Gardening: Time to start planning your hanging baskets, with Brian Kidd

If you live ‘over the hill’ make up the baskets but keep them in a greenhouse until May 21 to avoid frost damage. We have not had a serious spring frost at Waterlooville for more than 10 years but there were just two fogs in March which means there could be two frosts in May.

Another good guide is to look at hawthorn bushes where you live. Once the May blossom has died, there won’t be another frost. The hawthorn in my neighbour’s garden hasn’t started to come into flower yet so we aren’t taking any chances.

If a frost is forecast, horticultural fleece is easy to get, cheap and easy to cover tender plants or to envelop baskets. Fix it to the chains using pincer pegs and the whole basket is protected from frost or cold winds.

Use several layers of fleece for best protection. Bear in mind that several layers of thin material on our bodies is much better than wearing just one jacket. Here are a few other useful tips...

When planting baskets put rounded hanging ones on a bucket half-filled with sand to stop it falling over. Put in the liner or moss and push the foliage, not the roots, through the mesh. This ensures plants start to grow immediately as they have perfect roots.

We all love perfumed plants so try to include at least one petunia called Blue Vein. There are others but this is easy to find. Plant it either in the side at the front or in the top. It grows to a huge bush as well as a trailing plant. In fact, only three are needed to fill a 16in-diameter basket.

Hanging baskets can be difficult to establish in windy areas but there are alternatives. Look at flat-backed baskets with a round front. These are fixed to a wall with rawlplugs and screws. The wall gives the plants a lot of protection and if silver or grey-leafed plants such as helichrysum are included, these are good growers especially near the sea and give shelter to more delicate plants such as busy Lizzies and petunias.

Baskets must be watered regularly, even if it rains, as the plants will be in a small amount of compost and wind dries it quickly.

Feeding is also essential – a weak feed every third day rather than steak and chips once a month!

Next, dead-heading. Do it as part of the regular watering regime. Dead flower heads are removed and composted. The reason? To stop the flowers producing seed. If seeds are not allowed to form, the plants continue to flower.

When I was Portsmouth City Council’s parks officer I often had calls complaining that baskets in the streets were being watered when it was raining! I explained rain on its own was nowhere near enough water needed to keep the plants flowering and that weak feed had been added to the water. The complainant was then quite happy! I’ve always believed that education delivered in a friendly way is the way to deal with people.

THIS WEEK’S TOP TIP

Give early potato plants half a gallon of water to each plant, applied slowly. If the haulms look thin and weak, add a dessertspoon of sulphate of ammonia to the water but don’t allow the mix to touch the leaves.