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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Simple Garden Life Podcast, a program dedicated

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to keeping the art of gardening simple, fun and always rewarding.

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Now Here are your hosts, Jim and Mary Competti.

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Speaker 2: Hello and welcome everybody to the Simple Garden Life Podcast.

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Speaker 3: I'm your host Jim Competti.

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Speaker 4: And I'm Mary Competti, and we.

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Speaker 2: Are here today to talk about the best way to

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keep your hanging baskets loaded with blooms all summer. And

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we're right past Mother's Day, Mary, and everybody has their baskets.

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Speaker 4: Oh, they've been beautiful.

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Speaker 5: I've seen so many advertisements have local nurseries to have

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hanging baskets.

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Speaker 4: They're so big and beautiful at this time.

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Speaker 5: And all the mothers, I'm sure we're real happy to

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get them this past weekend.

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Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, And I'll tell you what the how expensive

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they become these days, keeping them to last all summer

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and making sure they stay blued to get your money's worth.

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Speaker 3: It is more important than ever. Absolutely well, we want

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to welcome everybody in.

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Speaker 2: Remind anybody if you have questions, you can always email

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us at the farm at ow garden dot com. And

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of course you can find our Simple Garden Life podcast

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on Spotify. Apple Podcasts, Good Pods, and all of the

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major podcast platforms.

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Speaker 3: And then of course you can always find us at ow.

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Speaker 2: Garden dot com that list all of our websites and

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keeps you up to date on our farm, which we

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always have a lot going on. But we are here

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today to talk about hanging baskets. And if there's one

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thing that seems to play gardeners when it comes to baskets,

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it's how can I keep them healthier blooming for longer

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than more than just a month?

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Speaker 4: Right? You wanted to last all summer long, just not

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until June or July.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, Unfortunately, by mid to late summer, a

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large majority of hanging baskets really begin to fade, you

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see it, to have all these blooms, you know, what

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was once a bright bouquet of all this foliage and blooms,

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it just turns into you know, a brown kind of an.

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Speaker 3: Almost an isore.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and it can be frustrating for sure, Yeah, I mean.

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Speaker 2: Especially when you consider, as we said, how expensive they

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can be to purchaser or even plant.

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Speaker 3: But here's the good news.

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Speaker 2: You really can keep your hanging baskets around all year,

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and you have to remember a few things that why

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they are failing so quick clean the summer. First of all,

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unlike annuals and anything else, you plan't marry these hanging

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baskets that you go pick up on Mother's Day or in.

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Speaker 3: The early spring.

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Speaker 2: They're loaded with blooms in big because they're older than

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anything else out there.

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Speaker 5: Right, and they've also been fed a lot of nutrients

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to get them to look good on Mother's Day.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of these baskets are started back in

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January even December allowed to grow full. So that means

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a lot of that root structure has already formed in

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that basket. But we're going to talk today about how

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to fertilize, how to water, and then the art of

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dead heading to make those baskets last longer. And we

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even give you a few tips at the end on

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how to make the baskets last longer if they if

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they become too far overgrown, and that could happen really

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as we talk about when they're getting so so old.

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But let's talk first about fertilizing and how important it is,

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but also not overfertilizing or fertilizing with the right combination.

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Speaker 5: Right, And that's the first first point of the three

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simple tricks secure hanging baskets blooming all year long.

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Speaker 2: It is and for us, look, we've been at this

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for sixteen years. We have the farm now we have

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a lot of hanging baskets around and keeping them good

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and lush is important so that they always look at

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their best when people are here. I think the first

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thing that people do a lot of times when it

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comes to fertilizing is they make one of two big mistakes.

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They either don't fertilize at all, because hey, when you

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first get that basket looks beautiful, you don't think you

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need to, or when they do fertilize, they give too

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much or the wrong nutrients all at the same time.

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So we have really found more than anything else. We

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use a simple two approach method, a two problenged approach

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method to fertilizing or hanging baskets, and it kind of

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does two things. The first approach is a monthly approach

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of a dry granular type and we'll talk about what

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we use exactly, and that just gives a very low,

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slow feeding to the plant to keep it healthy because

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the one thing you don't want to and we'll get

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into this even more later is to give your plants

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too much energy to grow, which is nitrogen.

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Speaker 4: Right, But what about the all purpose fertilizer.

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Speaker 2: Well, the problem with that is a lot of times

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those are so high up in nitrogens. We talk about

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that NPK form a lot on the show. But if

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you have that high nitrogen, yes, it's going to make

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those flowers, excuse me, everything be green, but it's not

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really going to the blooms. And a lot of times

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it just forces excessive growth and you have these big

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baskets for twenty days and then they just overgrow and

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they can't produce a lot of blooms.

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Speaker 3: So we like to use you know, for.

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Speaker 2: Us, there's no substitute, right. Worm castings are the answer.

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They're low, they're slow, they'll never overpower your plant, but

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will they ever keep it green and strong? For that

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low and slow power I mean worm castings, we use

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them everywhere. Right.

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Speaker 4: They're the perfect slow release fertilizer.

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Speaker 2: Every time you water, the nutrients leach down and they

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go through the soil and absorb into the roots and

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they only feed the plant. But more important when those

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worm castings are in the soil, when on the top,

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they actually help them moisture and hold that moisture in

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for the plant, because hanging baskets can dry out fast.

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Speaker 5: Right, And so here's a big question how much do

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you use and how often do you use it?

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Speaker 2: So for worm castings or if you're gonna opt for

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a dry grain or fertilizer. If you are going to

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opt for that, get a low blend, you know, like

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a two five five, even a zero five to five.

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You want a little bit of nitrogen, but not a

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ton to overgrow it. But for us with worm castings,

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and like I said, we just we swear by them.

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Speaker 3: They work so amazing.

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Speaker 4: We should have a worm casting farm.

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Speaker 3: We should, we should. We have enough going on.

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Speaker 2: A quarter cup to a half a cup marry is

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what we put on every plant. And people are like, well,

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how do you do that? You know, hanging basket. We

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pour it basically around the entire inside top of the soil.

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And then you always say this more than anything else,

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you got to scratch it in a little bit with

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your either the finger or a little tool, will little handle,

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get it, get it just a little bit into the

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soil to help work.

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Speaker 5: Right, And when those baskets are so full of leaves

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and blooms, you do kind of have to spread them

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apart to get it down into the soil. Just don't

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throw it on top of the Yeah, and.

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Speaker 3: Again once a month is the real key here.

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Speaker 2: If you do it any more than that, you can

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overpower the plant too.

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Speaker 3: You have a little less worry with that.

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Speaker 2: When you use worm castings, because there's so much less

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dangerous to use than a fertilizer.

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Speaker 3: But for us, I mean, we just know the.

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Speaker 2: First of the month, when it rolls around, we're gonna

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go out to every hanging basket or container. This works

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just as well for container plants, and we're going to

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put those in and we're going to scratch it around.

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And then every time you're watering, which for hanging baskets

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is pretty much every day, that power just slowly leaches

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into the roots and it keeps the plant. Remember this

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isn't for blooms. It'll help a little bit, but this

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is more than anything else to keep that plant healthy

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and green.

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Speaker 5: Right, So, such your reminder the first of the month

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to fertilize your hanging baskets.

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Speaker 3: That's right.

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Speaker 2: Okay, we're gonna take a very quick break, a commercial

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break here, and we're gonna come back and talk about

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the second approach, which is all about the blooms for fertilizer,

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and that's the liquid fertilizer, which is very important. Again

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what you feed and how often you feed. We'll be

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right back after this. Okay, we are back talking about

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how to keep those hanging baskets blooming big, not just

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for a few weeks after the spring, but all through

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the summer.

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Speaker 3: And we talked about the low and slow of the.

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Speaker 2: Worm casting, Maria, and now let's get into the liquid fertilizing,

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which is really important.

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Speaker 3: You know. In addition to the low and slow fertilizing of.

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Speaker 2: The worm castings, we then water about every seven to

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ten days with the liquid fertilizer. But again, as we said,

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it matters what you're using here. You know a lot

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of people and I hate to say, they'll go grab

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that typical off the shelf, big power surge like a

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miracle grow something like that that are really high in

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nitrogen and also phosphorus. But the problem is that nitrogen

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number is so big it can overgrow those plants really fast.

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Speaker 5: Right, you really want to look for a liquid fertilizer

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that has much less nitrogen than the dest phosphorus or potassium.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we look.

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Speaker 2: You know what my favorite blend is is a two

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fifteen fifteen or a two ten ten or even a

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two twenty twenty something like that. We use a brand

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called Farmer's Secret for ours, but there's a lot out there.

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They're all good, but it has that two percent or

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two nitrogen number and then that fifteen or fifteen fifteen

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when it comes to phosphorus and potassium. And why is

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that it so important? Because those two are so important,

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especially that excuse me, the phosphors for powering blooms and

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not plank earth, but ballooms.

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Speaker 5: And that's what we all want. We want more blooms

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on our hanging baskets, container plants.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and then saying that the other mistake, and I

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think this is critical. I mean, if you pick up

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two things today, it's this low and slow of the

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worm castings. And then this we said we fertilize every

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seven to ten days.

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Speaker 3: A lot of fertilizers.

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Speaker 2: Can tell you, you know, fertilized monthly with this full blast,

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or every two weeks with a full blast.

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Speaker 3: One of the most important.

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Speaker 2: Things we do when we fertilize is we cut that

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fertilizer in half, if not even a third of the

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recommended dose.

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Speaker 3: And why do we do that?

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Speaker 2: It allows us to feed more often and keep the

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plants supplied with a steady supply of low nutrients as

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opposed to this big, powerful blast.

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Speaker 3: And what's that going to do.

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Speaker 2: It's gonna overgrow that plant and push it all out,

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and then it's.

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Speaker 3: Gonna be done. Right.

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Speaker 5: It's gonna be like that absolute shock factor of you know,

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I got to grow fast right now. But then towards

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the end of the month, you know, it starts fading

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off because it's grown too much.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And I can't stress enough when you put too

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much power on a basket.

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Speaker 2: Baskets already tend to overgrow themselves by July and August,

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that just because they were so big when you bought them.

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Even if you plant your own when if you power

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them up too much, all that root grouse is just

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going to become root bound and then no matter what

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you put on your plant, it's going to struggle. So remember,

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use a nice dry worm casting something like that. Are

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a very low granular fertilizer once a month and then

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and then every seventh days, a half dose to a

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third dose of a liquid fertilizer, because that liquid fertilizer

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feeds both through the leaves and through the soil and

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will power blooms.

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Speaker 5: And does it matter what type of flowers that you

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have in your hanging baskets.

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Speaker 2: No, I mean most annuals, which are people, they're gonna grow.

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They're gonna all power up mostly with you know, a

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higher phosphorus unless you have some exotic thing that I'm

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not thinking right now, this is gonna work really, really well.

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So that's number one and by far the most key

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to keeping those baskets steady and going. But then we

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got to talk about water in your baskets, and this

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is where people make another critical mistake when a when

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a plant has too much water, its roots swell up

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and it can't absorb anything you give it, even if

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you give it great nutrients. If it's if it's water

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log it's not going to If it's too dry, those

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same roots shrivel up and it's hard for them to

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hydrate it quickly enough to capture nutrients. So proper watering

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is a must. And I mean, let's talk about that.

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What's what's the best way to water? I mean, if

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you do it too infrequently, you're going to shorten the

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life of your plant.

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Speaker 3: If you do it too much, it's going to really stress.

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We like to water every.

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Speaker 4: Day, don't We mean we do every morning, and it.

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Speaker 2: Depends what you're watering, where that basket's located. We have

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a few of our baskets and pots in high sun,

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high heat areas. Sometimes by midsummer they.

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Speaker 4: Twice a day.

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Speaker 2: Twice a day, absolutely. But here's what I always tell people.

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I mean, we water and water and you kind of know.

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It's what your baskets in it, and how does it drain.

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Make sure your baskets have those drainage holds or they

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can drain the excess water. But there's a couple of

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ways to tell. You can use the old fashioned method,

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which works really good. You can stick your finger down

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a couple of inches, not at the top of the surface.

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You need to stick it a couple inches down where

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the roots are, where the roots are, and you need

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to feel that soil. If it's slightly damp and good,

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you don't need to water.

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Speaker 3: That's perfect.

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Speaker 2: That's a form, yeah, and that's where people make a mistake.

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But if it's dry to the touch or your finger

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comes up dry, You're good. I personally I love for people.

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I mean, it's so inexpensive, But a soil water meter

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is what ten or fifteen dollars or so many on

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the market to long probes. You put it down there,

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you get an instant reading of that moisture level and

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you know right away, Wow, it's dry or it needs water.

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Do you use it every day? No, but there's times

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when you're like, what's going on with this plant? Why

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is it doing this?

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Speaker 3: And that's the first thing we check, just to see

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if it's water logged or something.

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Speaker 5: Right, it gives you accurate reading of whether you need

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a water more or less.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely. Again, like I said, you can use the old

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fact of sticking sticking it down.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 3: The other question is Mary, when you water matters as well.

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Speaker 5: Absolutely, Like we said before, we water first thing in

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the morning, before the sun comes out.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it is the absolute best time to water. And

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why is that? Well, first of all, your plants are recovered.

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Speaker 2: Overnight from a long day from the previous day, so

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now they're ready to accept that water and prepare for

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another hot or sunny day. That morning water and gets

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them hydrated and able to withstand it if you let

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that dry out through the day and it gets hit

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by the hot sun and then all of a sudden

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you come in the middle of the afternoon or at

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night and you water that plant. It's not getting the

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same type of water and it's not the same type

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of health structure.

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Speaker 1: No.

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Speaker 5: And also if you're watering midday when it's super hot outside,

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you also risk sun skulled on the leaves you do.

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Speaker 2: And everything else from that to the plant not getting

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much as much from evaporation. Okay, so not everybody can

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do that. I really suggest if you can, that's the

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best thing to do. But if you can't, Mary just

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said avoid the midday waterings and try to then water

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a little bit in the evening. My other issue with

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evening is when you have a cool session or things

316
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like that, that can also produce some mildew and things

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like that. But it's far better than the middle of

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the day. Now that said, we just did this yesterday,

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and I have to tell you our day was a

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little crazy.

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Speaker 3: Yesterday.

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Speaker 2: It was a hot, sunny day and what were Jim

323
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and Mary doing. We were out there at one o'clock

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in the afternoon, right, and.

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Speaker 5: I was like, great, we're not even that following our

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own advice exactly.

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Speaker 2: And that does happen when you have to water because

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they were drying out. We had missed the morning schedule

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because we had some commitments we had to be at.

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Speaker 3: Here's the key.

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Speaker 2: If you are going to water in the afternoon, just

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make sure that your watering source is below the leaf

333
00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:47,639
level and you're right to the.

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Speaker 5: Soil right water what I call low and slow as well.

335
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Make sure you're right at the soil, right at the base.

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Try not to hit any of the leaves.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and again, and that just shows your real life

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and it it's going to happen. It happened to us yesterday.

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Speaker 2: We were joking about it, making fun that we knew

340
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we were going to be doing this podcast to day.

341
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Like here we are just going against our own advice.

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But it's important when you do that to make sure

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you're underneath. The one thing you never want to do

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is liquid fertilize in the afternoon. When you fertilize with

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your liquid fertilizer, that is one thing you really want

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to do in the morning. Make sure it's in the morning.

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It allows the plane to absorb it. The sun's not

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super hot on it yet and it can hidrid it

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a lot.

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Speaker 4: But I guess that's a good question.

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Speaker 5: Should you with a liquid fertilizer, are you watering just

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00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:26,799
to the soil or are you putting it on the foliage?

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Speaker 2: I like, here's what I like. I like both because

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00:14:28,919 --> 00:14:31,039
it's stematic. What you means, it can go through you know,

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the leaves and the soil.

356
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Speaker 4: You can absorb it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's why.

358
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Speaker 2: I don't like doing it in the middle of the day,

359
00:14:35,879 --> 00:14:37,879
because that fertilize can burn the lease a little bit better.

360
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Speaker 3: But I like a little of both.

361
00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:41,159
Speaker 2: Some people will do that and then they'll rinse a

362
00:14:41,159 --> 00:14:42,759
little water on it, and I'm like, I kind of

363
00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:43,480
wash to stop.

364
00:14:43,279 --> 00:14:43,879
Speaker 3: What you just did.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, I like watering the plant as a whole.

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00:14:46,519 --> 00:14:49,200
Especially when we're doing that, it just seems to be

367
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a lot better. So we've talked about fertilizing, We've talked

368
00:14:52,159 --> 00:14:55,879
about watering. Here's the one other thing that people don't

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00:14:55,879 --> 00:14:59,080
do enough of that really really makes a difference to

370
00:14:59,120 --> 00:14:59,919
your plants, and that's.

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00:14:59,759 --> 00:15:02,440
Speaker 5: That Absolutely, it makes a big difference on how many

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00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:03,919
blooms you're going to have throughout the season.

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Speaker 2: So deadheading, what is it it's a simple process that's

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00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:08,320
actually kind of cathartic.

375
00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:10,879
Speaker 3: I always said, I enjoy it. But you know, when

376
00:15:10,879 --> 00:15:11,879
those blooms start to.

377
00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:15,480
Speaker 2: Fade off of a plant, let's just use geraniums or marigolds,

378
00:15:15,559 --> 00:15:17,919
anything like that. When those blooms start to fade from

379
00:15:17,919 --> 00:15:20,480
the plant, they're designed by their very nature to create

380
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seed pods for the next generation. Well, that takes a

381
00:15:23,679 --> 00:15:26,200
ton of energy away from the plant. So you do

382
00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:28,600
not want that to go against your plant. So the

383
00:15:28,679 --> 00:15:32,120
quicker you remove those old blooms, it helps the plant

384
00:15:32,159 --> 00:15:34,799
recover and flush out new blooms. The other thing it

385
00:15:34,799 --> 00:15:36,000
does is it makes your plant.

386
00:15:35,759 --> 00:15:37,799
Speaker 4: Look a heck of a lot better, right right exactly.

387
00:15:37,919 --> 00:15:40,440
Speaker 2: So you asked me earlier, Mary about does it matter

388
00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:42,879
on which kind of plants it does? On this one, Marigolds,

389
00:15:42,919 --> 00:15:45,159
you want to get below the just the seed head

390
00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:47,519
stem right there, and they usually pinch off.

391
00:15:47,519 --> 00:15:49,279
Speaker 4: Right at the bloom, but the base of the bloom.

392
00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:52,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, Petunias, you want to get below that, but make

393
00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:54,080
sure you're taking that little stem out as well. The

394
00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:58,399
one change to this are geraniums, you had that long stem.

395
00:15:58,480 --> 00:15:59,600
You want to make sure you get down low.

396
00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,480
Speaker 5: You're not just taking off the flower petals, you're actually

397
00:16:02,519 --> 00:16:04,399
taking off the stem at the base of the plant, so.

398
00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:05,399
Speaker 3: It'll shoot up a new stem.

399
00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:05,679
Speaker 4: Yeah.

400
00:16:05,679 --> 00:16:07,080
Speaker 3: Absolutely, But I'm telling.

401
00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:09,919
Speaker 2: You go when you water your plants every morning.

402
00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:10,600
Speaker 3: We like doing this.

403
00:16:10,679 --> 00:16:12,600
Speaker 2: When we water, we just if there's a few blooms,

404
00:16:12,639 --> 00:16:14,759
we take them off. You can wait a few days,

405
00:16:14,759 --> 00:16:17,200
three or four days between them. But I like doing

406
00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:19,159
that because it keeps the plant perfect, It makes it

407
00:16:19,159 --> 00:16:21,320
always look nice, and it keeps that steady supply. Not

408
00:16:21,399 --> 00:16:23,799
going to making seeds, but to help them make new blooms.

409
00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:25,600
Speaker 5: And don't worry if most of your blooms are fitting

410
00:16:25,639 --> 00:16:27,720
off all at the same time. When you clip them

411
00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:29,679
off and you just have the greenery left, in a

412
00:16:29,679 --> 00:16:32,519
few days, you're going to have tons more blooms popping up.

413
00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:37,360
Speaker 2: At and you know, it's just again a little Sometimes

414
00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:39,440
we like to throw in little things of advice, and

415
00:16:39,519 --> 00:16:41,279
I think we have two of them here. We want

416
00:16:41,279 --> 00:16:43,639
to talk about what happens if your plank is too big.

417
00:16:43,679 --> 00:16:46,279
But first when it comes to those seed pods, whether

418
00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:50,320
it's marigolds and you want to save some seeds or zenius,

419
00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:54,039
anything like that, saving your seeds the best time to

420
00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:56,399
save seed pods is in the middle of summer, not

421
00:16:56,559 --> 00:16:59,480
early spring and not lake fall. People make so much

422
00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:02,200
save the last of their plants, and the problem with

423
00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:05,599
that is there's had so much more chance to cross

424
00:17:05,599 --> 00:17:06,799
pollinate with other things.

425
00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:09,400
Speaker 3: I like the middle of the summer because they're mature.

426
00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:11,279
Speaker 2: If the seats has are mature, you pull them off,

427
00:17:11,279 --> 00:17:13,359
you let them dry out a little bit, pick a few,

428
00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:14,720
and then you save those seats.

429
00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:16,960
Speaker 3: Those are your most viable, best seeds to save for an.

430
00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:18,720
Speaker 4: Extra right, they're the biggest and strongness in the middle

431
00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:19,400
of summer.

432
00:17:19,319 --> 00:17:21,400
Speaker 2: They are okay, Mary, Now let's talk about the other

433
00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:22,519
thing that we want to kind of throw it as

434
00:17:22,519 --> 00:17:23,079
an extra hint.

435
00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:24,599
Speaker 3: You've done everything right.

436
00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:27,599
Speaker 2: But this basket that was huge and was already pretty

437
00:17:27,599 --> 00:17:30,240
grown into its roots, it just becomes too big in

438
00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:30,799
the middle.

439
00:17:30,559 --> 00:17:31,400
Speaker 3: Of July and August.

440
00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:34,240
Speaker 5: And then the one sure sign of it's growing too

441
00:17:34,279 --> 00:17:36,400
big is that when you go to water, the water

442
00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:38,319
as soon as you water, it flows right through the

443
00:17:38,319 --> 00:17:39,839
bottom of the pot of plant.

444
00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:41,440
Speaker 2: And people always ask, what can I do for my

445
00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:43,759
plant at this point? Well, your plant, if it stays

446
00:17:43,759 --> 00:17:45,359
in that container, will not make it. It's not going

447
00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:47,720
to make it because no matter if you feed it,

448
00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:49,799
it's not the feed's not getting to it because its

449
00:17:49,839 --> 00:17:52,359
roots are so bound that it can't absorb anything.

450
00:17:52,519 --> 00:17:55,519
Speaker 3: There's no soil left sometimes in the pot. So there's

451
00:17:55,519 --> 00:17:56,240
a couple tricks.

452
00:17:56,359 --> 00:17:59,880
Speaker 2: Yes, you can always repot it into another larger pot,

453
00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:01,640
and you want to make sure that pot is at

454
00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:04,200
least twenty five to fifty percent bigger than the previous

455
00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:06,240
one to allow for a new root group.

456
00:18:06,319 --> 00:18:07,960
Speaker 3: And when you do that and you pull it out,

457
00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:10,039
you want to take your hands. You can take it.

458
00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:11,880
Speaker 2: I like taking my hands at the bottom of that root,

459
00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:15,240
just kind of softly pulling it out to break those

460
00:18:15,319 --> 00:18:16,960
roots apart a little bit so they can reset a

461
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:17,480
new soil.

462
00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:20,200
Speaker 5: Right, it's super easy to do. Sometimes it's easy to do.

463
00:18:20,319 --> 00:18:22,839
Sometimes when they're super root bound, it's more difficult. But

464
00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:25,039
just tear the roots apart a little bit and then

465
00:18:25,079 --> 00:18:25,640
repot it.

466
00:18:25,839 --> 00:18:28,640
Speaker 2: But here's the thing that's not always practically because if

467
00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:30,960
you have a large hanging basket or a large pot

468
00:18:31,079 --> 00:18:33,440
and it's already eighteen to twenty four inches, there's not

469
00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:35,960
too many people that keep thirty six inch pot, So

470
00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:39,319
do you throw it away? We love doing this, So

471
00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:42,240
take that basket out in late you know, or early

472
00:18:42,359 --> 00:18:44,440
August or late August, and it's starting to look weak.

473
00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:47,319
Find a spot in your flower beds, find a spot

474
00:18:47,319 --> 00:18:49,200
in your garden, find a spot right outside your door

475
00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:52,559
in the soil. Dig a hole that's twenty five to

476
00:18:52,559 --> 00:18:55,480
fifty percent bigger. Fill it with some potting soil, some compost.

477
00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,519
Set that hanging basket plant down into that. Plan it

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like you're playing just a single plant. You will be

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and then hit it with a nice dose of liquid

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fertilizer and a little more worm castings, and you will

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be rewarded Mary with the most beautiful plant. We've had

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so many comments like, well, how did you come up

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with that combination in the soil.

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Speaker 3: It wasn't It was a potted plant, right.

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Speaker 5: It's just a way to repurpose it and still gain

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the beauty throughout the rest of the year.

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Speaker 3: It really is. So there you go, folks. That's how

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to keep those baskets.

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Speaker 2: In bloom and what to do if they just become

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simply too big.

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Speaker 3: So remember, fertilize correctly.

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Speaker 2: You want to do those worm castings once a month

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and the liquid fertilizing every seven to ten days.

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Speaker 3: You want to water, and this.

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Speaker 2: Mary said, try to water in the morning, try to

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water every day if needed, but make sure you're checking

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that soil to make sure it's not becoming overly wet

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or too dry in between waterings.

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Speaker 5: Right, And the final tip is make sure that you're

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dead heading your flowers so you can get more blooms.

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Speaker 1: That's right.

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Speaker 3: Do it every time you water.

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Speaker 2: Just take a few of those off and you'll be

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good to go. So I think that's it for today's show.

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This is one of my favorite subjects always because hanging

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baskets can just boom, give you.

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Speaker 3: Instant color anywhere.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and we always say every year we're going to

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cut back, and I think we add we do all right,

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everybody well for Simple Garden Life.

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Speaker 4: I'm Jim Competti, I'm Mary Competti. Thanks so much, Happy garden,

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Happy Gardney.

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Speaker 6: We hope you've enjoyed this episode. Subscribe to the Simple

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Garden podcast on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or most of

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00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:19,839
your favorite podcast apps. You can also head over to

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Simplegardenlife dot com, where you can listen and read all

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of the show notes to every episode and if.

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Speaker 5: You have any questions, any ideas for show topics or

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00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:30,559
If you want to share your favorite garden tip, email

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00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:33,880
us at the Farm at owgarden dot com.

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Speaker 6: Until next time, Thanks everyone,