How To Keep Your Hanging Baskets Blooming Big - All Summer Long!

<v Speaker 1>Welcome to the Simple Garden Life Podcast, a program dedicated
<v Speaker 1>to keeping the art of gardening simple, fun and always rewarding.
<v Speaker 1>Now Here are your hosts, Jim and Mary Competti.
<v Speaker 2>Hello and welcome everybody to the Simple Garden Life Podcast.
<v Speaker 3>I'm your host Jim Competti.
<v Speaker 4>And I'm Mary Competti, and we.
<v Speaker 2>Are here today to talk about the best way to
<v Speaker 2>keep your hanging baskets loaded with blooms all summer. And
<v Speaker 2>we're right past Mother's Day, Mary, and everybody has their baskets.
<v Speaker 4>Oh, they've been beautiful.
<v Speaker 5>I've seen so many advertisements have local nurseries to have
<v Speaker 5>hanging baskets.
<v Speaker 4>They're so big and beautiful at this time.
<v Speaker 5>And all the mothers, I'm sure we're real happy to
<v Speaker 5>get them this past weekend.
<v Speaker 2>Oh absolutely, And I'll tell you what the how expensive
<v Speaker 2>they become these days, keeping them to last all summer
<v Speaker 2>and making sure they stay blued to get your money's worth.
<v Speaker 3>It is more important than ever. Absolutely well, we want
<v Speaker 3>to welcome everybody in.
<v Speaker 2>Remind anybody if you have questions, you can always email
<v Speaker 2>us at the farm at ow garden dot com. And
<v Speaker 2>of course you can find our Simple Garden Life podcast
<v Speaker 2>on Spotify. Apple Podcasts, Good Pods, and all of the
<v Speaker 2>major podcast platforms.
<v Speaker 3>And then of course you can always find us at ow.
<v Speaker 2>Garden dot com that list all of our websites and
<v Speaker 2>keeps you up to date on our farm, which we
<v Speaker 2>always have a lot going on. But we are here
<v Speaker 2>today to talk about hanging baskets. And if there's one
<v Speaker 2>thing that seems to play gardeners when it comes to baskets,
<v Speaker 2>it's how can I keep them healthier blooming for longer
<v Speaker 2>than more than just a month?
<v Speaker 4>Right? You wanted to last all summer long, just not
<v Speaker 4>until June or July.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean, Unfortunately, by mid to late summer, a
<v Speaker 2>large majority of hanging baskets really begin to fade, you
<v Speaker 2>see it, to have all these blooms, you know, what
<v Speaker 2>was once a bright bouquet of all this foliage and blooms,
<v Speaker 2>it just turns into you know, a brown kind of an.
<v Speaker 3>Almost an isore.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, and it can be frustrating for sure, Yeah, I mean.
<v Speaker 2>Especially when you consider, as we said, how expensive they
<v Speaker 2>can be to purchaser or even plant.
<v Speaker 3>But here's the good news.
<v Speaker 2>You really can keep your hanging baskets around all year,
<v Speaker 2>and you have to remember a few things that why
<v Speaker 2>they are failing so quick clean the summer. First of all,
<v Speaker 2>unlike annuals and anything else, you plan't marry these hanging
<v Speaker 2>baskets that you go pick up on Mother's Day or in.
<v Speaker 3>The early spring.
<v Speaker 2>They're loaded with blooms in big because they're older than
<v Speaker 2>anything else out there.
<v Speaker 5>Right, and they've also been fed a lot of nutrients
<v Speaker 5>to get them to look good on Mother's Day.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, a lot of these baskets are started back in
<v Speaker 2>January even December allowed to grow full. So that means
<v Speaker 2>a lot of that root structure has already formed in
<v Speaker 2>that basket. But we're going to talk today about how
<v Speaker 2>to fertilize, how to water, and then the art of
<v Speaker 2>dead heading to make those baskets last longer. And we
<v Speaker 2>even give you a few tips at the end on
<v Speaker 2>how to make the baskets last longer if they if
<v Speaker 2>they become too far overgrown, and that could happen really
<v Speaker 2>as we talk about when they're getting so so old.
<v Speaker 2>But let's talk first about fertilizing and how important it is,
<v Speaker 2>but also not overfertilizing or fertilizing with the right combination.
<v Speaker 5>Right, And that's the first first point of the three
<v Speaker 5>simple tricks secure hanging baskets blooming all year long.
<v Speaker 2>It is and for us, look, we've been at this
<v Speaker 2>for sixteen years. We have the farm now we have
<v Speaker 2>a lot of hanging baskets around and keeping them good
<v Speaker 2>and lush is important so that they always look at
<v Speaker 2>their best when people are here. I think the first
<v Speaker 2>thing that people do a lot of times when it
<v Speaker 2>comes to fertilizing is they make one of two big mistakes.
<v Speaker 2>They either don't fertilize at all, because hey, when you
<v Speaker 2>first get that basket looks beautiful, you don't think you
<v Speaker 2>need to, or when they do fertilize, they give too
<v Speaker 2>much or the wrong nutrients all at the same time.
<v Speaker 2>So we have really found more than anything else. We
<v Speaker 2>use a simple two approach method, a two problenged approach
<v Speaker 2>method to fertilizing or hanging baskets, and it kind of
<v Speaker 2>does two things. The first approach is a monthly approach
<v Speaker 2>of a dry granular type and we'll talk about what
<v Speaker 2>we use exactly, and that just gives a very low,
<v Speaker 2>slow feeding to the plant to keep it healthy because
<v Speaker 2>the one thing you don't want to and we'll get
<v Speaker 2>into this even more later is to give your plants
<v Speaker 2>too much energy to grow, which is nitrogen.
<v Speaker 4>Right, But what about the all purpose fertilizer.
<v Speaker 2>Well, the problem with that is a lot of times
<v Speaker 2>those are so high up in nitrogens. We talk about
<v Speaker 2>that NPK form a lot on the show. But if
<v Speaker 2>you have that high nitrogen, yes, it's going to make
<v Speaker 2>those flowers, excuse me, everything be green, but it's not
<v Speaker 2>really going to the blooms. And a lot of times
<v Speaker 2>it just forces excessive growth and you have these big
<v Speaker 2>baskets for twenty days and then they just overgrow and
<v Speaker 2>they can't produce a lot of blooms.
<v Speaker 3>So we like to use you know, for.
<v Speaker 2>Us, there's no substitute, right. Worm castings are the answer.
<v Speaker 2>They're low, they're slow, they'll never overpower your plant, but
<v Speaker 2>will they ever keep it green and strong? For that
<v Speaker 2>low and slow power I mean worm castings, we use
<v Speaker 2>them everywhere. Right.
<v Speaker 4>They're the perfect slow release fertilizer.
<v Speaker 2>Every time you water, the nutrients leach down and they
<v Speaker 2>go through the soil and absorb into the roots and
<v Speaker 2>they only feed the plant. But more important when those
<v Speaker 2>worm castings are in the soil, when on the top,
<v Speaker 2>they actually help them moisture and hold that moisture in
<v Speaker 2>for the plant, because hanging baskets can dry out fast.
<v Speaker 5>Right, And so here's a big question how much do
<v Speaker 5>you use and how often do you use it?
<v Speaker 2>So for worm castings or if you're gonna opt for
<v Speaker 2>a dry grain or fertilizer. If you are going to
<v Speaker 2>opt for that, get a low blend, you know, like
<v Speaker 2>a two five five, even a zero five to five.
<v Speaker 2>You want a little bit of nitrogen, but not a
<v Speaker 2>ton to overgrow it. But for us with worm castings,
<v Speaker 2>and like I said, we just we swear by them.
<v Speaker 3>They work so amazing.
<v Speaker 4>We should have a worm casting farm.
<v Speaker 3>We should, we should. We have enough going on.
<v Speaker 2>A quarter cup to a half a cup marry is
<v Speaker 2>what we put on every plant. And people are like, well,
<v Speaker 2>how do you do that? You know, hanging basket. We
<v Speaker 2>pour it basically around the entire inside top of the soil.
<v Speaker 2>And then you always say this more than anything else,
<v Speaker 2>you got to scratch it in a little bit with
<v Speaker 2>your either the finger or a little tool, will little handle,
<v Speaker 2>get it, get it just a little bit into the
<v Speaker 2>soil to help work.
<v Speaker 5>Right, And when those baskets are so full of leaves
<v Speaker 5>and blooms, you do kind of have to spread them
<v Speaker 5>apart to get it down into the soil. Just don't
<v Speaker 5>throw it on top of the Yeah, and.
<v Speaker 3>Again once a month is the real key here.
<v Speaker 2>If you do it any more than that, you can
<v Speaker 2>overpower the plant too.
<v Speaker 3>You have a little less worry with that.
<v Speaker 2>When you use worm castings, because there's so much less
<v Speaker 2>dangerous to use than a fertilizer.
<v Speaker 3>But for us, I mean, we just know the.
<v Speaker 2>First of the month, when it rolls around, we're gonna
<v Speaker 2>go out to every hanging basket or container. This works
<v Speaker 2>just as well for container plants, and we're going to
<v Speaker 2>put those in and we're going to scratch it around.
<v Speaker 2>And then every time you're watering, which for hanging baskets
<v Speaker 2>is pretty much every day, that power just slowly leaches
<v Speaker 2>into the roots and it keeps the plant. Remember this
<v Speaker 2>isn't for blooms. It'll help a little bit, but this
<v Speaker 2>is more than anything else to keep that plant healthy
<v Speaker 2>and green.
<v Speaker 5>Right, So, such your reminder the first of the month
<v Speaker 5>to fertilize your hanging baskets.
<v Speaker 3>That's right.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, we're gonna take a very quick break, a commercial
<v Speaker 2>break here, and we're gonna come back and talk about
<v Speaker 2>the second approach, which is all about the blooms for fertilizer,
<v Speaker 2>and that's the liquid fertilizer, which is very important. Again
<v Speaker 2>what you feed and how often you feed. We'll be
<v Speaker 2>right back after this. Okay, we are back talking about
<v Speaker 2>how to keep those hanging baskets blooming big, not just
<v Speaker 2>for a few weeks after the spring, but all through
<v Speaker 2>the summer.
<v Speaker 3>And we talked about the low and slow of the.
<v Speaker 2>Worm casting, Maria, and now let's get into the liquid fertilizing,
<v Speaker 2>which is really important.
<v Speaker 3>You know. In addition to the low and slow fertilizing of.
<v Speaker 2>The worm castings, we then water about every seven to
<v Speaker 2>ten days with the liquid fertilizer. But again, as we said,
<v Speaker 2>it matters what you're using here. You know a lot
<v Speaker 2>of people and I hate to say, they'll go grab
<v Speaker 2>that typical off the shelf, big power surge like a
<v Speaker 2>miracle grow something like that that are really high in
<v Speaker 2>nitrogen and also phosphorus. But the problem is that nitrogen
<v Speaker 2>number is so big it can overgrow those plants really fast.
<v Speaker 5>Right, you really want to look for a liquid fertilizer
<v Speaker 5>that has much less nitrogen than the dest phosphorus or potassium.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, we look.
<v Speaker 2>You know what my favorite blend is is a two
<v Speaker 2>fifteen fifteen or a two ten ten or even a
<v Speaker 2>two twenty twenty something like that. We use a brand
<v Speaker 2>called Farmer's Secret for ours, but there's a lot out there.
<v Speaker 2>They're all good, but it has that two percent or
<v Speaker 2>two nitrogen number and then that fifteen or fifteen fifteen
<v Speaker 2>when it comes to phosphorus and potassium. And why is
<v Speaker 2>that it so important? Because those two are so important,
<v Speaker 2>especially that excuse me, the phosphors for powering blooms and
<v Speaker 2>not plank earth, but ballooms.
<v Speaker 5>And that's what we all want. We want more blooms
<v Speaker 5>on our hanging baskets, container plants.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and then saying that the other mistake, and I
<v Speaker 2>think this is critical. I mean, if you pick up
<v Speaker 2>two things today, it's this low and slow of the
<v Speaker 2>worm castings. And then this we said we fertilize every
<v Speaker 2>seven to ten days.
<v Speaker 3>A lot of fertilizers.
<v Speaker 2>Can tell you, you know, fertilized monthly with this full blast,
<v Speaker 2>or every two weeks with a full blast.
<v Speaker 3>One of the most important.
<v Speaker 2>Things we do when we fertilize is we cut that
<v Speaker 2>fertilizer in half, if not even a third of the
<v Speaker 2>recommended dose.
<v Speaker 3>And why do we do that?
<v Speaker 2>It allows us to feed more often and keep the
<v Speaker 2>plants supplied with a steady supply of low nutrients as
<v Speaker 2>opposed to this big, powerful blast.
<v Speaker 3>And what's that going to do.
<v Speaker 2>It's gonna overgrow that plant and push it all out,
<v Speaker 2>and then it's.
<v Speaker 3>Gonna be done. Right.
<v Speaker 5>It's gonna be like that absolute shock factor of you know,
<v Speaker 5>I got to grow fast right now. But then towards
<v Speaker 5>the end of the month, you know, it starts fading
<v Speaker 5>off because it's grown too much.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, And I can't stress enough when you put too
<v Speaker 3>much power on a basket.
<v Speaker 2>Baskets already tend to overgrow themselves by July and August,
<v Speaker 2>that just because they were so big when you bought them.
<v Speaker 2>Even if you plant your own when if you power
<v Speaker 2>them up too much, all that root grouse is just
<v Speaker 2>going to become root bound and then no matter what
<v Speaker 2>you put on your plant, it's going to struggle. So remember,
<v Speaker 2>use a nice dry worm casting something like that. Are
<v Speaker 2>a very low granular fertilizer once a month and then
<v Speaker 2>and then every seventh days, a half dose to a
<v Speaker 2>third dose of a liquid fertilizer, because that liquid fertilizer
<v Speaker 2>feeds both through the leaves and through the soil and
<v Speaker 2>will power blooms.
<v Speaker 5>And does it matter what type of flowers that you
<v Speaker 5>have in your hanging baskets.
<v Speaker 2>No, I mean most annuals, which are people, they're gonna grow.
<v Speaker 2>They're gonna all power up mostly with you know, a
<v Speaker 2>higher phosphorus unless you have some exotic thing that I'm
<v Speaker 2>not thinking right now, this is gonna work really, really well.
<v Speaker 2>So that's number one and by far the most key
<v Speaker 2>to keeping those baskets steady and going. But then we
<v Speaker 2>got to talk about water in your baskets, and this
<v Speaker 2>is where people make another critical mistake when a when
<v Speaker 2>a plant has too much water, its roots swell up
<v Speaker 2>and it can't absorb anything you give it, even if
<v Speaker 2>you give it great nutrients. If it's if it's water
<v Speaker 2>log it's not going to If it's too dry, those
<v Speaker 2>same roots shrivel up and it's hard for them to
<v Speaker 2>hydrate it quickly enough to capture nutrients. So proper watering
<v Speaker 2>is a must. And I mean, let's talk about that.
<v Speaker 2>What's what's the best way to water? I mean, if
<v Speaker 2>you do it too infrequently, you're going to shorten the
<v Speaker 2>life of your plant.
<v Speaker 3>If you do it too much, it's going to really stress.
<v Speaker 3>We like to water every.
<v Speaker 4>Day, don't We mean we do every morning, and it.
<v Speaker 2>Depends what you're watering, where that basket's located. We have
<v Speaker 2>a few of our baskets and pots in high sun,
<v Speaker 2>high heat areas. Sometimes by midsummer they.
<v Speaker 4>Twice a day.
<v Speaker 2>Twice a day, absolutely. But here's what I always tell people.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, we water and water and you kind of know.
<v Speaker 2>It's what your baskets in it, and how does it drain.
<v Speaker 2>Make sure your baskets have those drainage holds or they
<v Speaker 2>can drain the excess water. But there's a couple of
<v Speaker 2>ways to tell. You can use the old fashioned method,
<v Speaker 2>which works really good. You can stick your finger down
<v Speaker 2>a couple of inches, not at the top of the surface.
<v Speaker 2>You need to stick it a couple inches down where
<v Speaker 2>the roots are, where the roots are, and you need
<v Speaker 2>to feel that soil. If it's slightly damp and good,
<v Speaker 2>you don't need to water.
<v Speaker 3>That's perfect.
<v Speaker 2>That's a form, yeah, and that's where people make a mistake.
<v Speaker 2>But if it's dry to the touch or your finger
<v Speaker 2>comes up dry, You're good. I personally I love for people.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, it's so inexpensive, But a soil water meter
<v Speaker 2>is what ten or fifteen dollars or so many on
<v Speaker 2>the market to long probes. You put it down there,
<v Speaker 2>you get an instant reading of that moisture level and
<v Speaker 2>you know right away, Wow, it's dry or it needs water.
<v Speaker 2>Do you use it every day? No, but there's times
<v Speaker 2>when you're like, what's going on with this plant? Why
<v Speaker 2>is it doing this?
<v Speaker 3>And that's the first thing we check, just to see
<v Speaker 3>if it's water logged or something.
<v Speaker 5>Right, it gives you accurate reading of whether you need
<v Speaker 5>a water more or less.
<v Speaker 3>Absolutely. Again, like I said, you can use the old
<v Speaker 3>fact of sticking sticking it down.
<v Speaker 1>Now.
<v Speaker 3>The other question is Mary, when you water matters as well.
<v Speaker 5>Absolutely, Like we said before, we water first thing in
<v Speaker 5>the morning, before the sun comes out.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it is the absolute best time to water. And
<v Speaker 3>why is that? Well, first of all, your plants are recovered.
<v Speaker 2>Overnight from a long day from the previous day, so
<v Speaker 2>now they're ready to accept that water and prepare for
<v Speaker 2>another hot or sunny day. That morning water and gets
<v Speaker 2>them hydrated and able to withstand it if you let
<v Speaker 2>that dry out through the day and it gets hit
<v Speaker 2>by the hot sun and then all of a sudden
<v Speaker 2>you come in the middle of the afternoon or at
<v Speaker 2>night and you water that plant. It's not getting the
<v Speaker 2>same type of water and it's not the same type
<v Speaker 2>of health structure.
<v Speaker 1>No.
<v Speaker 5>And also if you're watering midday when it's super hot outside,
<v Speaker 5>you also risk sun skulled on the leaves you do.
<v Speaker 2>And everything else from that to the plant not getting
<v Speaker 2>much as much from evaporation. Okay, so not everybody can
<v Speaker 2>do that. I really suggest if you can, that's the
<v Speaker 2>best thing to do. But if you can't, Mary just
<v Speaker 2>said avoid the midday waterings and try to then water
<v Speaker 2>a little bit in the evening. My other issue with
<v Speaker 2>evening is when you have a cool session or things
<v Speaker 2>like that, that can also produce some mildew and things
<v Speaker 2>like that. But it's far better than the middle of
<v Speaker 2>the day. Now that said, we just did this yesterday,
<v Speaker 2>and I have to tell you our day was a
<v Speaker 2>little crazy.
<v Speaker 3>Yesterday.
<v Speaker 2>It was a hot, sunny day and what were Jim
<v Speaker 2>and Mary doing. We were out there at one o'clock
<v Speaker 2>in the afternoon, right, and.
<v Speaker 5>I was like, great, we're not even that following our
<v Speaker 5>own advice exactly.
<v Speaker 2>And that does happen when you have to water because
<v Speaker 2>they were drying out. We had missed the morning schedule
<v Speaker 2>because we had some commitments we had to be at.
<v Speaker 3>Here's the key.
<v Speaker 2>If you are going to water in the afternoon, just
<v Speaker 2>make sure that your watering source is below the leaf
<v Speaker 2>level and you're right to the.
<v Speaker 5>Soil right water what I call low and slow as well.
<v Speaker 5>Make sure you're right at the soil, right at the base.
<v Speaker 5>Try not to hit any of the leaves.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and again, and that just shows your real life
<v Speaker 3>and it it's going to happen. It happened to us yesterday.
<v Speaker 2>We were joking about it, making fun that we knew
<v Speaker 2>we were going to be doing this podcast to day.
<v Speaker 2>Like here we are just going against our own advice.
<v Speaker 2>But it's important when you do that to make sure
<v Speaker 2>you're underneath. The one thing you never want to do
<v Speaker 2>is liquid fertilize in the afternoon. When you fertilize with
<v Speaker 2>your liquid fertilizer, that is one thing you really want
<v Speaker 2>to do in the morning. Make sure it's in the morning.
<v Speaker 2>It allows the plane to absorb it. The sun's not
<v Speaker 2>super hot on it yet and it can hidrid it
<v Speaker 2>a lot.
<v Speaker 4>But I guess that's a good question.
<v Speaker 5>Should you with a liquid fertilizer, are you watering just
<v Speaker 5>to the soil or are you putting it on the foliage?
<v Speaker 2>I like, here's what I like. I like both because
<v Speaker 2>it's stematic. What you means, it can go through you know,
<v Speaker 2>the leaves and the soil.
<v Speaker 4>You can absorb it.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and that's why.
<v Speaker 2>I don't like doing it in the middle of the day,
<v Speaker 2>because that fertilize can burn the lease a little bit better.
<v Speaker 3>But I like a little of both.
<v Speaker 2>Some people will do that and then they'll rinse a
<v Speaker 2>little water on it, and I'm like, I kind of
<v Speaker 2>wash to stop.
<v Speaker 3>What you just did.
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, I like watering the plant as a whole.
<v Speaker 2>Especially when we're doing that, it just seems to be
<v Speaker 2>a lot better. So we've talked about fertilizing, We've talked
<v Speaker 2>about watering. Here's the one other thing that people don't
<v Speaker 2>do enough of that really really makes a difference to
<v Speaker 2>your plants, and that's.
<v Speaker 5>That Absolutely, it makes a big difference on how many
<v Speaker 5>blooms you're going to have throughout the season.
<v Speaker 2>So deadheading, what is it it's a simple process that's
<v Speaker 2>actually kind of cathartic.
<v Speaker 3>I always said, I enjoy it. But you know, when
<v Speaker 3>those blooms start to.
<v Speaker 2>Fade off of a plant, let's just use geraniums or marigolds,
<v Speaker 2>anything like that. When those blooms start to fade from
<v Speaker 2>the plant, they're designed by their very nature to create
<v Speaker 2>seed pods for the next generation. Well, that takes a
<v Speaker 2>ton of energy away from the plant. So you do
<v Speaker 2>not want that to go against your plant. So the
<v Speaker 2>quicker you remove those old blooms, it helps the plant
<v Speaker 2>recover and flush out new blooms. The other thing it
<v Speaker 2>does is it makes your plant.
<v Speaker 4>Look a heck of a lot better, right right exactly.
<v Speaker 2>So you asked me earlier, Mary about does it matter
<v Speaker 2>on which kind of plants it does? On this one, Marigolds,
<v Speaker 2>you want to get below the just the seed head
<v Speaker 2>stem right there, and they usually pinch off.
<v Speaker 4>Right at the bloom, but the base of the bloom.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Petunias, you want to get below that, but make
<v Speaker 2>sure you're taking that little stem out as well. The
<v Speaker 2>one change to this are geraniums, you had that long stem.
<v Speaker 2>You want to make sure you get down low.
<v Speaker 5>You're not just taking off the flower petals, you're actually
<v Speaker 5>taking off the stem at the base of the plant, so.
<v Speaker 3>It'll shoot up a new stem.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Absolutely, But I'm telling.
<v Speaker 2>You go when you water your plants every morning.
<v Speaker 3>We like doing this.
<v Speaker 2>When we water, we just if there's a few blooms,
<v Speaker 2>we take them off. You can wait a few days,
<v Speaker 2>three or four days between them. But I like doing
<v Speaker 2>that because it keeps the plant perfect, It makes it
<v Speaker 2>always look nice, and it keeps that steady supply. Not
<v Speaker 2>going to making seeds, but to help them make new blooms.
<v Speaker 5>And don't worry if most of your blooms are fitting
<v Speaker 5>off all at the same time. When you clip them
<v Speaker 5>off and you just have the greenery left, in a
<v Speaker 5>few days, you're going to have tons more blooms popping up.
<v Speaker 2>At and you know, it's just again a little Sometimes
<v Speaker 2>we like to throw in little things of advice, and
<v Speaker 2>I think we have two of them here. We want
<v Speaker 2>to talk about what happens if your plank is too big.
<v Speaker 2>But first when it comes to those seed pods, whether
<v Speaker 2>it's marigolds and you want to save some seeds or zenius,
<v Speaker 2>anything like that, saving your seeds the best time to
<v Speaker 2>save seed pods is in the middle of summer, not
<v Speaker 2>early spring and not lake fall. People make so much
<v Speaker 2>save the last of their plants, and the problem with
<v Speaker 2>that is there's had so much more chance to cross
<v Speaker 2>pollinate with other things.
<v Speaker 3>I like the middle of the summer because they're mature.
<v Speaker 2>If the seats has are mature, you pull them off,
<v Speaker 2>you let them dry out a little bit, pick a few,
<v Speaker 2>and then you save those seats.
<v Speaker 3>Those are your most viable, best seeds to save for an.
<v Speaker 4>Extra right, they're the biggest and strongness in the middle
<v Speaker 4>of summer.
<v Speaker 2>They are okay, Mary, Now let's talk about the other
<v Speaker 2>thing that we want to kind of throw it as
<v Speaker 2>an extra hint.
<v Speaker 3>You've done everything right.
<v Speaker 2>But this basket that was huge and was already pretty
<v Speaker 2>grown into its roots, it just becomes too big in
<v Speaker 2>the middle.
<v Speaker 3>Of July and August.
<v Speaker 5>And then the one sure sign of it's growing too
<v Speaker 5>big is that when you go to water, the water
<v Speaker 5>as soon as you water, it flows right through the
<v Speaker 5>bottom of the pot of plant.
<v Speaker 2>And people always ask, what can I do for my
<v Speaker 2>plant at this point? Well, your plant, if it stays
<v Speaker 2>in that container, will not make it. It's not going
<v Speaker 2>to make it because no matter if you feed it,
<v Speaker 2>it's not the feed's not getting to it because its
<v Speaker 2>roots are so bound that it can't absorb anything.
<v Speaker 3>There's no soil left sometimes in the pot. So there's
<v Speaker 3>a couple tricks.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, you can always repot it into another larger pot,
<v Speaker 2>and you want to make sure that pot is at
<v Speaker 2>least twenty five to fifty percent bigger than the previous
<v Speaker 2>one to allow for a new root group.
<v Speaker 3>And when you do that and you pull it out,
<v Speaker 3>you want to take your hands. You can take it.
<v Speaker 2>I like taking my hands at the bottom of that root,
<v Speaker 2>just kind of softly pulling it out to break those
<v Speaker 2>roots apart a little bit so they can reset a
<v Speaker 2>new soil.
<v Speaker 5>Right, it's super easy to do. Sometimes it's easy to do.
<v Speaker 5>Sometimes when they're super root bound, it's more difficult. But
<v Speaker 5>just tear the roots apart a little bit and then
<v Speaker 5>repot it.
<v Speaker 2>But here's the thing that's not always practically because if
<v Speaker 2>you have a large hanging basket or a large pot
<v Speaker 2>and it's already eighteen to twenty four inches, there's not
<v Speaker 2>too many people that keep thirty six inch pot, So
<v Speaker 2>do you throw it away? We love doing this, So
<v Speaker 2>take that basket out in late you know, or early
<v Speaker 2>August or late August, and it's starting to look weak.
<v Speaker 2>Find a spot in your flower beds, find a spot
<v Speaker 2>in your garden, find a spot right outside your door
<v Speaker 2>in the soil. Dig a hole that's twenty five to
<v Speaker 2>fifty percent bigger. Fill it with some potting soil, some compost.
<v Speaker 2>Set that hanging basket plant down into that. Plan it
<v Speaker 2>like you're playing just a single plant. You will be
<v Speaker 2>and then hit it with a nice dose of liquid
<v Speaker 2>fertilizer and a little more worm castings, and you will
<v Speaker 2>be rewarded Mary with the most beautiful plant. We've had
<v Speaker 2>so many comments like, well, how did you come up
<v Speaker 2>with that combination in the soil.
<v Speaker 3>It wasn't It was a potted plant, right.
<v Speaker 5>It's just a way to repurpose it and still gain
<v Speaker 5>the beauty throughout the rest of the year.
<v Speaker 3>It really is. So there you go, folks. That's how
<v Speaker 3>to keep those baskets.
<v Speaker 2>In bloom and what to do if they just become
<v Speaker 2>simply too big.
<v Speaker 3>So remember, fertilize correctly.
<v Speaker 2>You want to do those worm castings once a month
<v Speaker 2>and the liquid fertilizing every seven to ten days.
<v Speaker 3>You want to water, and this.
<v Speaker 2>Mary said, try to water in the morning, try to
<v Speaker 2>water every day if needed, but make sure you're checking
<v Speaker 2>that soil to make sure it's not becoming overly wet
<v Speaker 2>or too dry in between waterings.
<v Speaker 5>Right, And the final tip is make sure that you're
<v Speaker 5>dead heading your flowers so you can get more blooms.
<v Speaker 1>That's right.
<v Speaker 3>Do it every time you water.
<v Speaker 2>Just take a few of those off and you'll be
<v Speaker 2>good to go. So I think that's it for today's show.
<v Speaker 2>This is one of my favorite subjects always because hanging
<v Speaker 2>baskets can just boom, give you.
<v Speaker 3>Instant color anywhere.
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely, and we always say every year we're going to
<v Speaker 2>cut back, and I think we add we do all right,
<v Speaker 2>everybody well for Simple Garden Life.
<v Speaker 4>I'm Jim Competti, I'm Mary Competti. Thanks so much, Happy garden,
<v Speaker 4>Happy Gardney.
<v Speaker 6>We hope you've enjoyed this episode. Subscribe to the Simple
<v Speaker 6>Garden podcast on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or most of
<v Speaker 6>your favorite podcast apps. You can also head over to
<v Speaker 6>Simplegardenlife dot com, where you can listen and read all
<v Speaker 6>of the show notes to every episode and if.
<v Speaker 5>You have any questions, any ideas for show topics or
<v Speaker 5>If you want to share your favorite garden tip, email
<v Speaker 5>us at the Farm at owgarden dot com.
<v Speaker 6>Until next time, Thanks everyone,