Maintaining Your Hanging Plants and Planted Containers

This time of year I love seeing the living floral arrangements hanging on peoples porches, near local stores, and decorating decks. Container gardens and hanging plants are arrangements that will bloom brightly all summer, especially if you give them the right care.

Although our region has been in a wet (okay, really, really, really wet) weather pattern, hopefully we can expect the weather to heat up and dry out sometime this summer. In anticipation of the seasonal weather to come, prepare yourself to water your plants at least two to three times each week. If you can keep your container gardens and hanging plants moist, yet well drained, you have mastered the most important way to help your container plants thrive.

Basic Container and Hanging Planter Care

• Water them two or three times each week, if not every day during the hottest summer days. Watering is the most critical and time-consuming part of maintaining container gardens. This is particularly true as plants mature and roots crowd the container.
• Vegetables in containers need consistent moisture.
• Herbs should be watered when the top 1 inch of the soil is dry and remember that container plants kept outside will require more water, so check them frequently. Water requirements will of course vary from plant to plant.

• Fertilize them, especially if they are in a soil-less mix. Slow-release fertilizers that supply all the nutrients needed for a container garden are available. Slow-release fertilizer, nitrogen is slowly released to plant roots, providing necessary fertility throughout the growing season without burning plant roots. Fertilizers are salts and when overused can burn or kill plants.

• A water-soluble fertilizer (i.e., Miracle Grow, Peters, and others) can be used to supplement. Follow label directions on all fertilizers, and keep records of planting and fertilization dates.

• Deadhead flowers, such as petunias, to greatly increase your blooms.
  

• Pinch new growth off the ends periodically to avoid leggy plants and encourage fuller plants.

• Stake or trellis climbing tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, etc. Anchor these containers to prevent them from blowing over.
  

Avoid Hot Pots: If you place you sunlight-loving potted plants in the 4 to 6 hours of sunlight they want, check your containers in the mid-day sun to see if they heat up.

• Use clay pots in the hot sun. They stay cooler since the moisture they absorb sweats out as temperatures rise. Avoid plastic and glazed pots which heat up easily.
  

• Keep your pots cooler by double potting them. Place your planted pot inside another pot to create an insulating layer of air.

Drainage problems may develop if a pot is set directly on a solid surface (patio or paved area). A quick fix is to place your container on legs, bricks, coasters, or saucers to allow drainage and to protect the surface underneath.

• Containers can be placed on trays filled with gravel or marble pebbles covered in water, keeping them cool and providing moisture without creating a drainage problem. Change this water regularly to prevent mosquito problems.

Container gardens and hanging planters will require just a little more commitment in terms of watering and feeding, but otherwise they are fairly easy to maintain. Whether your pots are filled with colorful blooms neatly hanging from a front porch, tomato plants lined up on your deck, or herbs near your kitchen door, you will enjoy them more knowing they are getting the correct care.

Information compiled by Renee C. Brannigan
"By far, my favorite place to see potted arrangements is at Woodbridge. New wonders await my eyes with each of my regular visits. The combinations of plants are often unexpected and perfect at the same time. They are truly artists who paint with their plants." RCB
Photos taken throughout June at Woodbridge Greenhouses.