Hanging a basket the way Grandma used to

I was at the 99cents store the other day browsing, you never know what you’ll find there.  Well that day I found small wire hanging baskets.  which was perfect cause I was looking for a way to hang herbs from my fence, was leaning towards small galvanized buckets, but I couldn’t find any, so I settled for the baskets.

I remember being a little kid and helping my Grandma plant up hanging baskets in the spring, we would plant the sides and bottoms as well.  Anyone else remember those hanging pots?  They were a wire basket but they had squares to hold the moss in and you could plant the sides and bottoms up.  When they filled in it was like a big ball of flowers, really pretty!  Today they all used those coconut liner, not really a favorite of mine.  So when I saw the baskets I kinda hesitated, not sure if I wanted to look at coconut liner.  But for 99cents I went ahead and got them.  Another problem with the coconut liners are that you need to find the right size or get the flat liner then it kind of bunches up.  I figured since these were a rather small size it might be hard to find the liner so I decided to plant the way Grandma used to.  The problem of course is that these don’t have squares to hold soil.  So I had to get creative.

I had some green 22 gauge wire left over from something….flower arrangement?  I’m not really sure, anyway it would work perfect.

I started at the bottom of the wire form and crisscrossed the bottom hole then just went up wrapping around each post as I went

when it was done it looked like this

To line the baskets I was going to use green moss.  It comes in bags and is much easier to work with when it’s wet.  So I got a bin filled it with water and added the moss.

Looks kinda gross right?   haha  Once its all wet you grab a piece and squeeze the water out, it will be soft and easy to form into a layer, the bigger the piece the better.  When I helped Grandma this was always my part.

Start at the bottom and work your way up the sides.  Doesnt have to be super thick, just thick enough to hold the soil in.

Once you get it all covered fill it with potting soil.  The green wire doesn’t really show anymore.  See….

Then just plant them up!   I added mint to this one.

In the other 3 I planted basil, cilantro and spinach.  I like the way they look over the coconut liners and it reminds me of planting with Grandma.

I have a few larger hanging baskets that I am thinking of planting up just like Grandma used to, sides and the bottoms, but I need to find a place to hang them first……maybe from one of the tress?  hmmm….that may work.  Think I’ll go check.