Hanging Baskets
Hi there,
I bought 4 12" 'easy fill hanging baskets' from amazon. They have 12 holes for plants in them and I wanted to fill them with strawberries, tomato... some other fruiting trailer and a couple of a companion plants...
Will it be ok to use all 12 holes? I gather that it will get very heavy and difficult to look after if i have 12 tomato plants in the same basket...
What's the best way to fill these up for a long display over the summer?
0
Posts
I don't know about strawbs, but one tomato in a basket is more than enough. I grow 1 plant per 16" basket and they grow very well and produce vast amounts of toms.
They're the first to ripen outside for me and ready from the last week in July
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Hi aym - I usually use Levingtons which I get delivered from creative garden ideas, but I got some from Barleylands last year and was very impressed with it called Bord Na Mona Grow-wise multipurpose (3 for £10).
Cuttings done very well in it, so I'm going to see if they still have it this year.
I've got 15 packets of seed out today and it's so miserable, once I've walked my dog, we'll be in the g/house sowing at last!
I'll start the toms in the next 2 weeks
It's all the fiddly stuff today - invisible seeds like petunias etc
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Is there a particular tomato plant best suited to baskets?
Basket toms are 'bush' tomatoes, not like the one's you'd grown in a g/house which have a single long stem and you pinch out the side shoots.
You want the toms to trail over the basket not shoot up skywards, and the bush toms grow like bushes, not a single stem.
My favourite for a basket is Maskotka but I also grow tumbling tom as well
Good luck with yours too aym - maybe we can have a tomatina festival in August
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
So i have 4 baskets. I should use 1 for toms and only 1 plant?
What do i do?... Sow the toms seeds in a little compost and then wait for them to get big enough to plant outside? But i need the bushy ones?.. Is it best to put it sticking out the top and let the bush just trail over? Should I plant anything else with it?.. seems a bit of waste just one plant?
For the other baskets.. i guess I can use one for strawbs.... one for a mass of sweatpeas.. and the last one for something else?..
Do you know what variety of tomato you have? For a basket it needs to be a bush (a determinate variety). If they are cordon (an indeterminate variety) they will not be suitable for a basket. Yes, just one tom per basket. Believe me it will fill the basket to overflowing - there will be no room for any other plants - I get 100+ toms from each of mine.
Get sowing toms the end of March/early April unless you have a greenhouse - there's not enough daylight just at the moment.
Not sure about sweet peas in a basket tho, I don't think that'll work, but I've never tried
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Hi Pete,
I don't have the tom seeds yet - I will order them online and will get a bush determinate variety! I might just start them indoors and put the plug in when it gets a little warmer and sunnier?..
Have you any experience with strawbs or any other fruit in baskets?..
Hi Pokhim,
Like Pete8 I've also grown Maskotka in baskets.... one plant at the top .... and they were lovely. I saved some seeds so will try and grow them again.
I also poked a few spare basil seedlings I had into the sides of the basket and this worked really well.
I've got some alpine strawberries in a basket and these are also good .... I put 6 plants in ... but probably 4 would be better.
This year I'm thinking about growing some sedums and succulents in a basket .... and also putting some Saxifraga 'Southside Seedling' ... which I've got loads of.
Try experimenting and have some fun with them.
Bee.
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Ok! thanks!
I will get Maskotka seeds and sow them indoors, keep them warm until May time when I'll plant them outside. Really good idea on the basil!! I love basil!! The smell of basil is incredible!.. I really hope we get a nice long hot summer like we did last year!..
For strawbs, Thompson has a new one they're trialing which is Strawberry 'Just Add Cream™'Fragaria x ananassa. They flower from May to the first frost!.. I could put in 4 plugs and watch them go!! I reckon I could do a couple of these as the mrs is mad for strawberries!! Especially Eton mess style!..
That leaves one basket left... perhaps i'll just do flowers in this one!..
One thing I do always plant along with my toms are french marigolds (I'm not keen on yellows and orange so none anywhere else) but, they do deter whitefly very well.
Basil is another good choice and will keep some bugs away too. I put 2 marigolds in a hanging basket and 2 in each of the g/house tomato pots and grow basil beside them.
Toms won't survive any frost, but leave them outdoors in a sheltered sunny position during nice warm days in May and bring inside late afternoon this will help to get them used to the 'weather' then when the frosty nights are finished they'll be fine outside, which for me is usually mid-June. Most important is to give them as much sun as possible, so a sunny south facing wall is ideal.
Toms don't like temps below 13c, but they don't have much choice in the UK
On a hot day I sometimes have to water my basket toms morning and evening. They're hungry too so use a tomato fertilizer but only start feeding once the first tiny little toms appear on the trusses.
I've no experience of growing any other fruit in baskets, but have a go and best of luck!
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.