VIOLA basket, which has been in bloom since October and is just starting to lose some of its flowers (May). Will it finish now? - Or with the right care and conditions can I keep it going through the summer and into next Autumn/Winter? Many thanks, Lisa

A.
You can keep winter flowering viola from year to year, the trouble is, in the hot summer sun they grow very long and leggy and are often subject to attack from various leaf virus and blight moulds, which often leaves a very poor plant by autumn. So not really worth the bother. The plant you buy in autumn is treated with a growth retardant, which keeps the plant compact for a few months.
Valecroft.


Q.

Hi.... Can you please tell me why all of my GERANIUM Plants have not bloomed at all this summer? They are all very hardy growing, with good green leaves, but not one Bloom in sight!! They are potted in containers, both indoors and outside in window boxes, fed organically with worm compost..Please help!!!Thanks Philip

A.

This sounds like too much nitrogen in the soil. Try a high potash low nitrogen fertiliser. Bone meal is excellent if organic.



Question.     I have a lot of hanging basket plants that I bought this summer, that seem to be still blooming, just a few shoots though...can I place these in my basement, will they come back...I'm afraid most of them don't say what they are.

Answer.     Leave the plants in the baskets while storing in your basement; any perennials should reappear next spring. The big danger is mice, if they see a fresh shoot in spring before you do it will be gone and you will be left believing the plants are dead. Most plant labels indicate if the plant is perennial or annual. If you have bought plants without labels, it's worth having a stroll round your local garden centre and take notes off the labels of similar plants

Q.
    We have about 40 feet of boxes on the railings of our deck containing impatiens. Around the middle of July many of the leaves on the plants begin to yellow and spot. Is this caused by too much water, not enough, or insects? I've been given many answers but no real solution.
Thanks for your help.

A.
    The compost in the boxes has become too acid; apply a light dusting of garden lime around the stems of the plants, but not on the leaves. Also a small amount of Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) will encourage the production of chlorophyll, the green in the leaves.

Q.
    Every year I plant geraniums in two large pots in front of my home. At first the flowers kept getting smaller with each new bloom. I was advised to fertilize twice a week with tomato fertilizer. This solved the problem of small blooms, but now the problem is that before the blooms have completely developed to their full bloom the centre of the bloom starts to die so that when the large bloom is completely out it has dead parts in the centre of the bloom. Can you help? I live in Mi and the pots have full sun.

A.
    This could be botrytis mould, damage is caused by damp in the flower cluster. It could be that you are contributing to the problem by watering the plants from above rather than below, and then the warmth causes the botrytis in the damp buds to multiply.


Q.    
I purchased 12 "earliglow" strawberry plants. There was a "tip" inside that the plants can be grown indoors in a strawberry pot. I do not have a strawberry pot. Is there an alternative pot I could use? Do you think I would have good results with a 28" long window "flower" box? What is a strawberry pot anyways?
Thanks for your help.

A.     A strawberry pot is a 1-meter high tubular pot with spouts sticking out of the sides at various heights. They are widely available or you can make one up from plastic sewer waste pipes from your builders yard. You will need plenty of light to succeed. Your window flower box should also give good results.


Q.    
Hi,
Love your web site. I would like to know how to winter geraniums. I was given two beautiful hanging baskets they bloomed all summer but now they are turning brown and the new growth is very small. I live in western Oregon.

A.    
Leave the geraniums in the hanging basket and place in some dark corner of the house or garage, keep frost-free and slightly damp the soil about once a month. New shoots will appear in spring, then re-pot into fresh compost. Watch out for mice.


Q.    
I usually keep my geraniums in my flower boxes from season to season. For the first time this summer, my geraniums have bacteria or fungus on them. The leaves got spots on them and then turned brown and mouldy. I sprayed them with a fungicide that I had used on my roses and they got better.

They still show signs of the problem. Leaves have turned brown and have fallen off since July. My question is whether to keep them over the winter or not. Should they be thrown away along with the soil and new soil and flowers put in next spring? I don't want a repeat next year. Will the problem become dormant over the winter months in the basement where I keep them and begin again next season if I keep the same ones?

A.    
Definitely destroy the plants and all connected items; disease will over-winter with the plants.

QUESTION
Dear experts, I am being told by my fellow gardening friends, all sorts of mixtures for my hanging baskets, what in your experience is the ideal mixture that I can make myself.
Yours sincerely, William.

ANSWER
There are many mixtures possible for hanging baskets, but we always use and strongly recommend, 'Seed and Potting Compost,' supplied as such by all the big compost suppliers.

Trying to make your own mixture can be successful but often leads to trouble with wrong chemical balance and either too dry or too wet a mixture leading to poor plant performance. When filling your basket, always add water retention granules and slow release fertiliser mixed into the compost as you fill.

Q.    
We live in Michigan in the Detroit area. We would like information on growing Tomatoes in pots or tubs. What kind, when to plant and how to care for.
Thanks. H and W

A.    
There are many varieties of tomato now available for growing in tubs; they are usually grouped under the label Patio Tomatoes. These are dwarf bush or trailing. You can grow the full size tomato in a tub but you need a firm support for the canes, a sunny wall for example. Tomatoes need plenty of water and plenty of feed, use a specialist tomato fertiliser, use fresh compost to avoid disease problems. Do not leave out at night until the danger of frost has passed. Water on a regular basis, irregular watering will cause the fruit too split.

Q.
    I'm looking for some new ideas in planting my WINDOW BOXES. I am located in Long Island and in need of some designing ideas of different flowers that look good together. Something with some height in the background with a very overflowing look. Any suggestions?

A.
    Suggested plants for window boxes. Upright geraniums, double begonias and antirrhinum nicotiana, for the back. Salvia, nemesia, impatiens, fibrous begonias, upright petunias, ageratum, F1 hybrid marigolds, for the centre. Trailing lobelia, trailing petunias, trailing begonias, trailing geraniums, million bells, surfinia, trailing verbena, trailing antirrhinum, trailing helichrysum, trailing sweet pea, nepeta, diascia, variegated ivy and even trailing tomatoes, for the front.

Q.
    Can you suggest what plants I can grow in CONTAINERS IN MY FRONT PORCH? It is VERY hot in there in the summer as it is in full sun most of the day. Helen

A.
    Some plants worth considering. Upright and trailing geraniums, fibrous begonias, double begonias, trailing begonias, impatiens, golden and silver helichrysum, swan river daisy, gazania, dwarf sunflowers. I would advise investing in an automatic watering system if you are away at work all day. These are quite cheap to buy, easily installed and are widely available at garden outlets.

Q.
    What can I do with my empty hanging baskets in winter?
Any advice, Rick.

A.
    You can plant winter pansies in hanging baskets, mix with a winter flowering heather and a variegated ivy plant. Providing you take the basket indoors in severe weather you will have a glorious show all winter, from autumn right into spring.



If you came straight to this page please visit our Home Page to learn a little more about this gardening website.

HOME PAGE

TOP OF PAGE

GARDEN PESTS.

© 2001 - 2010 VALECROFT NURSERIES. HANGING BASKETS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. ONLINE INTERNET GARDENING GUIDE. WITH TIPS AND HINTS AND GENERAL PLANTING ADVICE.
Gardening and yard care for beginners and the slightly more experienced.
The above help and information is for home gardening and leisure use only.
© 2001 - 2010 VALECROFT NURSERIES. GARDENING QUESTIONS ANSWERED.
PAGE UPDATED 15th May 2010   5/15/2010

New visitors please read Legal Notice

This is a non commercial web site and entirely child safe.
Please Bookmark this website