These tips may seem commonsense but they are always worth repeating.

Tips For Good Hanging Baskets.

• Water early in the day ‘and or’ in the evening. Give plants a good drink regularly.
• After 4 weeks in the same compost the nutrients will be reduced and you should add liquid feed. I use half strength fertilizer with every watering.
• Many hanging basket plants will self deadhead but if you have zonal geraniums in the basket they will benefit from nipping the deadheads off.
• Turn the basket round, if one side near a wall for example, is growing less well.
• Look out for aphids on the soft lush growth.
• If you get unexpected gaps in leaf or bloom you can still  put in new plants.

Hanging Basket Holidays

• If you go on holiday you need to think about care of your baskets whilst away, even just for a weekend.
• Irrigation systems are available designed specially for hanging baskets with timed water release but they can be  expensive.  Buy a  Thompson Morgan Irrigation system from  this link.
• If you have a friend or family member coming to water the baskets make their life easy to encourage them to return.
  • Take the baskets down and group them together on a capillary mat if available.
  • Keep them out of the full sun if practical.
  • These actions help conserve water and make life easy for the time scarce watering friend.
• Give them a granular feed before you go away.
• Do not complain when you return or you can loose a good friend. No one looks after your prize possessions as well as you (think you) would.
• Read more on watering