How to Keep Hanging Baskets Blooming All Summer – 4 Simple Secrets to Success!

Ever find yourself wondering if it’s truly possible to keep your hanging baskets looking fabulous all summer? I mean, it’s a bit of a challenge, right? But guess what? The answer is a big, resounding YES!

Hanging baskets bring flowers in places where plants don’t usually grow; on balconies, porches, even under pergolas and even on lamp posts! But, come summer, you look up and you find that many of them already have tired blossoms, your draping petunias are becoming dry and… Rather than a garden in the sky, you have half a desert…

Why is it so? Hanging baskets are a real asset for open gardens and indoors, but they have their weak spots, first of all, they are not in touch with the ground, and this makes keeping your annuals or perennials blooming through the hot months harder.

But you are in luck! There are four secrets to keep your hanging baskets overflowing with lush and vigorous flowers through the hot season, like waterfalls of bright colors, and here they are!

What’s the Problem with Hanging Baskets? Why Is It Hard to Keep Them Flowering through the Summer Months?

As we said, the main point is that hanging baskets are just that: they are not in touch with the ground, and this has consequences:

• They don’t hold as much water and humidity as pots on the ground.
• They can be exposed to wind.
• Sometimes they get no shade; sometimes they get too much sunlight.
• They can be above your head, so it’s hard to check on them and water them.

What is more, many hanging baskets have a bowl shape; and this means that they do not have lots of soil in them, compared to the top surface.

But don’t worry; there’s a solution for everything! And here is how to keep your hanging baskets flowering through the summer months.

1 – Water Your hanging Baskets Regularly to Keep Them Flowering in Summer

Hanging baskets cannot get humidity from the soil, and they often don’t even have saucers, depending on the model. This means that they dry up quickly, especially if they are in a very sunny spot, but also in a windy one (like clothes…)

What’s more, it can be hard to check if the soil in them has gone dry, and sometimes they are far above our heads, and we forget! No wonder when the hot season comes, they stop blooming: your flowering plants are thirsty!

Water your hanging baskets regularly, even daily, depending on the varieties you are growing in them. It’s wiser to give them less water more frequently, than a big “bath” but irregularly or at long intervals.

It depends on where you have your hanging baskets, but count about 1/3 more water than you would with the same variety of potted plants. Next…

2 – Use Organic Fast-Release Fertilizers with Your Hanging Baskets – And they Will Blossom More Vigorously

If for the flowering plants in your garden I would usually suggest using a slow-release fertilizer, with hanging baskets I would advise the opposite! This is because they do not hold on to nutrients as your soil does, and they need lots of energy and quickly to keep blooming in summer.

So, use an organic slow-release fertilizer, and do it frequently! I would say you should feed them at least once a month through the summer season, but for most plants, also every two weeks, so they keep receiving the energy they need to flower profusely.

3 – Deadhead Spent Blooms and Check for Pests and Diseases in Your Hanging Baskets – It Will Keep Them Flowering in the Hot Season

Here’s another problem that comes from your baskets hanging above your head, or, quite often, in difficult places to check and reach… We don’t notice blooms that have done their time, and they are now spent. And, if we do, we often leave them there, and we think, “I’ll do it tomorrow”.

And when these flowers go to seed, your plants will divert energy into them, and not the flowers you wanted and expected! So, be very particular about deadheading spent blossoms in your hanging baskets, and they will keep blooming all through the summer months!

I suggest you choose a day of the week when you go round your hanging baskets and deadhead the wilted flowers, and while you are at it, check for pests and diseases too!

For the very reason that they are not “under our eyes” (but above them!), it is hard to check for infections and little insects. Give them a thorough inspection, checking between and under the foliage and the flowers; and then you can set your heart at peace for another week – or you can treat them.

4 – Transplant or Divide Plants That Have Overgrown Their Hanging Baskets

So, hanging baskets often overflow with trailing and draping varieties, but look at the size of the containers themselves… They are usually quite small for the leaves and flowers that grow from them, and, as we said, they are often bowl shaped.

For this reason, it happens fairly frequently that the plants in your hanging baskets overgrow them, just in the middle of the flowering season! Then, you have two options:

• You can transplant your flowers to a bigger hanging basket, or…
• You can divide the plants, especially if they have become thick and clumpy, and move one part to another hanging basket, or somewhere else.

Now, in this case, your flowering plants will receive a little shock, and they may stop blooming for a short time, but keep feeding them and watering them, and you will soon see them blossoming again, before summer is over!

Hanging Baskets Flowering All through the Summer: It’s Not as Hard as It Seems

So, here are the four key “tricks” to keep your hanging baskets flowering through the hot summer months, watering being the most important, but there is yet another little tip I would like to leave you with…

We said that you should schedule your hanging basket maintenance on a weekly basis (but water them even more often), but there’s another thing… Have you thought about getting a ladder?