How to Plant Hanging Baskets: A Tutorial

My favorite greenhouse

It happens every year. Mother's Day comes around and the urge to start planting and growing stuff becomes irresistible. For the past few years, The Hubster and the kiddos have given me flowers for my hanging baskets as a Mother's Day present. Then I get to spend a couple of hours playing in the dirt. I love it.

Last year, I wrote about how I plant my baskets because a few of my readers (I think I had 7 at the time) commented that they had no idea how to do it. So here's a quick run-down on what I do to create the most luscious hanging baskets you've ever seen.

The first thing I'm going to say is please, please, please, get your plants out of those plastic hanging baskets that they sell at the store. They're not big enough to allow the plant to grow for the whole season. Not to mention that the hook parts aren't long enough so they make the basket hang too high. It just looks silly. Rant over.

Here's what you need:

1. Metal hanging baskets with those coconut fiber liners - I've had my baskets for at least 7 years and I just replace the liners every couple of years.


2. Potting soil


3. Flowers - Evaluate whether the area where they'll be hanging has full sun, part sun or shade and get plants that work in that setting. Sometimes I buy the premade baskets and sometimes I get individual plants...it just depends on the cost.

First, you want to put a layer of the potting soil in the bottom of the basket with the liner. You just eyeball this. You want enough soil so that the top of the root ball of your flower is just a little below the edge of your liner.

Edit: The only downside of the coconut liners is that they allow the soil to dry out quickly so you have to water frequently. Hayley from The Handmade Housewife just gave me a fantastic tip! She puts the saucer part of a plastic pot in the bottom of the coconut liner before she puts in the dirt. It helps retain moisture so you don't have to water as often. Brilliant!

Then you take your flowers out of their container and put them the new baskets.

And fill in with more potting soil. You don't want to cover the soil of the existing plant.

That's it! Give 'em a good watering and hang 'em up!

Through the magic of time-lapse photography, here is the same basket just a few weeks later after using Miracle Grow plant food a few times.

Sigh. Seeing those baskets makes me miss the porch at our old house. Sigh.

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Need some more inspiration for your green thumb?
Recycle metal cans into hanging baskets: craft stylish
May Day baskets: RootsandWings
Celebrate May Day: Inspiring Ideas
Cupcake baskets YUM!: Skip to my Lou
Recycled May Day baskets: Skip to my Lou
Beautiful window boxes: Our Little Acre
Planting window boxes: Chez La Vie