Gardening on the cheap: Plant your own hanging baskets.
Lookinig for ways to save money in the garden? One of the most expensive items purchased on a yearly basis by gardeners is, in my opinion, hanging baskets. They are only good for one season and the cost of the pot is usually included in the price. Most years I will either splurge and buy two pots if the price is good, or I will wait until later in the season when hanging baskets go on sale. But I almost always only buy hanging baskets for the front porch, while planting up my own for the other hooks hanging around the house.
Annual dianthus and snapdragons in my own, reusable hanging baskets.
Each of these baskets contains about $1.29 in annual flowers. In addition, I’ve saved the pots from winding up in a landfill site by reusing them for another year. Although these hanging baskets aren’t as full as those more expensive planters available at the garden centre, I think they are pretty. They’re hanging on the back wall of the house over the deck.
Good for you for DIY!
Another “cheap trick” for baskets: divide semi-invasive garden perennials for basket use. Most obvious that comes to mind is Creeping Jenny, which looks just as good as lime impomea – and it’s free if you’ve got it growing in your yard. Replant or not at the end of the season.
(I have also done this with Ribbon Grass, which is really invasive in the garden, but I think looks very nice in containers)
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Even though we operate a greenhouse, I encourage folks to be creative with gardening, even though I don’t always sell the fancy hanging basket. If you haven’t found out the hard way, yet, test the hangers of your pots. We found that after 2 years in the sun they become brittle and snap in the wind. The pots last a bit longer. If your local greenhouse will sell them to you, buy wires instead, or maybe get a bit more inventive and figure out how to make hangers out of inexpensive chain.
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