So I 'm staring at the empty planters sitting on the porch. They haven't hung since Christmas because I'm tired of killing perfectly innocent flowers after 2 months in mid-air. I don't MEAN to kill them, life just gets busy and you miss watering for a day or five, and then they never seem to recover.

They're 16" x 6" heavy wire baskets lined with coco-fiber and then a sheet of plastic to keep the water from running staright through the potting soil.

I've looked at deeper self-watering models, but they're all made of some hideous plastic that looks out of place with the flagstone patio and stucco walls.

I have also tried polymer crystals and they just don't last in the heat and sun.

Any ideas on keeping them from getting too dry this season?

Thanks, nita

My grandfather used to say, if you want something done quickly and in the least complicated way possible, get a lazy person to do it. So, the lazy person that I am says that it sounds like you need to change your choice of plants, not the mechanics of the baskets, nor your lifestyle. I don't know where you live so I can't get too specific, but look for drought-tolerant or so-called xeric plants. Would ivy geraniums work? They don't need water more than once or twice a week. How about trailing succulent-y things like string of pearls? How about 'raspberry ice' bougainvillea, which does nicely in a hanging basket and grows slowly.

If you can't find anything that thrives in hot and dry condition that works in your area, you may want to just give up and treat these guys like annuals. (Yes, I know friends don't let friends buy annuals, but these are extreme circumstances.)

Again, as a lazy person, you can spare yourself some labor by buying little guys in 4" containers, sticking the pots directly in the baskets, then topping the whole thing off with shredded bark or spanish moss so you can't see the plastic. Or buy things in six-packs, move them to 4" plastic pots, and then poke them in. Also makes it easy to just replace one dying plant without disturbing everything or getting your hands dirty. If you take this approach you might as well include some herbs that won't want to be overly wet like oregano. At $1.29 a container or thereabouts, versus 99 cents a sprig at the grocery store, you'll feel like you're saving money.

Great ideas, esp the last one 'bout "sticking the pots directly in." That sounds like a good solution - thanks!

-nita

That is what I do, place the plastic pots inside the hanging planter.
New this year is a water absorbing mat from Gardener's Supply. You use it as a liner in the hanging pot. It holds water and slowly releases it . Maybe by putting a liner inside the flower pots, then the pots into the basket, it might keep them moist.
Bougainvillea is a good idea, most colors are bright, but that's California!

Those water-conserving grow mats, the ones that fill up with water and slowly release it back into the soil as it dries. They are nothing but the same material used in modern baby diapers! Instead of paying for those expensive water mats, rip open a clean (never used!) diaper and place the 'mat' at the bottom of the basket, water, then plant. Those water mats are not organic - they are mostly silicon, & so are the diapers, so do not use for anything you intend on eating!

I too live in California and have plants on my back porch. The plants only get morning sun but even so, those round, hanging pots dry out and need watered twice a week, at least (I too line them with plastic). Each of those pots started off looking nice, but dwindled down to pathetic plants due to the heat.

My larger planters which sit on the porch hold a lot more soil, and the plants look great in those. I do try to place the pots where the pot itself does NOT get sun. I built a short sunshade that sits on the deck and rises all of 15 inches just to keep the pots in the shade. Having no sun on the pot keeps the temp much more inhabitable in those pots.

Stick a thermometer in your soil and see just how hot it gets.

I like to line the pots with a coir mat, then turn it upside down, cut holes in the coir, and plant with Hens and Chicks, or creeping sedum. They eventually form a living liner which holds moisture and cools the soil much better than a bought liner, and then you never have to buy another liner for the pot. It also looks nice even in midwinter. Then I fill and plant the container using SPONGET water retention pellets (a by product of the paper industry, it uses wood fibers and pulp instead of chemicals to absorb water...gardens alive! catalog) in the soil, and I don't use peat based potting mix, but a coir or coir/peat with compost, chopped leaves, and a little perlite...peat is too hard to get wet once it is dry, and can aggravate the situation. Then when I water, I use compost tea most times, which increases the amount of organic matter (the more OM the better the water retention) When I take the time to do it right instead of getting antsy and planting them the quick way, I don't have trouble keeping them watered at all.

I really like the hens-and-chicks idea. I once bought two entire flats of creeping thyme to use as the liner of the baskets. It was an expensive learning tool, I guess. The south facing stucco wall is just to hot for a lot of things, especially a hot-house grown flat of thyme. I wonder if I had seed-grown it whether it would have made it or not.

But I think I'll try the water mats first. The catalog says they're potassium based - can't be too harmful. These baskets don't grow edibles so it's not an issue anyhow. All I want are some outrageously abundant blooms that last longer than 3 weeks...

-nita

Oops! My diaper suggestion may not be the greatest answer, but it is the cheapest! When one is starting off 20 hanging baskets, and about 20 other containers, those water mats are quite expensive.
Sorry if I offended anyone.

I don't think anyone's offended Some ideas or just more novel than others. I'm sure someone wil be able to use the diaper suggestion.

My only concern is that diapers are meant to hold liquid in and not let it out; whereas the container mats are purported to release the water back into the potting soil. But it sounds like you've done the diaper test and it works for you?

I WISH I had room for 20 baskets! I bet your area is full of blossoms.

-nita

I keep gardens at three locations, my mom's, my mother-in-law's and my own. Keeping every plant happy water-wise is quite a challenge, seeing both women are allergic to hoses and find it difficult to turn on the drip irrigation most of the time. Sometimes the different gardens may only get a 1x per week soak from me.
I discovered the diaper trick after one of the kids got into the kiddie pool still wearing her pants. The diaper must have weighed 10 pounds. After I finished laughing and rescued her, I got curious as to what the heck was in her drawers that soaked up so much water. I was surprised to see jelly-like crystals made up the interior. They looked suspiciously like the crystals in those 'water saver' potting mixes and liners.
I experimented with all three initially, and they all do the same thing. I wouldn't be surprised at all to confirm they ARE the same stuff. The only difference is packaging and price, and target markets. When you garden on shoestrings, cost really matters! But some might balk at the idea of using diaper material- its just not very classy.

Well, if you did the experiment side by side with the diapers, planter liners and no planter liners, and found the liner and diaper keeping the potting soil moist, I would say that the diaper is working.
Very interesting,thanks.

If the water crystals can't take the heat of the south facing stucco wall, I'm curious if the other approaches will. Let us know what you learn!