I don't know if you are really into gardening , I must admit up until a few years ago I wasn't really bothered , but when we moved into our new home we had two gardens to look after .
Now I'm not exactly what you would call green fingered , in fact everything I touched seemed to wither and die . That all changed when I realized gardening was totally relaxing and really rewarding .
I was spending an absolute fortune on plants and hanging baskets year after year , a traditional rattan hanging basket which although looks nice doesn't really fill the garden with the wow factor , and the worst part I kept having to replace them because they were rotting from the plant watering twice a day .
It took a while for me to reach this conclusion ..I know... Blonde moment !
I had purchased a cast iron bird bath from a reputable online company and had signed up to their emails to receive offers . It was the start of May and I knew that it was almost time for me to do the annual trek to the local B&Q garden centre for plants , but , I got through an email that sparked my interest .
Want Hanging Baskets that look professional ? hmmm I thought as I opened the mail .
I was surprised when I saw what this mail was about , a plastic hanging basket ! That didn't sound too promising
but I read on , at the end of the mail there was a 7 minute video to watch about planting these easy fill hanging baskets up ..After watching I was hooked , simple just what I needed . The price of the baskets from the company was huge so I decided to do some detective work on the internet and found loads of stores selling them with a huge variety of prices from the dirt cheap to the extortionate .
Amazon I love you !! I found them , four 15 inch baskets for £ 12.99 plus £ 4.95 shipping . I ordered them there and then , two days later a courier knocked on my front door with a huge box .
Easy Fill explained by a non gardener
When I say hanging basket , these aren't like anyother on the market , for one thing they are made of recycled plastic the ones I purchased are black but they are also available in green ..( something I didn't see until I'd already completed checkout … ( what's that I said about blonde !. )
The 15 inch basket has 12 gates , 4 on the bottom and eight on the top layer , all made from perforated plastic which pop out leaving an open aperture in the side of the basket ( smaller baskets have fewer gates ).
When you have decided which plants to put in your basket its time to plant them up . In the base of the basket there is a small reservoir which you place a few handfuls of compost into . There are four openings where the gates were originally , take your plant plug and without disturbing the root you place it root first through the aperture on the outside of the basket so that the root ball sits jut outside of the compost bed you have laid , pick up one of the gates that you previously took out and slide it back into position , there is a small recess which holds the stem of the plant without damaging it , keep on pushing the gate in until you hear a click . First plant in , follow this same routine for the next four .
When you have completed the bottom layer ( which in all honesty takes about three minutes) , you place another two or three handfuls of compost in the centre of the basket and then a further one handful over the four root systems you have just planted , moving on to the top layer you repeat the directions filling all eight apertures , after completing a last few handfuls of compost and then four more plants in the top of the basket ( you could use five ) .
The chains that the baskets come with have a t-bar design which easily slot into the holes meant for them , and then you are ready to hang your basket . Give the Basket a good watering .
My Summary
I planted up 1 of these because I hadn't realized just how big 15 inches was , it is extremely heavy . I am going to purchase 10 inch baskets instead for the rest of the garden .
anyway ...as I was saying I planted up one of these which took 16 trailing plant plugs and a few rattan hanging baskets as well .
Its been just over three weeks since I planted them and I can honestly see the huge difference between the two different baskets . The rattan baskets are growing well and the plants can be seen struggling to the top to catch the sun and will need weeks more before they reach that stage when the foliage starts to trail over the edges … The easy fill hanging basket is almost totally covered by foliage , you can hardly see any of the black plastic ...I am really impressed , if this is what a basket looks like after just three weeks , imagine what it will look like when the plants are mature and in full bloom !!
I would highly recommend these to anyone who likes hanging baskets , they have so many uses , you can plant them up with almost anything you want from flowers to ...trailing tomatoes , strawberries ,...salads , herbs the list is endless .
Not only will they give you great displays and delicious foods if that's what you choose , they will also save you a shed load of cash , no more replacing rattan baskets year after year .
My only word of caution is make sure you know the size you want and if you think it might be too big then it probably will be . Go for the smaller sizes first . I guarantee you will love the results .
For a non gardener I feel really chuffed , I made something peritty that hasn't shriveled up an died , I know it wasn't me ..it was the Easy Fill Hanging Basket .
Both of these baskets were planted on the same day you can see the difference that the easy fill makes ,
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