The Most Explicit (and complete) set of Instructions for a Beautiful, Long-Lasting Hanging Basket, Ever.

We like to say, that if you think it’s a beautiful hanging basket now just wait till you see it
grow throughout the season. Hopefully it’s going to adapt to your home, find it’s groove
and with just the right amount of care, your basket is only going to change for the better.

How do we know this? We have been doing hanging baskets for close to 30 years now.
Not just planning and planting and growing (and then selling them) but caring for and
maintaining them in all the varied cities of the Pacific Northwest. (And we do this
throughout the entire year too.) In other words, we live hanging baskets. Which means
we’ve had a chance to make plenty of mistakes. Each one of those mistakes was of
course, our chance to improve. We aren’t finished just yet.

Now in any set of instructions there are the basics, the gist to get it fairly right. But we
think you may want more. Not just the annoying “water regularly” but the actual nuance
of gardening with a hanging basket. What does it mean to water? What does that look
like? And weird detailed stuff too: Can I water in the hot sun? (Yes!) What’s an average
water flow rate through a garden hose? (Answer: 6 gallons per minute.)

Which brings up a small important detail: If you have a question that isn’t answered here
let us know. We’ll include it or clarify in our next edition. Your questions matter because
it will help the next gardener and together, we’ll conquer the world. Truth be told when it
comes to gardening, we are stronger (and greater) together.

One more important point: These steps are not suggested ala cart items like a Mother’s
Day breakfast buffet. (Yes, doing any step will show great improvement.) But rather think
of the steps like a full complete and artful karate move. From the very beginning to the
complete follow-through, Danielson. So, don’t forget the follow through.

Without mincing words then, here’s the good stuff:

Get good at the watering

It will enhance not just your hanging baskets but ALL areas of your garden (and so, your
life.)

For your Passion Basket use five gallons of water. Every other-day. (Yes, even when
its cloudy, overcast or raining.) Also, it doesn’t matter if you water in the morning, afternoon
or in the middle of the night.

But it does matter that you’re consistent. That means if you prefer say, watering in the
morning with the nuthatches and robins then water in the morning every time. It becomes
problematic if you choose the morning on one day and then the next watering day
choose to water at night. That is a difference of 12 hours without water and for a hanging
basket in full bloom it may take months for it to fully recover.

Five gallons you say? Yes. Try this experiment: Literally take five, one-gallon jugs of water
and pour that into your basket. (It’s a great visual.) Five gallons is incidentally 50 seconds
with your garden hose on high. (For cost accountants, it is one penny worth of water.)

Here’s the why: Often the first gallon of water that hits the soil, skims over the top and
actually runs down the space between the root ball and the actual pot. This gives an impression
that the basket is watered because it’s draining. Don’t believe it.

It takes the next four gallons to fully hydrate the root ball.

Small side details. If you’re the efficient type and have installed drip irrigation be sure to
actually measure the amount of water that flows from the line. Put a five gallon bucket
under the line and time it with a stopwatch. (You do know the stopwatch is on your
phone right?) This bit of prep work will make all the difference for you when your basket
is in full, happy bloom during the hottest part of the season.

If you get just the watering right you’re guaranteed to see a major improvement in your
hanging basket, (or container). You’ll be 97.56% there. The next three steps are the important
follow thru in this entire gardening-as-a-karate-move.

Your hanging basket is dependent entirely upon you for food. It’s right here that we
make no bones about it. We’re a practical science people. We’re not at all impressed
with fast results early season only to be disappointed that during the high heat there isn’t
any miracle happening when it’s needed most.

What we have discovered is that our very own slow as we go, earth friendly, complete
with all the important micro nutrients mixture works best. Flower Power feeds slowly
and its combination of nutrients allow for the plants to continually take it up even when
the conditions are at its harshest.

Mind you, this isn’t advertising. We use Flower Power in all the different cities we care for
and maintain throughout the entire Portland Metro area. From Lake Oswego, Wilsonville,
Tualatin, Gresham, Hillsboro and many other areas, our baskets can’t lie. The proof we
like to say, is in our basket.

Here are the details: We use Flower Power once per week. The instructions on the
bottle tell us to to add a tablespoon per gallon. Since we water with five gallons a day
you may add five tablespoons to that day’s allotment of water.

Since mixing and pouring five gallons of water can be physically demanding it’s permissible
to add the five tablespoons to the last quart of water. Not to worry, Flower Power
won’t burn foliage.

As temperatures rise so does the chance of attracting harmful bugs. (Side note
here: Not all bugs are harmful.) For a basket hanging in the breeze over a period of
months, it’s chance is 100 percent.

Here we’ve melded the most effective remedy for insects with the most practical. We use
Insect Terminate. It’s the most effective because in one fell monthly swoop, it will take
care of 99% of the harmful insects that can attack and weaken your plants. It happens to
be the most practical because it doesn’t need to be sprayed. It can be simply added to
the water once per month.

We use 2 tablespoons of Insect terminate per gallon of water. (The directions are also
on the bottle.) Since we’re adding five gallons of water to a basket on watering day that
means we’ll be using10 tablespoons per treatment. This, we’ll do once per month.
The same helpful tip applies to Insect terminate as does Flower Power. Since it can be
physically demanding to mix and pour five gallons try adding 10 tablespoons to the last
gallon of that day’s water.

Now, we fertilize once per week and we only add Insect terminate once per month but
certainly theres a probability that this act of fertilizing and bug control will need to happen
on the same day. Yes, we can add both Flower Power and Insect Terminate together
in the last gallon of that day’s water. (They actually work synergistically.)

There is however, one last “bug” that isn’t affected by our remedy. It’s technically a
caterpillar that’s been hatched from an egg laid by a whitish/brownish moth. It’s called a
“budworm” (Heliothis virescens) because it quite literally devours buds of geraniums and
petunias and calibrachoa (million bells). It has a voracious appetite for blooms and can
quite literally take a basket in full bloom to complete green in a matter of two days.

Here’s what it looks like:

The first signs of damage from the budworm is a single bloom that looks as if it has been
shot with a BB gun. (It has a single or multiple holes.) Here’s the skinny for the Portland
Metro area: Chances are near 100 percent that at some point in the summer season your
plants will be affected by budworm. Without a doubt, we have found that Budworm
Terminate is the single most effective remedy.

It is a spray (one tablespoon into a quart sprayer) and both the foliage as well as the
blooms (frontside and backside) should be sprayed until wet. The nice thing about this
particular remedy? It’s completely human friendly and earth friendly. We spray for budworm
once per month.

Small piece of advice? Spray during the evening hours works best. Budworm is most active
then though you need not have to spray the worm directly. It works on contact, yes,
but it also works when they eat their next meal.

Side note here: You may find a day or two later budworm literally stopped in place. The
spray works by using a natural bacteria (spinosad a and d) that effectively paralyzes
them. No worries though. It’s completely safe for humans and animals (and its earth
friendly).

So there you have it: Water consistently five gallons every other day. Fertilize with Flower
Power once per week. Add Insect terminate to the water once per month and spray with
Budworm terminate once per month.

You’ll find this little bit of upfront effort will pay you handsomely in an amazing, colorful,
glorious and happy hanging basket.