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hanging basket liner. home solution ?

berardeberarde Posts: 135
in Plants
Last year the magpies got at me the coir lining of my hanging baskets and made quite a mess pulling up the edges and flying off with fibres. I've got a coir liner but I was thinking of using a hard shell one, but  shut shops and self -isolating makes me think of alternatives. Maybe black plastic with holes? cardboard? Still trying to think of other possibilities...

Posts

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 28,818
    Old jumpers.

    Alan Titchmarsh did a trial on either GW or his How to be a Gardener series a few years ago and old, knitted jumpers proved best for holding in the compost and letting excess water out. 

    I went to Keukenhof a few years ago and they had some of their hanging baskets lined with pieces of fabric - not always coordinated with the flower colours.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • B3B3 Posts: 24,453
    I wonder if a few layers of bubble wrap would work.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Andy19Andy19 Posts: 671
    Old compost bag turned inside out and cut to size.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 9,972
    I line them with a cut out from a compost bag with the black on the outside.
    When it's filled and planted I give it a good water then hang it up and poke holes in the bottom - and stand well back.
    Once the plants start trailing you can't see the plastic
    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 8,115
    Every now and again I think about having a go at knitting or crocheting some basket liners.  This year might be the year that it actually happens! I've loads of yarn oddments tucked away somewhere (colour combinations could be "interesting"). Come to think of it I think there's odds and ends of curtain material in a box in the loft as well. Decisions, decisions!
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • WeaveyDaveyWeaveyDavey Posts: 575
    @JennyJ: Go on then - I dare say you'll make a better job than I did when I tried to make liners from 'spare' macrame yarn!! *The sparrows thought it a good idea, though & lined THEIR nests with strands pulled willy nilly.... Was I atall upset?? Nah!
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 8,115
    I have time to do it, I'll post pics :). How hard can it be? Basically an extra-extra-large shallow-ish hat shape with large horizontal buttonholes for planting slits. Famous last words...........
    Imagine birds' nests lined with multicoloured wool - it'd be worth doing just for that!
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • mikeymustardmikeymustard Posts: 495
    Instead of knitting it, you could also try felting a liner, which would be a lot easier (for me anyway, I'm not a knitter). As the OH spins her own yarn, we've always got fleeces around. We have an old feeder hung up that's stuffed with wool for nests - the great tits seem to especially like it
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