did anyone see the portion of gardeners world about hanging baskets for london borough, downing street etc ?the guy was saying they line them with a double layer of plastic that has tiny holes in it all over and the water overflow holes are about a third of the way up the wire basket, they only plant in the top using trailing plants and use water retention crystals and slow release feed too, they say that the whole basket will be covered with the plants and you won't see any of the basket when they are grown.
I got some of these as my baskets last year and I hate them The year before all my baskets were amazing, last year they were pants - all the plants died, the water rushed out the holes, no matter how often I watered the plants
This year I am going back to my trusty wicker ones
I had struggled to find liners for 17" baskets in recent years using weed restrainer off a roll cut to size held in place by clothing pegs until compost was in place to hold it down.
I thought these plastic grill type would be ideal No liners and easy to plant up, which they are but the lower plants get so little water because of rapid leakage from the upper ones
I cheat! I cut sections of an old rubber hose and I stick it in the middle so that the bottom of the hose section reaches to the bottom of the basket. When I water, I fill up the hose section and then water the top of the basket. Seems to work. You can't see the hose section sticking up when the plants have grown so I just need to part the plants and water down the length of hose. Not very glamorous - but it keeps the bottom nice and moist.
Or buy pretty "rustic" wire ones like me, you wont mind seeing the baskets then, Yes, did see that programme, Jo Swift saying he hates hanging baskets Thats exactly what I (usually) lots of trailing stuff, which hides the baskets. My wicker ones needed replacing this year. The wire ones were no more expensive, and will last for ever. Last year made a promise to myself that every tree in my garden would have a hanging basket, made myself a huge ammount of work, when we had the hot dry weather. You dont have to plant "pretty" stuff, you can have edgy, modern, I had Strawberries, Toms, herbs, and small Box plants last year.
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I kind of think one's with less grill's my prove more successful than the type I have purchased with 12 or so hole's/grills
I have continued to water daily and I still believe the lower down ones appear to be struggling
Still like loads of gardening tips and life in general one learns from ones own experiences
did anyone see the portion of gardeners world about hanging baskets for london borough, downing street etc ?the guy was saying they line them with a double layer of plastic that has tiny holes in it all over and the water overflow holes are about a third of the way up the wire basket, they only plant in the top using trailing plants and use water retention crystals and slow release feed too, they say that the whole basket will be covered with the plants and you won't see any of the basket when they are grown.
I got some of these as my baskets last year and I hate them
The year before all my baskets were amazing, last year they were pants - all the plants died, the water rushed out the holes, no matter how often I watered the plants 
This year I am going back to my trusty wicker ones
I had struggled to find liners for 17" baskets in recent years using weed restrainer off a roll cut to size held in place by clothing pegs until compost was in place to hold it down.
I thought these plastic grill type would be ideal No liners and easy to plant up, which they are but the lower plants get so little water because of rapid leakage from the upper ones
Are well we live & we learn
I cheat! I cut sections of an old rubber hose and I stick it in the middle so that the bottom of the hose section reaches to the bottom of the basket. When I water, I fill up the hose section and then water the top of the basket. Seems to work. You can't see the hose section sticking up when the plants have grown so I just need to part the plants and water down the length of hose. Not very glamorous - but it keeps the bottom nice and moist.
Or buy pretty "rustic" wire ones like me, you wont mind seeing the baskets then, Yes, did see that programme, Jo Swift saying he hates hanging baskets Thats exactly what I (usually) lots of trailing stuff, which hides the baskets. My wicker ones needed replacing this year. The wire ones were no more expensive, and will last for ever. Last year made a promise to myself that every tree in my garden would have a hanging basket, made myself a huge ammount of work, when we had the hot dry weather. You dont have to plant "pretty" stuff, you can have edgy, modern, I had Strawberries, Toms, herbs, and small Box plants last year.
Here is mine from last July so you can see they do work