Photo by PublicDomainPictures via Pixabay
Hanging baskets add personal enjoyment as well as curb appeal to any home. If you're the creative type, you may prefer to make your own rather than purchase ready-made hanging baskets from home and garden retailers. However, DIY hanging baskets sometimes fail to thrive. The following tips and tricks help ensure that your baskets look and perform their best from spring through fall.
Sun-loving plants such as petunias languish and eventually fail to even bloom if placed in areas that don't meet their sun requirements, while shade-lovers such as impatiens and fuchsia may literally burn up if they're exposed to hours of hot sun on a regular basis.
If the sun requirements aren't listed on the tag that comes with the plant, check online or in your favorite encyclopedia-style gardening book and make sure that you select appropriate locations for your baskets. Also, keep in mind that varieties that thrive in shaded locations often do quite well in morning sun
Most annual plants bloom from spring or early summer until frost, so stick with them rather than using perennials for your hanging baskets. You'll have to replace them every spring, but that helps keep things interesting and fun.
When flowers go to seed, that sends a signal to the plant that it's time to start slowing down on the blooming process and focus its energy on seed production. Picking off spent blooms, or deadheading, helps fools the plant into continuing to produce flowers. Some annual varieties, such as Wave petunias, have been bred to keep producing even after individual blossoms go to seed, so these make good choices for busy homeowners who may not have time to pay meticulous attention to their hanging baskets.
Plants growing in hanging baskets require more watering than their counterparts growing in cultivated flower beds because their roots can't reach down deep to access water sources. Using a potting soil designed to retain water helps hedge their bets against drying out before you can get a chance to water them.
Fertilizing hanging baskets with traditional products is tricky — if you apply too much, you run the risk of damaging or even killing the plants, and if you use too little, the fertilizer won't provide the desired benefits. Using potting soil that's infused with a slow-release fertilizer circumvents both of these problems.
Making your own hanging baskets not only saves you a bit of money at the home and garden center, it also helps you avoid the mass-produced look of the majority of ready-made hanging baskets.
Photo by Erda Estremera on Unsplash
Does anyone look forward to moving? Sure, it's exciting to relocate to a new home, a new city and/or a new neighborhood, but the physical act of getting your belongings from one place to another can often be time-consuming and stressful. The good news is there are steps you can take to make this process easier. It goes without saying that you should start as early as possible. In addition, keep the following tips in mind.
Moving is a great time to rid your household of those items you seldom or never use. Whether it's collections, books, clothing or sporting equipment, take a close look at the items you're packing and make a pile to send to a local charity, to sell or to give away to friends or family members. You'll be grateful when you have less to unpack and find homes for in your new residence.
Create a color-coded system for each room of your home. Label your boxes with a colored paper so you'll know easily which room they belong in when you get to the new house. Sticky notes are a great option because they come in a variety of bright colors. Be sure to mark at least two sides on each box and secure the labels with some extra tape so they stay in place during transit.
While it's tempting to fill large boxes to the brim, these can be back-breaking to carry from the house to the truck and into the new place. Instead, opt for small boxes for things like books, dishes, kitchenware and other heavy items. One book or one plate isn't very heavy but an entire set of them can be extremely difficult to lift.
Whether you are moving with or without a professional mover, you'll want to pack a box with your essential items and keep it with you. This can include glasses, phones and chargers, prescriptions, toiletries, important documents, cleaning products, a change of clothes for all family members and even a set of plates and utensils to use until you get all of your kitchen boxes unpacked.
Moving your household belongings doesn't have to be something to dread. Make your move less stressful by de-cluttering your rooms and closets before you move, marking your boxes so you know where to put them in the new house and making sure to pack an emergency essentials box.
