Basket Maintenance

Your Flower Baskets Need 3 Things - Water, Food, Attention

Watering is important. Get in the habit of checking every morning and again in the afternoon/early evening. When the top inch of soil feels dry, its ready to water. I like to spend a week getting to know how heavy my basket feels when it has enough water. Then I can give it a little lift and know how its doing.  Most baskets in the heat of summer need to be watered every day. On really warm or breezy days, it may be twice. A shade or part shade may need every other day. You can water bloom baskets (flowers planted on the sides) until water runs through the bottom holes. What happens if your basket dries out and doesn’t seem to be taking in water? There may still be a chance to save your flowers. The soil is like a sponge. If it’s slightly damp, it will easily absorb more water. If it’s completely dry, you’ll need to soak it. Try placing the basket in a bucket of water until it takes in water. Or patiently water, wait, water, wait until the soil is redampened. 

Flowers need food. We ask our annual flowers to put out a lot of blooms and in order to enjoy those colors all summer, you need to fertilize your baskets. Constant feeding at lower amounts is better than one larger feeding every couple weeks. Mix your fertilizer at 10% of the rate recommended on your fertilizer each time you feed. Water until it comes out the bottom holes. If constant feed is too much, make sure to regularly fertilize at the recommended rates.

Finally, your plants need attention. More than watering and fertilizing?! Yes. If you give your plants a little extra love, they'll give it right back. Is it necessary? Not entirely. Most of our flowers are low to medium maintenance, not needing a lot of deadheading to keep blooming, but the occasional cleanup will keep your baskets looking great all summer. If your petunias are getting leggy, give them a gentle trim. Geraniums produce more flowers if you take off the old blooms. Turn calibrachoas every week or so to keep them growing evenly. There are lots of little tricks to get the most out of your baskets.