Hanging baskets provide bright colour to the landscape, even in small spaces such as a balcony or patio. Many types of flowers bloom from spring until late summer. For the most part, care of hanging baskets is a simple matter requiring only a few minutes of daily care. Although hanging baskets survive and bloom without fertiliser, regular feeding will give your hanging baskets the added boost they need to develop bigger and more colourful blooms.
Step One
You will definitely need to feed your hanging baskets and patio containers for an impressive display of summer flowers, as the plants will use up the nutrients in the compost within a few weeks.
Step Two
Feed your hanging basket flowers at planting time, using a timed-release or controlled-release fertiliser. Timed-release fertilisers will automatically release a small amount of fertiliser every time you water. Mix the fertiliser into the soil before you plant your hanging basket. Alternatively, sprinkle a small amount on top of the soil, then work it into the soil with a trowel.
Step Three
Provide your hanging baskets with a water-soluble fertiliser to your hanging baskets beginning in midsummer. Use the fertiliser every other week, as a water-soluble fertiliser will give your plants an additional boost of nutrition that will sustain the plants as they grow larger throughout the season. Dilute the water-soluble fertiliser to half strength (follow the directions on the fertiliser package).
Step Four
Fertilise your plants when the soil is damp because adding fertilizer to dry soil may burn the roots of your plants. Although applying dry fertilizer to moist soil is crucial, even water-soluble fertilizer is strong enough to burn the roots when applied to dry soil.
Step Five
Food crops, such as potato plants, growing in containers can double their yield if you feed with a Best Buy feed rather than not feeding at all; the typical cost per pot is only 25p.